Dallas County formally exonerates Tommy Lee Walker, executed 70 years ago for a crime he didn't commit
History in Dallas was made on Wednesday as county leaders officially acknowledged that a man convicted and sentenced to death for a murder 70 years ago was innocent.
Dallas County commissioners passed a symbolic resolution exonerating Tommy Lee Walker.
Two men whose lives were shaped by trauma more than 70 years ago met and embraced each other for the first time.
The son of Tommy Lee Walker and the son of Venice Parker were victims of what Dallas County has determined to be a travesty of justice.
Experts reveal a story of false accusations
"The Dallas County District Attorney's office of today would not have pursued a criminal case against Tommy Lee Walker for the sexual assault and murder of Venice Parker," said Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot.
The District Attorney, along with freelance journalists and law professors, laid out more than a decade of research that found Walker was falsely accused of murder during a time of racial hysteria, discredited witness accounts and false confessions.
"While we did not find DNA in the Parker murder, we did discover a story that desperately needed to be told," said journalist Mary Mapes.
"'I didn't intend to kill her, she ran into my knife,' making clear that someone suggested to him, and maybe this wasn't the horrible crime that actually was, but something else, and he could therefore expect leniency," said Margaret Burnham, a Northeastern University professor of law.
"When I saw the video, what he said to the judge, I could just see that he was doing his best to explain, but nobody was going to listen. Having lived through segregation myself growing up in New Orleans," says Creuzot. "I could read his mind, I can say, 'They're going to kill me, and I didn't do this.'"
Son of wrongfully executed Dallas man breaks down as father's name cleared
Walker's son, Ted Smith, watched film footage of his father's haunting stare, recorded on the day he was sentenced to death after pleading his innocence to a judge.
It was all too much for his son.
"I'm 72 years old, and I still miss my daddy," said Smith.
He broke down talking about the father he barely remembers.
"They gave your father the electric chair for something he didn't do... and it hurts every time I talk about it because I miss my father," Smith said. "I miss him dearly."
Even the son of the murder victim supported a proposed resolution to exonerate the man convicted of killing his mother.
"Society and the justice system seem to have a knack for taking the biggest court cases and screwing them up royally," said Joe Parker, Venice Parker's son.
The courtroom bench where Walker stood in judgment 70 years ago is still intact. His son was just across the hall from that very spot on Wednesday when he finally received the peace of mind that he's waited his whole life for.
The resolution exonerating a man killed by the state at age 21 was mostly symbolic, but it allows Walker's family to build a proud legacy in his name.
"We can move on with our lives because I don't have to go looking over my shoulder," Smith said. "'Oh, that's Tommy Lee Walker's son, that man did that.' I don't have to do that. Of course, my daddy's name is clear."
"I'm grateful this injustice was acknowledged today, because Mr. Tommy Lee Walker deserved justice in his lifetime. Honoring the past means changing the policies that allow injustice to happen today, anything less is symbolism without accountability," says Former Dallas District Judge and Democratic candidate for district attorney Amber Givens.