The People of the State of Colorado v. James Maurice Walker

Colorado Springs, Colorado criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with murder.





At trial, the People presented evidence from which the jury

could find the following facts. Gabe Garcia and the victim had been

"inseparable” ever since they met and became best friends in

school. "If I needed something,” he testified, "she would help me.”



In the summer of 2020, Garcia and the victim were both

selling drugs. The victim introduced Garcia to Walker, who also

sold drugs and was a member of the 81st Crips gang. Garcia and

Walker started occasionally working together.



On July 28, 2020, a fellow gang member and friend of

Walker's nicknamed "Bam” gave Garcia approximately $1,600 to

buy a pound of marijuana. Bam, Garcia, and Hailie

Batton-Robinson — Garcia's girlfriend and his driver that day — all

met at an apartment complex for the drug deal. But when Garcia

handed over the money to a third party, that person left and did not



return with the drugs. When it became clear that Garcia had been

robbed, Bam put a gun to Garcia's head and said he was going to

shoot him. Batton-Robinson interceded on Garcia's behalf and,

according to Garcia, "saved [his] life.” Bam then said he would give

Garcia a couple of hours to get the money back.



That night, Garcia and Batton-Robinson went to Walker's

apartment. Walker, the victim, and Walker's fiancee were also

there. Walker told Garcia that he had talked to Bam, that he had

paid Garcia's debt, and that Garcia now owed the money to Walker.

Walker threatened Garcia, saying that Garcia "better pay him back”

within "the next day or two” or there "would be worse

consequences, and that's on Crips.” Walker then held a video call

with gang members in California, who showed Garcia their guns

and told him they would kill him if he did not pay Walker back.

Walker told Garcia there was "a green light on [his] head” and he

was "a target” unless he paid the debt.



Shortly after midnight on July 29, Garcia texted the victim,

begging her to lend him a pound of marijuana to repay Walker. "U

can literally save my life if u lent me the p for a day,” he told her.



"[P]lease don't let me die.” The victim responded: "That's not going

to happen.”



On July 30, the victim brought marijuana to Walker's

apartment "to try to settle the debt.” Walker and his fiancee were

there, along with another gang member who had come out from

California. But the California gang member said that the marijuana

"wasn't good” and that he would not accept it. He then departed,

leaving Walker, his fiancee, and the victim alone in the apartment.



The victim texted a friend: "I help hella help or they will me[.]

As much money as possible[.] Or I'm gonna get killed[.] Don't

contact cops I pray u don't[.]”



That evening, the fiancee heard Walker and the victim arguing

in the bedroom. When they came out, the victim told the fiancee

that Walker had forced her to play Russian roulette with him. The

argument continued in the living room. As the fiancee watched,

Walker pushed the victim onto the couch and shot her in the head.

When he stood up again, the fiancee saw "a clear fluid leaking” from

the victim's head. The fiancee begged Walker to let her leave, and

he told her that she was "never there” and that she should not "say

anything.” The fiancee called a friend to pick her up. As she waited

for her friend, she saw Walker "dragging [the victim's] body out of

the house by her wrist and stuffing her in the back seat of the car”

Walker and his fiancee shared. But Walker could not find the car

keys.



Later that night, Batton-Robinson, who, along with Garcia,

had spent the last two days "trying to come up with the money,”

went to Walker's apartment to drop off money that she and Garcia

had earned. When she arrived, Walker was cleaning. He asked

whether he could borrow her car and "if he could clear everything

out of it.” When she asked why, he "joked about hiding a body.”

Batton-Robinson gave Walker her car keys, and he left.



The victim's body, with a single gunshot wound to the

forehead, was discovered beside Highway 24 the next morning.

¶ 12 The next month, the fiancee attended a barbecue with

Walker's stepfather. When she could speak to the stepfather alone,

she told him that she had "watched [Walker] shoot somebody” and

that "this involved drugs.” Several weeks later, the fiancee called

Walker's stepsister in tears. The stepsister met the fiancee outside

Walker's apartment, where the fiancee told her that "she knew too

much and that if something happened to her[,] then she just



wanted [the stepsister] to know that it was [Walker].” The stepsister

went inside to confront Walker about why the fiancee was so upset.

Walker said that she was upset because she had seen him kill

someone. At that point, Walker's stepfather and stepsister went to

the police.



Male DNA found on the victim's left hand was consistent with

Walker's. And the victim's DNA was found in "presumptive”

bloodstains on Walker's couch, in his car, and in Batton-Robinson's

car.



The fiancee initially and repeatedly told the police that she had

seen nothing. But the next summer, when she herself was

arrested, she contradicted her prior statements and admitted that

she had witnessed the murder. She explained the changed

testimony at trial, stating that Walker had threatened to kill her

and her family if she told on him and that she was scared those

threats could be carried out by other gang members because she

knew "what happens to snitches.”



Batton-Robinson likewise was not forthcoming in her initial

police interview, omitting any mention of the gang and the drug

debt and claiming that she had used fabric paint on the back seat

of her car to give it some flare. Only after she too was arrested did

she admit that she had used the paint to cover up what she

believed were bloodstains. She explained at trial that she had kept

quiet "[o]ut of fear” of "[t]he 81st Crips.”



At trial, Walker argued that he had no motive to kill the victim

and that the police had decided he was guilty without investigating

other leads. The jury found him guilty of first degree murder, and

the district court imposed the mandatory sentence of life without

the possibility of parole.

Affirmed