Not Guilty: Life After Exoneration

Rick Walker was a self-employed auto mechanic living in East Palo Alto. A single father, Walker spent much of his time with his extended family. Many of them called him "Mr. Fix-it" or "The trouble-shooter." But in January of 1991, Walker's work-a-day life changed forever. The body of his ex-girlfriend Lisa Hopewell was found bound, gagged and mutilated. Fingerprints on the duct tape led to Rahsson Bowers, a 21 year old East Palo Alto drug dealer. Bowers fingered Walker, his former mechanic, as an accomplice. The two stood trial as co-defendants. During the trial, Bowers took the stand and testified that Walker was the killer. A jury convicted Walker of murder in December, 1991. He served the next 12 years in maximum security prisons around California, until new DNA evidence and eye-witness testimony proved his innocence. Rick Walker was exonerated in 2003. This is his story. ***** In 2004, Rick Walker was compensated $421,000 by the state of California. That's a $100 a day for each day spent in state prison. He says he is not bitter about his wrongful conviction and that he's forgiven the people that put him in prison. His focus these days is on his nieces and nephews. Walker recently welcomed his nephew Dion to live with him in his home. And as a final note, a man named Marc Swanson pled guilty to the voluntary manslaughter of Lisa Hopewell in 2004. Swanson is currently serving a 15 year sentence for that crime.