ATTORNEY BLAMES DRUGS, WALKER

'The Facts Of This Case Have Been Ignored,' Hagler Says

In the most extended defense of his client to date, Columbus attorney
Richard Hagler said former sheriff's deputy David Glisson never intended on
taking the life of Kenneth B. Walker.

"David Glisson is innocent of any wrongdoing," said the veteran defense
attorney, who predicted on Friday that his client would be exonerated
following the outcome of all existing investigations.

Hagler said it was decisions made by Walker on Dec. 10 that "were
responsible for creating the circumstances surrounding this tragedy."

Glisson, a 48-year-old former Muscogee County deputy sheriff, fatally shot
an unarmed Walker, 39, following a stop along Interstate 185 shortly before
9 p.m. Prior to being stopped, Walker and three friends -- Warren Beaulah,
Anthony Smith and Daryl Ransom -- had been riding in a gray GMC Yukon seen
leaving Northwoods Apartments on Armour Road. The apartment was under
surveillance by Metro Narcotics Task Force agents, according to official
accounts.

The men were ordered from the vehicle by a group of Sheriff's Department
Special Response Team members called in to assist Metro and in the ensuing
moments, Walker was shot twice in the head. He was pronounced dead about
four hours later at The Medical Center.

In the aftermath of the shooting, various community and civil rights groups
leveled charges of police brutality and racial profiling at the sheriff's
department and Glisson. Throughout a 35-minute news conference at his
office, Hagler denounced those charges, calling the allegations "a
fundamental lie."

"Because of the many lies upon which this entire incident has been based, we
feel it is necessary that we now address some issues with the public,"
Hagler read from a prepared statement. "The facts of this case have been
ignored and manipulated by those that seek to use them for personal gain,
financial gain and to split the community apart."

Hagler said he and his client were "tremendously sorry for what has happened
to Mrs. Walker," but added that he believed the family was in denial of what
he described as Walker's "problem with cocaine."

Early this week, the Walker family's attorney, Willie Gary, released results
of the autopsy and toxicology reports on Walker that indicated he had a
quantity of alcohol and cocaine in his blood the night of the stop. Gary has
filed a $100 million wrongful death suit against the Muscogee County
Sheriff's Department, Sheriff Ralph Johnson and Glisson.

Walker's wife, Cheryl, has strongly denied her husband used drugs.

"This is not meant as an attack on Mrs. Walker. I've been practicing
criminal law for many, many years," Hagler said. "But so often times when I
represent people who have gotten involved in drugs, the family is the last
to know. They want to hide it from family, they want to hide it from
friends, and I've seen so many families and lives that have been destroyed
by illegal drug use."

Hagler said he had known about the toxicology report for weeks but refrained
from making it public.

"We frankly hoped that the whole thing would have at least died down to the
degree that the community could look at it in a rational light without the
emotional involvement that has been stirred up in this case," he said.

In response to suggestions by Gary that the toxicology results could have
been tampered with, Hagler called them "ludicrous."

Asked whether he ran the risk of suggesting that the shooting was justified,
Hagler responded that was not his intention.

"Am I saying, just because someone used cocaine it is justifiable for them
getting shot? Absolutely not," he said. "What I am saying, is that if Mr.
Walker, had he not been involved in the culture, would never have been there
for this to have happened in the first place."

When asked if Glisson's shooting was accidental, Hagler declined to go into
specifics, saying only, "I will tell you there was never any intention to
take a human life."

Hagler elaborated at length on the details that led up to the fatal stop
along the interstate: the surveillance of the apartment, the confidential
informant's tip that drugs sales were being conducted out of the apartment,
and the subsequent discovery of cocaine, money and a weapon inside the
apartment unit.

He also made specific reference to the package that one of the men in the
Yukon was allegedly seen carrying into the apartment.

Sheriff Johnson, in his Jan. 17 account of the incident, referred to it only
as "a package wrapped in plastic." On Friday, Hagler said he believed the
evidence would "ultimately reveal the package was a delivery of cocaine."

