Press, lawyers struggle with case

A private hearing has been scheduled for the prosecution and defense to share and discuss evidence in the 1998 Hester College fire retrial of Jerry Walker.

Last year, Walker was indicted a second time for setting the fire that killed Michael Minger, a junior music student living in the residential college. The incident also seriously injured another student.

In a hearing early last week, Commonwealth Attorney Mark Blankenship, the case’s main prosecutor asked Foust to set the meeting “in camera,” setting restrictions on media coverage.

The motion prompted The Paducah Sun to file a complaint motion earlier this week citing a violation of its freedom of speech.

Blankenship said he feared it would be impossible to compile an unbiased jury for the trial scheduled for July 6 if media coverage continued. … Continue Reading

Defense fights to appeal indictment

Austin Ramsey
News Editor

Austin Ramsey/The News

Gail Minger occupied a seat in the far corner of the Calloway County Circuit Courtroom Monday morning, but her mind was elsewhere.

Minger’s thoughts were with her son, Michael, who died in Hester Residential College 13 years ago when a fire was set outside his fourth-floor dorm room, trapping him inside.

Meanwhile, across the courtroom, Jerry Walker, a Paducah, Ky., man indicted a second time in more than a decade for starting the fire, sat against a far wall, fidgeting and twiddling his thumbs – his thoughts, too, visibly distant.

In the middle of the courtroom, between Walker and Minger, and before Circuit Judge Dennis Foust, stood Commonwealth Attorney Mark Blankenship and Walker’s defense attorney Richard Null.

Null used Monday’s status hearing to appeal Walker’s re-indictment a second time. He said the prosecution had violated Walker’s rights to due process of the law in the more than 10 years that had passed since charges were dropped against him at the hands of a hung jury in 2001. … Continue Reading

Foust sets Walker manslaughter trial date

Staff Report 

Jury selection in the case against former University student Jerry Walker is scheduled for July 6, and the trial is set to ensue shortly afterward.

Walker, 35, of west Paducah, Ky., was indicted for a second time due to his alleged connection with the 1998 Hester College fire.

A status hearing was held on Dec. 22 in Calloway County Circuit Court to determine if the case will proceed to trial.

The 2001 trial ended with a hung jury, a mistrial and dismissal without prejudice, meaning Walker could face charges again. The case had to be brought to the grand jury to show there was enough evidence to start a new investigation. … Continue Reading

Foust sets Walker trial date

Austin Ramsey/The News

Austin Ramsey
News Editor

Benton, Ky. – Jerry Walker, the Paducah, Ky., man charged with the 1998 Hester College fire, is set to stand trial for the 13-year-old crime that killed one student and critically injured another.

The tentative trial date was set by Judge Dennis Foust at the Nov. 21 status hearing. Jury selection will begin on July 6.

The fire, which occurred in the early morning on Friday, Sept. 18, 1998, was reportedly set on the fourth floor of Hester College. It blazed through a hallway, trapping Michael Minger, a sophomore music student from Niceville, Fla., who was found unconscious in the doorway to his room and pronounced dead at the hospital.

A second student, Michael Priddy, was also found unconscious, though rescue crews were able to revive him. Another 14 students were rescued from the residential college interior, along with Walker. … Continue Reading

Expert: Prosecutor faces disadvantages in cold case

Austin Ramsey
News Editor

Luke Milligan, assistant professor of law at University of Louisville

Commonwealth Attorney Mark Blankenship may have a tough case ahead of him, according to an expert on cold cases at the University of Louisville.

Blankenship is the main prosecuting attorney in the re-indictment of Jerry Wayne Walker, who faces charges related to the 1998 Hester College fire, which killed one student and critically injured another.

Walker, a student when the fire occurred, was tried once before for murder and assault of the two students, but doubt on the part of a Calloway County Circuit Court jury led to a mistrial in 2001.

But in September of this year, 10 years after the initial charges were dropped, a special grand jury indicted Walker, 35, on a charge of second degree manslaughter, first degree arson, second degree assault and 14 counts of first degree wanton endangerment for the total residents on the west side of the fourth floor of Hester College where the fire was set. … Continue Reading

Paducah School’s superintendent: case becomes distraction

Elizabeth Johnson
Editor-in-Chief

 Stemming from his re-indictment involving the fatal 1998 Hester College Fire, Jerry Walker has been transferred from his position as assistant principal at Paducah Middle School to the school system’s central office.

Randy Greene, superintendent of Paducah Public Schools, said the decision was made Tuesday.

“It became a distraction,” Greene said. “The people at the building were very supportive and the parents were very supportive but I started getting calls from the middle school – people just wanting to talk about it.” … Continue Reading

Grand jury re-indicts suspect

Elizabeth Johnson
Editor-in-Chief

Elizabeth Johnson/The News

Thirteen years to the day following the funeral of Michael Minger, Jerry Wayne Walker, arrived at Calloway County Circuit Court for an arraignment stemming from the Hester College fire on Sept. 18, 1998, in which Minger died due to smoke inhalation.

“It’s a pretty bittersweet day,” Gail Minger, the victim’s mother, said following the hearing. “Knowing that Mr. Walker has been re-indicted, I believe there will be a resolution as part of the tragedy and catastrophic events that unfolded at Murray State so many years ago.”

Walker’s attorney, Dennis Null, filed a not guilty plea at the Thursday hearing. … Continue Reading

Student’s death remembered

Elizabeth Johnson
Editor-in-Chief

Murray State faced an unprecedented tragedy 13 years ago when an arson fire resulted in the death of a student living in Hester College.
Michael Minger, sophomore from Niceville, Fla., died from smoke inhalation on Sept. 18, 1998. Minger was double-majoring in music/vocal performance and broadcast journalism.
Ches Clark was a student at the time and in “Men of Note,” a men’s vocal ensemble, with Minger.
… Continue Reading