BEAUMONT, Texas — A sentencing phase is just days away after the state's highest court upheld the guilty sentence of a former Beaumont Independent School District electrical contractor.
Calvin Gary Walker was found guilty of felony fraud in September 2019.
Walker's electric company was contracted for electrician services for Beaumont ISD. Prosecutors claimed Walker used fraudulent billing practices and submitted fake invoices to defraud the district of more than $1.2 million.
Walker could soon spend six months in jail and have to pay back more than $1.1 million in restitution.
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 John Stevens ordered Walker to serve 180 days in the county jail as part of his 10 years on probation.
This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.
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