Walker Heading Back to Court to Face More Charges

Less than a month after being acquitted on charges related to a fatal dorm fire at Murray State University, Jerry Walker Jr. is due back to court.
 
The former MSU student, and recently reinstated Paducah Middle School assistant principal will be arraigned Monday in Calloway Circuit Court on six tampering with evidence charges. The charges are associated with letters prosecutors believe Walker wrote after the Sept. 18, 1998, fire that killed one student and injured several others.
 
On July 18, Marshall County jurors found Walker not guilty of charges of arson, manslaughter, assault and wanton endangerment.

Before the trial began however, a Calloway County grand jury returned sealed indictments on the six tampering with evidence charges, according to the Paducah Sun.
 
The six letters received by Walker, his girlfriend at the time and several other dorm residents served as primary elements in the commonwealth’s case against Walker. They were written anonymously in the weeks and months following the fire, but officials said later that Walker wrote them, which he denied on several occasions.

Tampering with physical evidence most commonly refers to getting rid of or destroying existing evidence, but can also refer to fabricating or making up evidence.
 
Tampering with physical evidence is a class D felony with a maximum penalty of one to five years in prison.