A Texas lawyer from Austin has been arrested for allegedly hiring a hitman to commit a murder. The man, 62-year-old James N. Walker, has been charged with criminal solicitation of capital murder, a first-degree felony, reports Texas Lawyer magazine.
According to the arrest warrant, the offense was committed on September 17th.
The legal publication reported that the affidavit for warrant of arrest revealed that “Joshua stated … that he is a heroin user and that the person he buys heroin from is an attorney and the attorney was trying to get ‘Joshua’ to kill someone for him.”
Texas Lawyer magazine also reported that detectives met with “Joshua,” who said he bought heroin from “Skip” twice a day. Joshua described what Skip looked like and told detectives that the man lived at a car dealership in north Austin. Joshua drew a map to Skip’s residence and law enforcement officers determined the address.
Police officers were able to identify the alleged hitman after they located Walker’s home and the informant identified him from a photo. Law enforcement officials identified the suspect as James Walker, a licensed attorney in Texas.
Texas Lawyer magazine reported that the informant said that Walker asked him to kill someone when he bought heroin about two weeks ago. Walker allegedly asked Joshua if he had a long rifle. The affidavit reportedly stated that the lawyer told Joshua that he wanted the person dead because of a dispute.
The informant did not know the name of the intended victim, and only knew that he is a white male that frequents a well-known bar in the Austin area.
An Austin police department detective set up a controlled narcotics buy on September 17th between Walker and the informant according to the report. The two men were under surveillance and the parties were recorded with both audio and video. Joshua allegedly bought a substance from Walker which later tested positive for 0.85 grams of heroin. At that time Walker also reportedly agreed to pay Joshua $1,000 to kill the intended victim and said he would give him the address of the victim. Walker also said he would look for the murder weapon. Walker told Joshua the first and last name of the victim, and spelled it for him.
Walker was arrested and booked into the Travis County, Texas, jail on September 18th. A municipal court judge ordered a $100,000 bond.
Lana Shadwick is a contributing writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. She has served as a prosecutor and an associate judge in Texas. Follow her on Twitter @LanaShadwick2