Charles Walker (Georgia politician)

For other people named Charles Walker, see Charles Walker (disambiguation).

Charles W. Walker Sr. (born November 8, 1947) is a former state senator in the legislature of the state of Georgia. He was first elected in 1990. In 1996, he became Georgia's first African-American Senate Majority Leader. Walker is a Democrat and is from Augusta, Georgia.

Walker owned a myriad of small enterprises under the name The Walker Group. One of Walker's first ventures was a convenience store called "Reklaw's", which is Walker spelled backwards.

Walker started a newspaper called The Augusta Focus that served Augusta's black community. It often expressed opposing viewpoints to Augusta's only daily newspaper, The Augusta Chronicle.

Convicted in 2005 by a federal court in Augusta on charges including tax evasion, mail fraud, theft, misusing campaign funds, and conspiracy (127 counts, in all),[1][2][3] Walker was serving a ten-year sentence at a Federal Correctional Institution in Estill, South Carolina. His projected release date was September 26, 2022.[4][5]

An appeal of his convictions was rejected on July 6, 2007.[6][7][8]

Walker filed a petition for habeas corpus in March 2009. The federal judge who presided over his trial recused himself from presiding over Walker's petition in May 2009.[1]

Walker was released from custody in late 2016.[2]

  1. ^ a b "Walker judge recuses himself". The Augusta Chronicle. May 20, 2009.
  2. ^ a b "Charles Walker gets early release from federal probation". The Augusta Chronicle. November 1, 2016. Archived from the original on 2017-01-18. Retrieved 2017-01-17.
  3. ^ Susan McCord (December 17, 2013). "Ex-state Sen. Charles Walker being moved from federal prison". augustachronicle.com.
  4. ^ "Inmate Locator - Locate Federal inmates from 1982 to present". Federal Bureau of Prisons. Archived from the original on 2012-09-12. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
  5. ^ James Salzer, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "From Georgia power broker to prison; ex-Sen. Charles Walker's comeback". ajc.com.
  6. ^ U.S. v. Walker Archived May 28, 2010, at the Wayback Machine (11th Cir. 2007).
  7. ^ "Charles Walker Reports to Prison". Wrdw.com. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  8. ^ Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia (July 6, 2007). "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, Versus CHARLES W. WALKER, SR., No. 05-16756, D. C. Docket No. 04-00059-CR-001-1" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-05-28.