Defendant rejects plea deal in 1981 murder case

A man prosecutors say was linked to a 34-year-old murder case rejected a plea deal Friday.

Nearly five years ago, authorities said DNA evidence linked Willie Lee Shannon to the kidnapping and slaying of 18-year-old Jamey Walker.

Shannon turned down an offer from prosecutors to accept a second-degree murder conviction and face 15 years in prison. Now prosecutor Frank Coumou said he plans to seek the death penalty for Shannon at a trial slated for March.

Walker died of a massive skull fracture after falling almost 50 feet. Her body was discovered Mother's Day, May 10, 1981, under a bridge at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

Shannon's lawyer, Mace Yampolsky, said the deal with prosecutors was for what's known as an Alford plea, which meant Shannon would not admit guilt, but acknowledge that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him.

"He just couldn't admit to something he didn't do," Yampolsky said of rejecting the offer.

At the time Walker's body was found, police speculated she died while trying to escape from attackers, according to Review-Journal articles at the time.

The day before the woman's body was found, her father, James Walker, received an early morning telephone call demanding $75,000 for his daughter's safe return.

Police said the Walkers were having trouble obtaining money for her release because banks were not open on the weekend. Jamey Walker was the daughter of Eleanor Walker, a past president of the local chapter of the NAACP. Her grandmother was Sarann Knight Preddy, who ran unsuccessfully for Las Vegas City Commission in 1979.

Shannon's arrest report says Walker might have been an unintended target in the kidnapping.

Police later said a jailhouse informant reported that Shannon, while serving time in the Nevada State Prison in 1986 and 1987, confessed to the killing. But the informant has since recanted.

Several members of Walker's family were in the courtroom for Shannon's brief appearance Friday. They came expecting him to take the plea deal.

"It's a slap in the face that it has taken this long," said the victim's cousin, Gayla Walker Thornton, who was 8 at the time of the killing. "It's been a tragedy my entire life."

Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Find him on Twitter: @randompoker