Dwayne L. Brown, the Montgomery, Ala., attorney representing the three men
in the vehicle with Walker, maintains that the package was a DVD player.

"The facts will show their sole purpose for being there was to deliver a DVD
player," Brown said last week. "This was talked about with the GBI."

On Friday, Brown said the "continued, unfounded allegations about drug
activity" on his clients' behalf was "nothing more than a diversionary
tactic intended to deflect blame from the officer's behavior."

"If they had any evidence that these young men were involved in the
distribution of narcotics, you'd think they would have been charged by now,"
Brown said. "It's insulting to the citizens of Muscogee County to make them
believe these young men were involved in drugs but were not charged."

No arrests of the occupants in the Yukon were made the night of the
shooting, nor were drugs or weapons found inside the vehicle.

Brown said a release of the videotape of the shooting would show what he and
his clients have maintained throughout -- that civil rights violations
occurred that night and that his clients were treated the way they were
because they are African-Americans.

"I think there's a distinct, calculated purpose for why it has not been
disseminated and it is suspicious at best," Brown said, adding that he would
be "seeking litigation very shortly."

Ongoing Investigations

The shooting remains the subject of two investigations, one by the state and
the other by the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. State
Attorney General Thurbert Baker is expected to appoint an independent
prosecutor to handle any potential criminal litigation.

Calls made to Cheryl Walker and her attorney, Willie Gary, were not returned
Friday. Kenneth Walker's mother, Emily Walker, declined to comment on
statements made at the press conference.

As for the Walker family's civil lawsuit, the city has retained attorney Jim
Clark of Page, Scrantom, Sprouse, Tucker & Ford to assist City Attorney
Clifton Fay in representing the sheriff's department and the sheriff.

Fay said the move was not unusual.

"I'm either involved with directly or managing or supervising around 80
cases, so I can't do them all," Fay said. "We bring in outside counsel from
time to time."

Fay said Clark was an ideal candidate because of his extensive legal
experience, which includes work on similar suits.

Fay said rates for Clark and attorneys from his firm range from $140 to $300
per hour depending on how long a case lasts and the degree of involvement.
Neither Fay nor Columbus Mayor Bob Poydasheff would specify exactly what the
city will pay Clark.

Poydasheff said Clark's firm has traditionally offered the city reduced
rates for its attorneys' services, but that Clark's exact charges will be
negotiated as the case progresses.

"We know what the firm charges," he said. "They have always scaled back for
the city."

A 20-Year Veteran Fired

Following the shooting, an internal investigation by the sheriff's
department was launched and within two days, Sheriff Johnson asked the
Georgia Bureau of Investigation to begin a separate probe.

The GBI completed its investigation on Feb. 20 and Johnson, having completed
his department's own administrative investigation into the incident, fired
Glisson.

Hagler has said the termination was the result of intense political pressure
placed on Johnson, another outgrowth of the racially tinged allegations
swirling around the incident.

"Do I expect we will be dealing with that issue in court?" he said. "Yes."

Hagler said his client has had "a horrible, horrible time" following the
night of Dec. 10 and has been traumatically affected.

"He has not attempted suicide," Hagler said, responding to rumors. "But he
has certainly been very depressed and continues to undergo psychological
counseling as a result of this incident."

In addition to the counseling, Hagler said his client, who had a heart
attack and a bleeding ulcer last year, was also receiving medical treatment.

A longtime friend of Glisson, Randy Robertson, local president of the
600-member Fraternal Order of Police and a lieutenant in the sheriff's
department, came to the veteran deputy's defense Friday.

"He's an excellent father, an excellent husband, and a very good person,"
Robertson said. "I think once people get to see what kind of person he is,
they're going to realize he's not the terrible monster that a lot of
misinformed persons think him to be. I think it's sad that in this city, a
few people are able to judge him so harshly without even knowing him."

Robertson said Glisson, who has been the subject of scathing attacks in
Internet chat rooms, had been simplistically portrayed.

"I've watched him coach his son's softball team and anybody that would ever
suggest that David is a racist or anything of that nature is extremely
misinformed," Robertson said.