NO DETAILS LIKELY TO BE PUBLIC SOON

The completion of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's probe into the
Kenneth Walker shooting and the transfer of those findings to the district
attorney's office will not necessarily result in the public release of more
details, according to a letter sent by the agency's director to state Rep.
Calvin Smyre.

In a letter sent Thursday to Smyre, GBI Director Vernon M. Keenan said the
case "is considered active and not subject to public dissemination until
such time as the district attorney has either concluded the prosecution of
the case or made a determination that no prosecution will occur."

Keenan's statement came in response to Smyre's request for clarification of
the GBI's investigative process into the fatal shooting of Walker.

The 39-year-old husband and father was shot Dec. 10 by Muscogee County
Sheriff's Deputy David Glisson after Walker and three friends were stopped
in a GMC Yukon matching one that drug agents had believed was carrying
armed men from Miami. No drugs or weapons were recovered in the vehicle,
nor were any arrests made.

Keenan's statement, together with previous ones made by District Attorney
Gray Conger, suggest the release of a videotape of the incident is unlikely
anytime soon. Various civil rights groups, along with WRBL-TV and the
Ledger-Enquirer, have sought release of the tape.

Citing state bar rules, Conger said Thursday that ethical considerations
prohibited him from "releasing information that might be prejudicial to any
possible or subsequent litigation" in the case.

Smyre has said a delayed release of the tape would "not be good for the
community."

"For those who work in public policy, it would behoove us to try and work
together on this," he said. "That's what I'm hoping for. And I'm giving
everyone the benefit of the doubt."

In addition to the state investigation, a parallel investigation by the FBI
is ongoing. Once completed, the FBI's findings will be forwarded to the
U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia.

The results from the FBI's inquiry will also be forwarded to the U.S.
Department of Justice for review, said Selby McCash, a spokesman for U.S.
Rep. Sanford Bishop.

"Congressman Bishop was advised by the Justice Department that the FBI was
investigating and that attorneys from the civil rights division in the U.S.
Attorney's office will review the results of the investigation and
determine what, if any, action should be taken at that point," McCash said.