Walker Ruled Unfit To Stand Trial Falling Iq, Aids Dementia Play Role In Judge’s Decision To Vacate Trial

Jeffrey Douglas Walker won’t die in prison.

The man accused of attempted murder for exposing his former girlfriend to AIDS is incompetent to stand trial, a Spokane County judge ruled Wednesday.

The decision effectively dismisses the criminal charge, since the 28-year-old Walker’s mental and physical health is crumbling. His doctor gives him less than a year to live.

Gaunt and glassy-eyed, Walker showed no reaction to the ruling, which vacated an Oct. 30 trial.

His mother, Barbara Bies, gave him a gentle squeeze in the second row of the courtroom gallery. She refused to celebrate, saying her son still faces a death penalty.

“It’s not really a victory, is it?” she said.

Walker’s freedom from prosecution follows three days of testimony by his doctor, five mental health experts and other witnesses.

Most of the experts found Walker to be suffering from progressive brain damage. Since 1989, his IQ has plunged from a normal 105 to a mildly retarded 69.

“The evidence is overwhelming that the defendant is suffering from AIDS dementia and has deteriorated substantially over the last year,” said Superior Court Judge Richard Schroeder.

Walker probably would have had to testify in the AIDS-exposure case since he insists having unprotected sex was his girlfriend’s idea, Schroeder said.

The judge sided with defense psychologists who said Walker is incapable of answering questions on the witness stand because of extensive memory loss and poor concentration.

Finally, Schroeder found Walker to be too gravely ill to be dangerous.

“He is not a threat to society,” the judge said.

Spokane attorney L. Neil Axtell made a passionate appeal on Walker’s behalf in his closing argument Wednesday afternoon.

“We are truly playing out in this court and the public arena a human tragedy,” Axtell said.

“It is my request and prayer that the court let Jeffrey Walker live the few remaining months of his life with as much dignity as possible.”

Prosecutor Jim Sweetser argued that Walker met minimum competency standards under state law.

In other Washington criminal cases, he said, defendants who are seriously mentally retarded have been ordered to stand trial, as have those claiming to have total amnesia.

Walker, on the other hand, has “clearly demonstrated that he has a memory of past events that are relevant to this trial,” the prosecutor said.

Following the ruling, Sweetser returned to his office, where he called Susan Wyatt, the alleged victim.

“I want you to know,” he said, “I gave it 100 percent.”

Wyatt, a 43-year-old Spokane Valley mother who is now HIVpositive, said she would gather her thoughts and make a public statement today.

Walker faced a possible 20-year prison term if convicted.

The construction worker was the first person in a Washington AIDSexposure case to be charged with attempted murder, attorneys said.

But Axtell said it became increasingly apparent that Walker, arrested early last year, would be unable to assist him at trial.

“Most days, I can’t have a sensible conversation with him,” the lawyer said.

Sweetser said the decision won’t keep him from aggressively prosecuting similar cases. “If this case stood for anything, it’s the proposition that people infected with HIV have to be responsible,” he said.

Wyatt claimed her former lover kept his medical condition a secret until it was too late - after they had unprotected sex.

Walker insisted Wyatt knew about his HIV status and was willing to risk her life by having sex without a condom.

During the competency hearing this week, Sweetser called two experts: Eastern State Hospital psychiatrist Dr. Verne Cressey and Post Falls psychologist Karen Sheppard.

Cressey said Walker suffers from AIDS dementia and is “barely” competent to stand trial. Sheppard accused Walker of fabricating answers to questions in order to appear more brain-damaged than he is.

Axtell and co-counsel Dana Kelley called several mental health experts of their own, saving their best for last.

Lloyd Cripe of Sequim, Wash., an expert in neuropsychology, said his battery of tests showed “without question” that Walker is unable to assist his lawyer or understand legal proceedings.

“This man is demented, unfortunately,” Cripe told the judge. “I wouldn’t want to try to represent him.”

In earlier testimony, Bies described her son as virtually helpless.

He must be fed a protein formula through a tube, and take medicine through a surgically implanted IV in his left arm, she said.

Bies said he can’t drive a car or be left alone for more than a half-hour because he is easily confused.

Walker, a former drug addict who served time in prison for heroin trafficking, was diagnosed as having full-blown AIDS in 1993. He said he doesn’t know how he contracted the virus.

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