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DeGuerin (left) stands with Walker in the Jefferson County Courthouse. -
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With his Houston-area attorney swearing it’s true, former Beaumont ISD contract electrician Calvin Walker filed a plea of indigence before the U.S. Supreme Court just before Thanksgiving, Nov. 22. Shortly thereafter, the man convicted of illegally absconding with more than $1 million of taxpayer money siphoned through the local school district was allowed to forego the $300 filing fee it costs to have a case submitted before the highest court in the country.
“I swear or affirm under penalty of perjury that, because of my poverty, I cannot prepay the docket fees of my appeal or post bond for them,” Walker signed on a Supreme Court submission claiming indigence. Further, Walker claimed a total of $0 in earnings for himself and his “N/A” spouse monthly for the last 12 months – additionally denoting he anticipates $0 earning potential for the near future, as well. According to the financial filing, Walker receives monthly disability checks totaling $1,894 as his sole source of income.
Walker, currently spending weekends in jail and weekdays allegedly not earning any money, was convicted of securing execution of a document by deception, a first-degree felony, at the end of 2019. The document Walker secured was a check in excess of $1 million from the local school district for work prosecutors showed was billed at exorbitant markups using falsified invoices presented to the BISD finance officer.
During the state’s trial against Walker, the defense team led by Dick DeGuerin detailed Walker received many million-dollar plus checks during his tenure of service at BISD. Still, as of recent financial assertions from the electrical mogul, the retired electrician only has $200 in the bank.
“I am unable to afford the cost of the fess associated with this petition,” Walker wrote by hand at the end of Supreme Court finance forms. Back tax payments owed to the IRS amounting to $2,685 per month already exceed Walker’s disability allotments. “My personal monthly expenses exceed my monthly income. Additionally, I have massive outstanding liabilities in the form of restitution and fines to the IRS (in dispute). I cannot afford any additional cost or expenses.”
Found guilty of crimes against the community, the jury sentenced Walker to serve 10 years in jail – reduced to community supervision for 10 years – and assorted added penalties. Of main contention in Walker’s plea to the U.S. Supreme Court, is a restitution order for $1,172,656.92 entered on Jan. 8, 2020, nearing three years ago; and “up-front” jail time that requires weekend incarceration for the next few years.
Arguing that the case should be heard before the U.S. Supreme Court, Walker’s attorneys assert that words like “pecuniary” and “value” are vague in definition, and now is the time to clarify commands.
Attempting to offer rationale for this case being of national importance, Walker’s attorneys allege the Supreme Court should review the matter as it relates to the Texas Penal Code charges of fraudulently securing document execution being “unconstitutionally vague under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.”
According to the Office of the Clerk of the Supreme Court of the United States, Walker’s plea for judicial review is no sure thing.
“It is important to note that review in this Court by means of a writ of certiorari is not a matter of right, but of judicial discretion,” office correspondence details. “The primary concern of the Supreme Court is not to correct errors in lower court decisions, but to decide cases presenting issues of importance beyond the particular facts and parties involved.”
The Supreme Court, the clerk’s office reports, grants and hears argument “in only about 1% of the cases that are filed.”
“The vast majority of petitions,” according to the clerk’s office, “are simply denied by the Court without comment or explanation.”
Awaiting word from the high court, Walker’s attorneys requested reprieve from the 9th Court of Appeals to at least suspend the weekend jail time Walker has been ordered to continue to serve while he appeals the sentencing. On Dec. 1, the court denied such relief.