Bill Walker hires a new attorney in restitution case. Here is what’s next in court.
Former Mississippi Department of Marine Resources director Bill Walker has hired an attorney to represent him after being called back to federal court for failing to make restitution payments.
Walker, wearing a pinstripe suit and light blue mask, appeared before Magistrate Judge Robert Myers Jr. at the federal courthouse in Gulfport on Tuesday with attorney Steven Eckert by his side.
Walker waived his preliminary hearing and is scheduled for a hearing Sept. 15 before U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett. Starrett is expected to decide whether Walker’s supervised release should be revoked for failing to pay make payments since February. If his release is revoked, Walker would have about a year left to serve in prison.
Eckert declined to comment on the case.
Bill Walker’s son, Scott Walker, was also in the courtroom Tuesday.
The Walkers were convicted in public corruption cases in 2014, when they were sentenced to prison, and ordered to pay restitution and fines.
Father and son were convicted in one case of conspiring to defraud the government while Bill Walker served as executive director of DMR.
In a second case, Scott Walker was convicted of fraud against the city of D’Iberville.
As part of his sentence, Bill Walker was ordered to pay $572,689.14 in restitution and a $125,000 fine. He still owes $373,247 in restitution and is supposed to pay $5,000 a month. The fine is due once restitution is paid.
Walker already stopped paying restitution once. Starrett sent Walker back to jail for two weeks in the fall of 2018 before releasing him with the understanding that he would cut expenses and resume the payments.
Scott Walker stopped paying monthly restitution after January, but he is no longer under court-ordered supervision. His restitution totaled $390,000 with $131,153.15 left to pay.
