HONOLULU (AP) — The military is considering whether an Army medic charged with conspiring with his lover to kill his wife will be court-martialed for child pornography and prostitution charges.
Sgt. Michael Walker has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge in civilian court in the killing of Catherine Walker, who was found stabbed to death in November 2014 in the military housing the couple shared in Honolulu.
New allegations surfaced during a military judicial hearing Wednesday. Michael Walker is accused of possessing and viewing child pornography and receiving money in exchange for sex with men, an Army prosecutor said. His Army defense attorneys declined to comment after the hearing.
"Sgt. Walker is alleged to have posted on Craigslist soliciting individuals to engage in sexual acts in exchange for his receiving money," Jim Guzior, spokesman for Tripler Army Medical Center, where Walker has been assigned since 2013, said in an email to The Associated Press. "Sgt. Walker is alleged to have solicited three men to engage in sexual contact."
Hearing officer Maj. Nancy Lewis will evaluate the allegations and evidence, which include 92 photos and 19 videos, and make a recommendation about whether he should be court-martialed.
The images were found on Walker's laptop during a November 2014 search, with additional images and video found during an April 2015 search, Guzior said.
In December, Ailsa Jackson pleaded guilty to murder and described in a Honolulu federal courtroom how she stabbed Catherine Walker and then waited a half-hour to make sure she was dead.
As part of a plea agreement, Jackson is expected to be sentenced to 30 to 33 years in prison in exchange for testifying against Michael Walker, who is scheduled to go to trial this year in the murder case.
After meeting through an online dating site in September 2014, Walker told Jackson he was married and that his "deepest desire" was to have his wife gone, but he couldn't divorce her, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Brady said during Jackson's plea hearing. The two then discussed Jackson carrying out the killing while Walker was at work so that he would have an alibi, Brady said.
Walker did have an affair with Jackson, but he loves his wife and didn't want her killed, his attorney in the civilian case, Birney Bervar, said after Jackson pleaded guilty. The couple, married for more than 11 years and originally from upstate New York, were about to undergo in-vitro fertilization after about a decade of trying to have a baby, he said.
Bervar said Wednesday the new allegations came from the investigation into the murder case. He couldn't comment on whether Walker denies them.
Guzior noted that Wednesay's hearing "is a preliminary hearing and that Sgt. Walker is presumed innocent until adjudged guilty of the charges."
