6 January 29 - February 4, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents into Walker, was a “known Ku Klux Klan member.” According to police and media reports from the time, an officer who re- sponded to Parker’s murder claimed that just before her death, she’d blamed a Black man for slashing her throat. Other wit- nesses challenged that account, but the of- ficer’s story was still shared with Walker’s jury and the press. Creuzot and Burnham claimed that after being arrested, Walker was coerced into giv- ing false confessions. At times, those confes- sions contradicted each other. Walker later recanted the confessions, stating that he was afraid for his life at the time they were made. According to Burnham, threats of the death penalty were used to force Walker into com- pliance. “If you tell someone that they’re going to go to the chair, they’re going to do what- ever they can do to avoid that fate. Both Fritz and [former District Attorney Henry] Wade made clear to Walker that the chair was there,” Burnham said. “They didn’t have to tell him that; he knew that. But they reinforced that, they made it clear to him that the death penalty was on the table.” Walker was sen- tenced to death by an all-white jury only three months after his arrest. He was killed in Huntsville by an electric chair on May 12, 1956. According to Walker’s family, he main- tained his innocence until his death. “You can imagine that Tommy Lee Walker didn’t stand a chance,” Creuzot said. “He knew it didn’t matter what he said. That the die was cast on his life.” A Legacy of Pain Mapes said it was not uncommon, during her years of conducting interviews about Walker’s death, for folks to break down in tears. Walker’s prosecution was a particular point of pain for Dallas’ Black community in the ‘50s. Black Dallasites showed up by the thousands to stand outside the Dallas County courthouse during the trial, and reporting by Dallas’ Black newspaper, The Dallas Express, stated that 5,000 people attended Walker’s viewing after he was executed. At a time when race relations between Dallas’ Black and white communities were in upheaval, the case contributed to the harm that “many still feel,” Mapes said. Edward Smith was 2 years old when his father, Walker, was executed. He told Wednesday’s meeting that growing up fa- therless was “a nightmare,” and that for much of his early childhood, he was unable to comprehend what had happened to his father. After Walker was executed, he said his mother fell into a pattern of heavy drink- ing, often telling Smith, “They took your daddy from me.” “As I grew older, I realized that he wasn’t coming back. That the electric chair,“ Ed- ward trailed off, resting against the podium that stands before the commissioner’s horseshoe. Then, a whimper escaped his lips. “I’m 72 years old, and I still miss my daddy,” he said while crying. When Mapes began asking questions about Walker’s case, Smith said, his family was finally able to find some peace of mind after decades of mourning. Also present was Joseph Parker, the son of Venice Parker. Before speaking, he em- braced Smith, and the two men stood arm- in-arm. Parker, who now lives in Houston, urged the court to acknowledge Walker’s in- nocence. “I don’t think [Walker] would have been capable of doing what he was accused of do- ing. It just doesn’t make sense,” Parker said. “We seem to have a knack for taking the big- gest cases and screwing them up royally. … I just hope that this court does not add to that mistake.” Smith cried out, thanking God, when Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins an- nounced the court’s unanimous finding of Walker’s innocence. The resolution, read to the courtroom by Commissioner John Wi- ley Price, declared the prosecution of Walker unjust and affirmed the court’s be- lief that he did not kill Parker. Emotionally, the commissioners acknowl- edged that, in the prosecution of Walker, two families had been denied justice. Parker’s true killer has not been identified. “We must do what we can when given the opportunity to look at old, or as they call them, dead cases,” Jenkins said. “The files may be dead in a legal sense, but the pain of the injustice remains.” ▼ WORLD CUP SOCCCER SECURITY WHEN IT COMES TO WORLD CUP SECURITY, MONEY IS ABUNDANT BUT DETAILS ARE HUSHED. BY EMMA RUBY U .S. Sen. John Cornyn took a break from the campaign trail last week to join Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and local and federal law enforcement leaders at the Dallas Police headquarters for a conver- sation on public safety during this summer’s FIFA World Cup games. The One Big Beautiful Bill, which Con- gress passed last July, included a $625 mil- lion appropriation