Thursday, December 02, 2010

Justin Walker, Convicted Murderer, Posting on FB from Prison Cell

Convicted Murderer, Justin Walker,  Posting on FB from Prison Cell

The mother of an Oklahoma man who was shot to death is furious that Justin Walker, her son’s killer, was able to get a Blackberry in his cell and has been corresponding with friends and posting photos on Facebook.
Cathy Lawrence, the mother of slain Sheriff Dwight Woodrell Jr., told ABCNews.com that Justin Walker, the man serving a 30-year sentence for her son's murder, doesn't deserve to be alive, let alone to be updating his Facebook status.
"It probably wouldn't be printable what I think about Justin Walker having a cell phone in prison," said Lawrence from her home in Bristow, Okla. "I feel like he's allowed to keep on living his life and he deprived my son of his life and his four children of a father."
Walker would do something like that," said Lawrence.
"It's insulting that
Walker, 32, was convicted in April 2006 of murder in the second degree after striking a plea deal in the death of Woodrell, who was shot and killed on Oct. 13, 2001 while investigating a burglary.
Justin Walker and his co-defendent, James Craig Taylor, reportedly sang the song "I Shot the Sheriff" after committing the crime. Taylor was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the crime.
Earlier this week, prison officials were notified by a local television station that Justin Walker had managed to maintain a Facebook page from inside his cell at Oklahoma State Reformatory. He has since been transferred to a more secure prison block.
Justin Walker's Facebook account chronicles his friendships with people on the outside as well as his life behind bars.
Now on his fifth year in prison, Walker has been on Facebook since at least November, according to his page, which is registered under the name "Jus N Walk."
Some of Walker's updates complain about prison life. One status update posted on Nov. 16 reads, "Didn't get to go to canteen again." Later that same day, Justin Walker ranted about the long shower lines.
On Nov. 13, Walker simply posted, "Chillin out."
There are also photographs on the site that show Justin Walker posing with his cellmate and ones of him showing off his tattoos.
Others, which have since been removed from the site but were reported on by FOX23 in Oklahoma, showed Justin Walker with marijuana and a shank, a homemade weapon.
Those images and the discovery that Walker had a cell phone behind bars could extend his already three decade-long sentence, according to prison officials.
"He got transferred that same day we found out about [the phone] to our maximum security prison," said Oklahoma Department of Corrections public information officer Jerry Massie. "He's now on adminstrative segregation, which is basically a 23-hour lockdown, at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary while we go through an internal disciplinary process."
"We did find the cell phone and some marijuana," said Massie. "We haven't gotten any reports on whether a charger for the phone was found."
Having a cell phone inside a state prison is a felony in Oklahoma, said Massie, and Justin Walker will likely face "further charges" stemming from his apparent possession of drugs, too. This could mean additional years tacked onto his sentence as well as an extended stay in the restrictive segregated unit where he is currently housed.
Massie said the prison is looking into how Justin Walker managed to get the phone, and said it's possible a rogue corrections officer gave it to him or that a visitor illegally smuggled it onto the prison grounds.
"Cell phones have become a very hot item that inmates are wanting to get into prison," he said.
Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the Justin Walker case, but has previously told ABC News that the site has no policy against inmates having Facebook pages but said that it is against the rules if someone from the outside is operating the page.
Massie said Justin Walker was "very quiet" when he was caught.
Massie said prison policies banning cell phones stems from a concern over inmates having "unmonitered conversations with people on the outiside who could potentailly arrange drug deals, escape attempts or harass victims."
"I have no idea what he [Justin Walker] was trying to do, but he probably regrets it now," said Massie.

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