Charles W. Walker Sr. (born November 8, 1947) is a former state senator in the legislature of the state of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. He was first elected in 1990. In 1996, he became Georgia's first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

Senate Majority Leader. Walker is a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

and is from

Augusta, Georgia Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Georgi ...

. Walker owned a myriad of small enterprises under the name The Walker Group. One of Walker's first ventures was a convenience store called "Reklaw's", which is Walker spelled backwards. Walker started a newspaper called The Augusta Focus that served Augusta's black community. It often expressed opposing viewpoints to Augusta's only daily newspaper, The

Augusta Chronicle ''The Augusta Chronicle'' is the daily newspaper of Augusta, Georgia, and is one of the oldest newspapers in the United States still in publication. The paper is known for its coverage of the Masters Tournament, which is played in Augusta. The ''C ...

. Convicted in 2005 by a federal court in Augusta on charges including tax evasion, mail fraud, theft, misusing campaign funds, and conspiracy (127 counts, in all), Walker was serving a ten-year sentence at a Federal Correctional Institution in

Estill, South Carolina Estill is a town in Hampton County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 2,040 at the 2010 census. Geography Estill is located north of Savannah, Georgia, northwest of Hilton Head Island and west of Charleston. The major indus ...

. His projected release date was September 26, 2022. An appeal of his convictions was rejected on July 6, 2007. Walker filed a petition for

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...

in March 2009. The federal judge who presided over his trial recused himself from presiding over Walker's petition in May 2009. Walker was released from custody in late 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Charles 1947 births Living people African-American state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state) Democratic Party Georgia (U.S. state) state senators Politicians convicted of mail and wire fraud American people convicted of tax crimes Georgia (U.S. state) politicians convicted of crimes 21st-century American politicians Politicians from Augusta, Georgia 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American politicians