HE DIDN'T DESERVE TO DIE, HAYWARD FAMILY LAMENTS

To the Editor:

We are looking forward to finally seeing justice served for our family.

We would like to be sure everyone knows all of the delays in the past
four years were requested by the defense. The defense continues to
dwell on how hard it has been for the Walker family to lead a normal
life during this time, but at least they have had the opportunity.

No one can understand what it is like to suddenly have a son, brother
or friend eliminated from your life, especially under these violent
and public circumstances. Mr. Walker's family will be able to say
goodbye to him before he goes to jail, and they'll be able to visit
him there, but our family was never given the chance to say goodbye to James.

Mr. Walker is often described as a father, a welder and a bagpiper,
but not as a gun club member with a large collection of firearms, one
of which he used to shoot James to death. Mr. Walker went to James'
house with the loaded gun in its holster and two extra magazines full
of bullets.

Mr. Walker has never expressed any regret or remorse for killing James.

The Walkers are not the only loving and caring family members
awaiting a verdict.

A lot of people loved James and he had many great qualities
regardless of the way he earned money. James was a caring, funny,
supportive and compassionate person. Please remember that he is not
here to defend himself against any accusations.

James bodybuilding picture is from two years before he was killed. A
more recent picture has not been provided by our family because we
were betrayed by the media right after James' death.

It is not an accurate picture of the person Mr. Walker encountered at
the door March 17, 2003. The pathologist testified that James only
weighed 160 pounds at death.

Other witnesses testified that in the months before he was shot James
was losing weight and deteriorating; he needed help, just as Jadah needed help.

The defense has said that by killing James, Mr. Walker rescued his
daughter from a drug addict's death.

No evidence was presented to show that she was about to die from drug
use, only that she needed help. Doctors had just released Jadah that
Monday morning to the care of her parents.

No one knows what might have happened if James had not been killed.
Perhaps they BOTH could have been saved, but no one was given the
opportunity to save James. Instead, Mr. Walker decided that he was
already out of options and chose to kill James. How many options were
truly exhausted at that point? Drug addiction is a serious and
difficult problem to resolve. They had just begun to work on Jadah's
rehabilitation when Mr. Walker took this extreme action.

James' mother doesn't live in Yorkton, and although she thought he
was selling marijuana and didn't approve of that, she did not know
that he had started taking morphine. James did not sell morphine and
was taking before he knew Jadah. James was not killing people; he did
not force people to do drugs or try to get people hooked. Drug
dealers do not need to advertise and the people James knew would have
bought marijuana elsewhere, just as they did after he was killed.
Jadah CHOSE to do drugs, chose to return to James' house the day he
was killed, and chose not to leave with her father.

Mr. Walker CHOSE to end James' life and he deserves punishment for that.

We will never know whether or not Mr. Walker was waiting for an
excuse to carry out his desire to kill James. If he had gone to the
house only intending to get Jadah out, why didn't he try to use the
gun to PERSUADE James and Jadah? Multiple witnesses testified that he
pulled the gun and immediately started shooting.

Mr. Walker has received tremendous support from much of the Yorkton
community and has publicly thanked them for it. We think that the
Walker family is trying to use community sympathy and the media to
help Mr. Walker get away with murder.

We can't help but wonder how public perception may have been
different if this had happened in a community where James and our
family were well known, and where Mr. Walker was a stranger with a gun.

We believe that NOT convicting Mr. Walker of murder would send a
message that we don't need to care about everyone in our communities.
If we don't respect someone's lifestyle, or if they are breaking
laws, then we cannot take their life and expect that the law won't
apply to us. Parents do NOT have the right to murder anyone their
child chooses to date under ANY circumstances.

Alana Getty, Calgary (29)

Kendra Getty, Vancouver (27)