BEAUMONT, Texas — The attorney for a former Beaumont Independent School District electrical contractor who defrauded the district of more than $1.2 million more than a dozen years ago is filing a writ of certiorari.
Calvin Gary Walker, who was found guilty of felony fraud in September 2019, was facing six months in jail and payment of more than $1.1 million in restitution and was supposed to be sentenced on Tuesday, November 8, 2022.
Walker's attorney, Dick Deguerin, told 12News he is filing writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court on Walker's behalf.
A writ of certiorari is an order from a higher court telling a lower court to follow a certain law while an appeal is a petition to a higher court seeking to overturn a lower court.
Deguerin will have a Zoom meeting Thursday afternoon, November 10, 2022 with Walker and Judge John Stevens, where he will present any reasons why Walker should not begin his sentence.
If Deguerin can't convince the judge that Walker should not begin his sentence, then Walker will begin his first of 60 consecutive weekends in jail on Friday, November 11, 2022.
This will be weekend jail only.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The above video first aired on November, 4, 2022.)
Walker's electric company was contracted for electrician services for Beaumont ISD. Prosecutors claimed back in 2009 that Walker used fraudulent billing practices and submitted fake invoices to defraud the district of more than $1.2 million.
Walker challenged the constitutionality of the verdict claiming that he was denied his motion to reject the indictment and that the evidence used against him lacked legal sufficiency.
In November 2019, Walker filed a Sentencing Memorandum, arguing that the trial court should not order restitution. Walker claimed that double jeopardy was intact, the court did not order restitution in its oral pronouncements and written judgment, and the trial court lacked the power to order restitution.
In February 2022, the Ninth Court of Appeals upheld the guilty verdict, finding all the claims lacked merit.
In August 2022, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected Calvin Walker's petition seeking to overrule the lower court's decision to uphold the conviction.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is the state's highest court of appeals.
The case delayed work at South Park Middle School and Regina Howell Elementary.
In early October 2019, Walker was sentenced to 10 years probation and was required to pay a $10,000 fine. He has since paid this fine off.
In early November of 2019, Judge Stevens ordered Walker to serve 180 days in the county jail as part of his 10 years on probation.
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This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.