Tuesday, July 12, 2011

The SC Attorney Who Tried to Hire a Hit Man to Kill a Former Colleague, He's Disbarred

Back in 21009 I related the story of Irby Ezell Walker, Jr. who was caught trying to hire a hit man to kill a former colleague and office mate.  This is a link to Walker's firm website which is still up and running.  The Associated Press is reports that Walker confessed to the crime, and the Legal Profession blawg links to Walker's voluntary disbarment.  This is an excerpt from the local news report at WIS10 Columbia, SC:

A South Carolina attorney sentenced to three years in prison for trying to hire someone to kill another lawyer has been disbarred.  The state Supreme Court on Monday ordered that Irby Walker's law license be revoked.

Walker in August was sentenced after pleading guilty to solicitation to commit a felony.

Police said they recorded conversations Walker had with another person about how much Walker would be willing to pay to have Conway attorney Doug Thornton killed.

Authorities say Walker paid the prospective hit man with a post-dated check because he didn't have enough money in his account to cover the check's face value.
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The underlying story relates to a lot of bad blood between Walker and his intended victim(s).  There is also a connection to a small town mayor that Walker represented, a blown divorce representation, and bad real estate deals.

Now get this, under South Carolina rules, Walker can apply for reinstatement after he completes his criminal sentence.  Amazed?  I am.

By the way when I originally wrote about this case I linked to this article which spells out in some detail what was going on with Walker at the time he pulled these stunts.  It's worth reading for the Southern Gothic quality of the attempted murder.

8 comments:

  1. I am no longer amazed at the things which are allowed in SC *hangs head* I am also no longer amazed at some of the actions of the legal professionals in my state - people here are nuts!

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  2. Anon--
    I am a Bad Lawyer, and I've done some pretty disgraceful stuff. Nonetheless, it's hard to fathom a system where a lawyer can undertake to hire someone to murder another lawyer, and still be able to obtain reinstatement.
    BL

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  3. For a little more background, you might want to take a look at this, where Walker represented Thornton (unsuccessfully) in Thornton's disciplinary action: http://www.judicial.state.sc.us/opinions/displayOpinion.cfm?caseNo=25438
    There's probably a lot more to this than what the SunNews story relates.
    (Gothic is right!)

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  4. Is it a law somewhere that lawyers have to have crappy websites?

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  5. Regarding previous post: I am not referring to Bad Lawyer (I love your blog, I've got it on my iGoogle page!), but the websites of both Walker and Thornton are both pathetic!

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  6. Anon--

    No offense was taken. In fact I continue to work on trying to find a smoother presentation for this blawg's appearance. Thank you for your nice words.

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  8. So ole Irby Walker is up to his con man ways to this day. Exploiting my elderly father in law to open up his lawn business and placating he is a lawyer to gain information as well as trying to become an estate trustee..In my over hearing of his conversation with my father in law i was able to stop it although he retaliated. SLED is investigating him at this moment

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