for security during the World Cup, and Cornyn stated that he be- lieves Texas will receive around $100 mil- lion of that funding. The money will be used to reimburse costs taken on by local law enforcement agencies during the games. According to Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux, the funds will be key to covering overtime hours worked by Dallas and Ar- lington police officers during the region’s nine games. The funds can also be u sed for equipment needs, though it was un- clear from Thursday’s briefing which tech- nologies the departments may need. The Department of Homeland Security announced a separate federal funding pack- age in January to develop drone surveillance programs and counter-drone technologies ahead of the games, something Rick Burk- head, a regional safety liaison with FIFA, de- scribed as “a concern.” Cornyn — perhaps not that far off from the campaign trail after all — emphasized that the funding is a crucial step in affirming the federal government’s support of local law enforcement efforts. “To me, our support for our law en- forcement agencies is non-negotiable. I know there are some who say we should defund the police, or we should abolish ICE, or we should interfere with law en- forcement officers enforcing the laws of Congress,” said Cornyn. “I think that’s ab- solutely wrong.” Present at Thursday’s briefing was Chris- tina Foley, special agent in charge of the United States Secret Service. Foley will serve as the federal coordinator for the Dal- las matches, communicating between local and federal law enforcement agencies. Five departments within the Department of Homeland Security will be active in moni- toring security threats throughout the World Cup, Foley said. What are those threats, specifically, you ask? So did the media members present on Thursday. Mums the word. Millions of soccer fans are expected to visit Dallas for the World Cup, which John- son touted as an “incredible opportunity to market our neck of the woods to the world.” But details were also few on whether local law enforcement leaders are communicat- ing with federal immigration officials about plans to ensure that international visitors are not affected by President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Earlier this week, the U.S. State Depart- ment stopped issuing visas to immigrants from 75 countries, including several that have already qualified for the North American games. Officials have stated that the pause will not affect tourist visas for those hoping to enter the U.S. for the World Cup. Still, the American Immigration Council has warned that public arrests by ICE agents, fast-changing federal policy, and al- tercations like the shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an ICE agent may have a chilling effect on those who are willing to travel to the U.S. for the games. When asked how North Texas officials were preparing for this summer’s intersec- tion of international visitors and ICE’s presence, Cornyn described Trump’s fed- eral immigration policy as part of the “mandate” he received from voters, said ICE’s being in North Texas “should not be a problem at all,” and moved to the next question. ▼ IMMIGRATION STAY OUT OF BIG BROTHER’S CROSSHAIRS FILMING ICE IS LEGAL BUT EXPOSES YOU TO DIGITAL TRACKING; HERE’S HOW TO MINIMIZE THE RISK. BY NICOLE M. BENNETT W hen an Immigration and Cus- toms Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in south Minneapolis on Jan. 7, 2026, what happened next looked familiar, at least on the surface. Within hours, cellphone foot- age spread online, and eyewitness accounts contradicted official statements, while video analysts slowed the clip down frame by frame to answer a basic question: Did she pose the threat federal officials claimed? What’s changed since Minneapolis be- came a global reference point for bystander video in 2020 in the wake of George Floyd’s murder is how thoroughly camera systems, especially smartphones, are now entangled with the wider surveillance ecosystem. I am a researcher who studies the inter- section of data governance, digital technolo- gies and the U.S. federal government. The hard truth for anyone filming law enforce- ment today is that the same technologies that can hold the state accountable can also make ordinary people more visible to the state. Recording is often protected speech. But recording, and especially sharing, creates data that can be searched, linked, purchased and reused. Video can challenge power. It can also attract it. Emma Ruby The family of Tommy Lee Walker were grateful for his exoneration. Unfair Park from p5 “WE SEEM TO HAVE A KNACK FOR TAKING THE BIGGEST CASES AND SCREWING THEM UP.” - JOSEPH PARKER
