Dallas County’s Commissioners Court is expected to adopt a resolution formally recognizing that a 19-year-old man executed in 1956 was wrongfully convicted, marking an official acknowledgment of a historical miscarriage of justice.
The resolution declares that Tommy Lee Walker’s conviction for rape and murder in 1954 was fundamentally flawed and that his execution represented a profound injustice.
The action followed a comprehensive review by the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office Conviction Integrity Unit, working with the Innocence Project of New York and Northeastern University School of Law’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project, which uncovered “credible and compelling” evidence that Walker’s arrest, interrogation, prosecution and conviction were tainted by false or unreliable evidence, coercive interrogation tactics and racial bias.
The resolution notes that Walker was arrested without probable cause, interrogated without counsel, tried by a jury not representative of his peers, and convicted in a case where material evidence was suppressed or misrepresented and a confession was later deemed unreliable under modern standards.
The document states that Walker had no known ties to the crime scene, lived miles away, lacked a vehicle, and had alibi witnesses supporting his claim he was preparing for his child’s birth when the crime occurred.
The county’s resolution affirms Walker’s innocence, acknowledges the harm done to him, his family and the community, and stands as a permanent public record of Dallas County’s commitment to truth, accountability and equal justice under the law.