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Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
1. Proud to Be a Veteran
3. The Sex Offender Treatment Program
1. Proud to Be a Veteran
My name is Gary R. Walp, and I am a proud veteran of the United States Army.
I may appear to be an unexpected choice for presenting an educational program designed for law students and other legal professionals. Nonetheless, I trust that you will find the Stella Program to be a distinctive and enriching educational experience in the study of law, veterans, and veterans treatment court programs in Texas.
2. A True Story
3. The Sex Offender Treatment Program
1. Proud to Be a Veteran
In 1973, before enlisting in the Army, I made my first oral argument before a Dallas County juvenile judge who was itching to send me up the river to the juvenile prison in Gatesville, Texas, known as the Texas Youth Commission, or TYC.
So, I told the judge why it wasn’t in the best interest of the State of Texas to send me to Gatesville over smoking a cigarette. In my best voice of reason, I summed up my argument with a simple truth: “Your Honor, I’m just going to smoke in Gatesville, too.” A true story.
3. The Sex Offender Treatment Program
3. The Sex Offender Treatment Program
3. The Sex Offender Treatment Program
Years later, I appeared before the presiding judge of the 75th District Court of Liberty County, Texas, and presented my argument asserting that prisoners possess a constitutional right to free speech in order to maintain their claims of innocence. I contended that no prison guard, employee, or official should be permitted to compel a prisoner to confess guilt regarding the offense for which he was convicted and sentenced. The judge concurred with this position and subsequently granted injunctive relief against the Sex Offender Treatment Program at the Hightower Unit, which mandated that prisoners participating in the program admit guilt to their offenses or face disciplinary repercussions.
4. The State of Texas v. Gary R. Walp
4. The State of Texas v. Gary R. Walp
3. The Sex Offender Treatment Program
My second courtroom appearance was in December 1980. The infamous Henry Wade of the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office was trying me for the crime of aggravated rape. Wade had once boosted to the media that his office was “so good,” that they could send an innocent man to prison and there “wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.” Dallas County would eventually lead the nation in wrongful conviction-exonerations.
5. In Them O' Cotton Fields Back Home
4. The State of Texas v. Gary R. Walp
5. In Them O' Cotton Fields Back Home
In 1983, I began observing the Black Man as he stood up against working conditions in the middle of a cotton field at the Coffield Unit.
Raised in Mobile, Alabama, and taught not to “hate” but to “separate” from blacks, in prison I studied black history, slavery, and the civil rights era. Malcolm X, Brooker T. Washington (“I will not allow any man to mar my soul by causing me to hate him”), and Martin Luther King, Jr., were on my best reading list; along with Hawthorne, Thoreau, Emerson, and Poe.
6. The Bad Boy from Rosebud
4. The State of Texas v. Gary R. Walp
5. In Them O' Cotton Fields Back Home
In 1966, Kenneth Alan McDuff, the "Bad Boy from Rosebud," and his accomplice, Roy Green, kidnapped and murdered three teenagers, Robert Brand, Mark Dunman, and Edna Sullivan in Everman, Texas. At trial, Green testified against McDuff, who was sentenced to death.
In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the death penalty was cruel and unusual punishment and McDuff was resentenced to Life and released in 1989 from prison on parole. Between 1989 and 1992, McDuff raped and murdered several women. For two years, 1990-1992, McDuff had been attending Texas State Technical College (TSTC) in Waco, Texas.
CHAPTER TWO
7. TSTC Waco
8. Do You Believe in Ghosts?
8. Do You Believe in Ghosts?
On April 20, 1992, I was released from prison on my first parole date.
In July 1992, TSTC sent me a letter stating that my admission had been previously “accepted in error.” My admission had been accepted prior, student loans approved, and I made a deposit for on-campus housing. So, the letter baffled me. I called TSTC and was simply told that there had been an “error.” Believing that, I requested and received a refund.
