The Belleville News-Democrat from Belleville, Illinois • 11

1 Belleville News-Democrat FOCUS Sunday September 9 1 990 I "kia in I pWLf vinkerH 4 Vi if Urn PmocmTHi Vtef The joint Maecoutah gravesite of Kevin Paula and Sharon Winker WM End finally nears for convicted killer was not sentenced to be laying here for Mfe I'm ready my ready the ready and the preacher's ready" Charles Thomas Walker three days Charlie Walker may get his wish He wants to die For four yean he has been ready to accept his punishment for killing a young Maacoutah couple even years ago on the banks of Silver Creek in a robbery that netted only $40 Walker has been scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 12:01 am Wednesday for the hooting deaths of 25-year-old Sharon Winker and 21-year-old Kevin Paule St Clair Clair County Public Defender Clyde Kuehn who represented Walker when he pleaded guilty to the murders and was sentenced to death said that even in death Walker may be cheating the system to him this is an easier punishment Maybe made peace with his maker and he wants something better than what got Maybe Charlie's cheating them Kuehn said do not believe taking his life is punishment for him Walker will be the first person executed in Illinois since 1962 The only thing standing between him and the needle is Gov James Thompson Thompson currently Is considering a petition for clemency for Walker filed by the Illinois Coalition Against the Death Penalty The coalition wants Thompson to commute death sentence to a sentence of life in prison If Thompson the execuUon process will begin Focus was written by reporter Jeanne AuBuchon On Tuesday night the 0-year-old man from Fayetteville will eat his last meal: fried wild rabbit with gravy made from the rabbit drippings and blackberry pie for dessert Then he will wait in an isolated cell at Stateville Correctional Center near Joliet Shortly before midnight Walker will be placed on a gurney trapped down and wheeled into the execution chamber where a needle affixed to a catheter awaits him Two executioners each will press his own button one of which will start the machine that dispenses three drugs sodium pentathol pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride into arm One drug will put him to sleep another shuts down his respiratory system and the third stops his heart The executioners will not know who delivered the fatal done -ft it done crime and I knew someday a situation like this might earns Walker has said "I accepted it so why cant they stop He has spent half of his life in prison and is tired of it The courts have ruled Walker is competent to waive his appeal rights If he wants to die why have people been trying to stop his execution? Their arguments: He is worth more alive than dead prison conditions and chronic alcoholism have impaired his judgment and hampered his ability to give up appeals 1111- nois death penalty laws are unconstitutional Walker's sentencing hearing was conducted im Three days before the killings Doug and Charles Walker sat at a picnic table in Doug's front yard not coming back to St Clair County because trouble seems to follow Charles Walker told his brother But Doug Walker still had no Idea what hia brother would da never know what somebody's going to And Doug Walker blames the Justice system for not keeping his brother in prison wUl never for the rest of my life understand why the prison board let him out on he aid the parole board and the judges in this state would have done their job there would be two kids alive and he be up for it ft it When he was 8 years old Charles Walker got drunk on moonshine his father gave him His father also was an alcoholic "I started drinking when I was knee-high to a When he was 12 years old stepfather took him drinking in local taverns Walker started committing burglaries when be was 14 At IS he was charged with contributing to the deliquency of a minor for buying beer for hia younger cousin Walker dropped out of high school in the middle of his sophomore year left home and headed for Florida He returned to Illinois six months later and started committing burglaries again At 17 he was convicted of a burglary in which he was trying to get money to buy alcohol and sent to Menard Correctional Crater for six years and five months Less than a year after he was released from prison Walker burglarised a tavern and stole money and alcohol He was convicted and sent to Menard for four years He was out of prison fewer than two months when he went on a drinking spree and got Into a gunfight with police Walker was shot In the face lost an eye and was convicted of attempted murder He stayed in Menard four yean and was transferred to the Vienna Correctional Center a minimum-security prison where he served another two years After his release Walker got married He had frequent fights with his wife Stella over hia drinking and she divorced him He subsequently robbed a gas station and served four yean in Menard for that crime After living and working in several states he returned to the metro-east in June 1982 On June 18 1982 he killed Paule and Winker dr it it When Walker woke up that morning he started drinking vodka and beer and decided to go fishing at Silver Creek Throughout the day he drsnk more than lVt cases of beer and a pint of vodka Winker and Paule arrived at Silver Creek about 2 pm where they set up two lawn chairs alongside the creek pulled out their fishing tackle and chatted with Walker He decided to rob them pointed a 25-caliber pistol at them and took Paine'S wallet He bound their hands with tape and took them a few feet Into the woods where he was going to tie them to a tree and leave them But Paule apparently recognised Walker cant get away with this because I know who you are Chuck Walker" Paule said according to Walker Walker shot Paule in the right temple and then Winker behind the right ear He eventually ended up at the Runway Lounge near Scott Air Force Base where he knew owner Richard Jones did not even act like anything was Jones has said would never think be had just murdered two When the bar was closing about 1 am Walker pulled out the pistol and ordered Jooes to give him all his money When Jones told Walker he would not get away with the robbery Walker said it make no difference The police are already looking for As Walker fled In his car with about $200 stolen from the tavern Jones jumped into his car and drove straight into car Walker fired a shot at Jones shattering his windshield But Jones had crouched under the Convicted killer Charles Walker above In 1 987 and right In a February 1 983 sheriff department photograph taken three months before he killed Kevin Paula and Sharon Winker properly Walker valker has tried to block appeals of his death sentence since the Illinois Supreme Court upheld it in December 1985 But others including the Illinois Coalition Against the Death Penalty other Death Row inmates and church leaders ha ve been trying to prevent death sentence from being carried out Walker has called them "bleeding hearts nosy He said appreciate them ticking their nose in my Patricia Vader executive director of the coalition has tried to stop the execution think Charlie life has Vader aid family loves him He has a large circle of friends who love him He is a very intelligent outgoing person He is not an evil brother Doug Walker says Charles Walker seemed to anticipate trouble and violence SeeFOCUS2B.