Judge Denies Motion to Transfer Espionage Trial of Arthur Walker Because of Pretrial Publicity
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NORFOLK, Va. — A federal judge denied a defense motion Tuesday to move the espionage trial of Arthur J. Walker but said he might agree if an impartial jury cannot be selected when the trial opens next month.
“I don’t think it would be proper for me to do it at this time,” said U.S. District Judge J. Calvitt Clarke Jr., in denying the motion.
Defense lawyers had asked for the trial to be moved to Richmond, arguing that extensive pretrial publicity and the large number of Navy families in the Norfolk area meant that their client could not get a fair trial here.
Walker, a retired Navy lieutenant commander, is charged with passing documents from his defense contractor employer to a spy ring allegedly run by his brother, John A. Walker Jr., a retired Navy chief warrant officer.
John Walker’s son, Navy seaman Michael Lance Walker, and John Walker’s Navy buddy, Jerry A. Whitworth of Davis, Calif., also have been charged with espionage.
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