By Joy Hampton
November 8, 2009 — (Editor’s Note: This is fourth in a four-part series on Claremore attorney Jack Gordon, Jr., and some of Rogers County’s most infamous murder trials.)
In 1984 Gary Allen Walker went on a killing spree in Northeast Oklahoma, ending the lives of six innocent people. One of those was 25-year-old Tulsa radio reporter, Valerie Shaw-Hartzell.
Claremore attorney, Jack Gordon, Jr. tried the case. It was Gordon’s first death penalty trial.
“He was one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met. Profound mental illness,” said Gordon. “This is the case that put me where I am today.”
Though Gordon had tried murder cases previously, starting with that the Dorland case in 1975, a death penalty case is different.
In Oklahoma, the death penalty is not automatically on the table in a murder case. In order to get the death penalty included as a sentencing choice, the prosecution must file a Bill of Particulars citing aggravating circumstances that warrant the death penalty.
Normally in a murder trial, the defense will focus on proving the defendant charged with the crime to be not guilty.
All of that changes when the death penalty is on the table, said Gordon.
Reputable prosecutors will not put the death penalty on the table unless guilt is certain, said Gordon. When the death penalty is at stake, the focus is to save the client’s life.
“Death penalty jurisprudence is a breed of cat unto itself,” said Gordon. “I was scared to death. I’m scared at everyone of them but this was the first (death penalty) case out of the box. It changed my life.”
Gordon’s notorious and deadly client was also a breed unto himself.
“He was a terribly unforgettable character,” said Gordon. “He and I got to be good friends.”
Walker was found guilty and sentenced to die, but throughout the trial, Gordon objected strenuously to a number of items. He believed the judge had allowed the prosecution to make several unacceptable mistakes.
He filed an appeal petition alleging 20 points of error. Gordon said 16 of the 20 were good.
“The case was unanimously reversed,” said Gordon.
In 1992 the case went to trial a second time with Gordon again defending Walker.
During the trial, Walker was imprisoned in the Rogers County jail which at that time was on the third story of the Rogers County Courthouse. The cell was double-locked, but Gordon said Walker could open his cell.
At times when the authorities took him to the bathroom, Walker could easily have gotten away, said Gordon. Walker was intelligent and resourceful. On medication, Walker was cooperative, however, and did not try to escape.
A large part of any death penalty trial becomes mitigation, said Gordon and Walker’s trial was no exception. The State alleges aggravating circumstances as part of the death penalty Bill of Particulars.
“The State has to prove those beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Gordon.
The defense responds by trying to prove mitigating circumstances such as that Walker was abused as a child and was mentally ill.
“I didn’t condone what he did, obviously,” said Gordon. “But he was abused as a child and endured horrendous things. He was real sick.”
Jury selection also becomes important, but Gordon doesn’t hire specialists, preferring to take the responsibility of choosing the jurors.
“If I have a lifegiver on that jury, that’s who I’m going to talk to,” said Gordon. “I don’t believe in jury selection experts. It’s my job, my responsibility. That person’s my child and I take them for better or worse and I love them. Nobody else does, but I do.”
That love extended to Walker.
“I didn’t want Gary to be loose. If he got off his meds, he was going to kill somebody.”
The press during that time repeatedly cited Walker as lacking in remorse. Gordon said that is not true.
“He had a lot of remorse,” said Gordon.
In another case, Walker’s insanity defense was denied, and he was executed on Jan. 13, 2000 for the 1984 murder of Eddie Cash of Broken Arrow.
“They killed him the night before my daughter’s graduation from college,” Gordon remembers.
Cash had been a good Samaritan who gave Walker a ride and was repaid by being strangled with a vacuum cleaner cord and beaten with a brick.
Despite Walker’s heinous acts, Gordon had compassion for his mentally ill client.
“Our society does not have an adequate means of taking care of our mentally challenged citizens,” he said.
The son of Jack and Janelle Gordon of Claremore is a bit of an anathema to the culture of his community and his county, where the death penalty is about as popular as God, country, and American pie. But Gordon does not regret who he is, does not second guess the career path he has taken.
“The death penalty law cases define my law practice and define my life,” said Gordon. “I’m very proud that I do that.”
That choice has a times been tough on his family. Support from loved ones has been key to his success, said Gordon.
“My wife, Elise, helps me a lot during the trials,” said Gordon. “Her support shores up my backbone in the middle of the night when despair and fear are my only emotions.”
That despair and fear is driven by Gordon’s relentless drive to save the lives of his clients. He remains adamantly opposed to the death penalty on moral and ethical grounds. He considers even the most dangerous and murderous of his clients like children he must protect.
Many of his friends tell Gordon they could not do what he does.
“You have to have a lot of courage to look the devil in the eye and say you’re not going to kill my client,” said Gordon.
