Police Kill Unarmed Man on Ground

On Dec. 10, 2003 an unarmed man was shot and killed in the southbound lane of I-185 in Columbus by a Muscogee County Sheriffs Office deputy. The 39-year-old victim was shot twice in the head with a 9mm MP5 submachine gun. Dougherty County D.A. Ken Hodges was appointed to handle the case by Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker.


Kenneth Brian Walker was a middle-class African American man with no prior criminal record who was employed at Blue Cross at the time of the shooting. It was determined that the vehicle Walker was riding in fit the description that police had of some armed gang members. The police made the traffic stop, ordered all four passengers to the ground, but opened fire when the deputy could not see one of Walker's hands. No drugs or guns were found in the vehicle. On Nov. 23, 2004 a Muscogee County grand jury failed to return an indictment.


It was reported that Hodges allowed the shooter, a former deputy at the time of grand jury, to testify at grand jury without swearing him in as a witness or placing him under oath, which would make his testimony invalid. Hodges did not make the recommendation that the grand jury return a True Bill so the matter would go forward to trial before a judge and a jury.


Civil rights groups and citizens from the African-American community appealed to Hodges to bring a second grand jury. Attorney General Baker left the decision up to Hodges and a second grand jury was never convened. Hodges admitted to the family he had made a mistake by not swearing in the former deputy. Hodges promised that he would bring a second grand jury, then later stated that he would only bring a second grand jury if there was new evidence to present. The requirement for new evidence to convene a second grand jury is not supported by Georgia law.