Date: Wednesday, September 12, 1990 Source: By Rob Karwath and William Grady.
Tribune reporters Charles Mount and  Kerry Luft contributed to this story. 
Section: NEWS   Copyright Chicago Tribune

WALKER BECOMES 1ST EXECUTION IN 28 YEARS

    Charles Walker, convicted of killing a young couple in 1983 for beer
money, was pronounced dead at 12:12 a.m. Wednesday, executed by lethal
injection in Stateville prison near Joliet, according to state sources,
ending five years of court appeals.

    Walker, 50, spent his final hours Tuesday night as he had passed the last
five years on death row: calm and determined to die.

                              ....................

    At 6 p.m., the Death Row inmate ate the meal he requested: pan-fried wild
rabbit, with gravy made from the pan drippings, biscuits, and a dessert of
blackberry pie with whipped cream.

                              ....................

    Walker was to be the first Illinois inmate put to death since James Dukes
died in the electric chair Aug. 24, 1962, in Cook County Jail. Dukes was
convicted of murdering a Chicago police detective.
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