In a Historic Resolution, Tommy Lee Walker Is Declared Innocent 70 Years After His Execution in Dallas

Following a years-long joint reinvestigation by Northeastern Law’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project (CRRJ), the Dallas County District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit and the Innocence Project, the Dallas County Commissioners Court has declared Tommy Lee Walker innocent of the 1953 rape and murder of Venice Parker, for which he was wrongfully executed 70 years ago at the age of 19. “This case reminds us of how much must still be done to map the lethality and legacy of Jim Crow terror,” said Professor Margaret Burnham, CRRJ director and co-counsel for Walker’s son, Edward Smith.