8. Do You Believe in Ghosts?
8. Do You Believe in Ghosts?
8. Do You Believe in Ghosts?
In 1994, I found myself in the Waco County jail. Every thirty minutes the dayroom TV blared out a commercial for Texas State Technical College. Every ten - fifteen minutes I heard an echo saying, “McDuff.” “Texas State Technical College!" “McDuff ... McDuff... McDuff...” “Texas State Technical College!” “McDuff ... McDuff ... McDuff...” I eventually asked a jailer what the deal with McDuff was. Why were people repeating his name, and what’s up with all the annoying TSTC commercials!?
9. The Nature of the Offense
8. Do You Believe in Ghosts?
9. The Nature of the Offense
Law is fundamentally the pursuit of truth. However, it is evident without a law degree that TSTC's decision to terminate my admission stemmed not from “an error,” but rather from the fears and stigmas associated with my status as a convicted sex offender on parole.
The college’s administrative decision-makers did not see me as an individual; they focused solely on the nature of my offense. Years later, this reality resurfaced during my study of eligibility assessment for justice-involved veterans participating in veterans treatment court programs.
10. "The Pen is Mightier Than the Sword!"
After the case of Walp v. Jackson, I immersed myself in the study of logic, rational thought, persuasive arguments, and various rhetorical strategies such as smoke and mirrors and straw men. I devoted countless hours in the law library, poring over volumes of Southwest Reporters, Federal Reports, and Supreme Court Reports. During this time, I delved into criminal cases involving prisoners serving life sentences for drug offenses.
While I gained extensive knowledge of laws pertaining to drug offenses, I also took on challenging cases involving significant quantities of methamphetamine and marijuana, often facing undeniable affirmative links. Yet, I remained determined to uncover reversible errors. These individuals needed to know that every legal avenue had been explored in their pursuit to overturn their convictions. They sought closure and peace of mind, and I built a reputation for providing them with that assurance.
Read More: "GOD SENT ME." - Larry Lee Bledsue.
12. Let’s Talk About Domestic Violence
In 2017, I was brought into a Dallas County courtroom wearing handcuffs for an examination trial on the State’s felony charge of injury to a child. This at the time of a Dallas County’s Zero-Tolerance on Domestic Violence campaign.
I fired my court-appointed attorney and in a pro se motion to dismiss the case I argued that had I slammed or thrown the child’s head into a wall, as the State alleged in its charging instrument, the fact is, she would be dead. The fact that she is breathing means I am innocent -- beyond a reasonable doubt.
The Dallas County District Attorney’s Office dismissed the case.
I was immediately charged with a misdemeanor assault family/domestic violence. I wondered if the DA’s office had been holding the new charge as a surprise for when the injury to a child case was dismissed, but the allegation of domestic violence against my so-called girlfriend was serious, and it came out of the blue, as there were no allegations of domestic violence toward her in the police reports. What made it serious was its real potential to result in the revocation of my parole and sent back to prison.
I have often shared an axiom as old as Latin: An innocent man will not plea gulity. However, the plea bargain is the innocent defendant’s last line of defense when he has a "pen packet" consisting of a criminal history of violence, especially with an aggravated rape conviction. I pled guilty to the misdemeanor. My reasoning being that I would fair better at the parole revocation hearing. I didn't.
I came prepared to the hearing (written interrogatories, photo exhibits, and motions). I wasn’t prepared for the so-called victim's her statement that I had hit her in the eye with a flashlight.
My parole was revoked. I prepared and filed a motion to reopen my parole revocation hearing with the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole. I submitted the evidence -- photos, police reports – and argued that my parole officer suborned aggravated perjury by knowingly and intentionaly allowing the State’s star-witness to lie under oath at the hearing.
The Parole Board re-instated my parole. That was the shortest and last time I was released from prison, on November 19, 2018.
While I do not condone domestic violence, I advocate passionately for justice-involved veterans accused of domestic violence offenses.