Renaming Dallas Juvenile Justice Center | Dallas News Live

Dallas County commissioners have voted to rename the Juvenile Justice Center in Dallas, taking down the name of the longest serving DA in Dallas County, Henry Wade, and replacing that with the name of Tommy Lee Walker, wrongly convicted and sent to the electric chair for a crime he did not commit. I'm joined now by Dallas County District Attorney John Cruzzo. And Mr. Cruzzo, thank you for your time. How did this case from the 50s get on your radar, sir? So there was significant controversy about Tommy Lee Walker and his being charged with murder and particularly the facts of the case back in the 50s. Back in those days after he was convicted, it was two or three years and he was executed. And there was lots of evidence that he was innocent and he had a pretty solid alibi. And And at first, the first statement that they said they took from him had so many factual inaccuracies that even the media realized that it was not a good statement, that it wasn't true. And so Henry Wade himself went in and took a second statement and tried the case and even Contrary to the law, testified in the case and achieved the conviction and a death sentence for Tommy Lee Walker. So there was a historian looking for in this day and age of DNA, looking for the possibility of an innocent person having been executed in Texas. And she came to Dallas, well, she lived in Dallas actually. And she got that name and she started the research and she really put it all together. And then she got together with the Innocence Project, the National Innocence Project, and they brought it to us. And then we worked on it here and came to that conclusion that Mr. Walker had not killed anyone. In fact, back in January, you put the evidence on trial, so to speak, and Mr. Walker was symbolically exonerated. What's the intent of that action, the symbolic exoneration? Well, because of the age and because of the status of the case, we could not go to the state of Texas and get an exoneration. There's no law that helps this case. However, Dallas County did prosecute him, and the commissioners asked us for a presentation, which we gave, and they voted that in their powers that Tommy Lee Walker was an innocent man and was wrongfully executed. And in fact, when you did that symbolic exoneration, his son was there. The son, he was with his son's mother as she was... In labor, when this crime happened that he was accused, convicted, and sent to die for. Dallas County commissioners voted for the name change. Now, when it was first named after Wade in 1995, Commissioner John Wiley Price was the only commissioner to vote against naming the facility after Wade. At that time, there was becoming more and more evidence that innocent people were sent to prison under his leadership in the DA's office. So looking back, Price was right, wasn't he? Yes, he was. When does the renaming happen? You know, I don't know. I know it's between now and the end of the year, but I have not heard a firm date. I would expect it to be perhaps in December. And how do you feel about this change and what the message is to Dallas County? Well, I think it's appropriate. Number one, Henry Wade was not known for any reforms, any New ideas or anything in juvenile justice, so in a way to put his name on a building who was an ill fit, let's put it that way. And Tommy Lee Walker represents someone who the criminal justice system of the state of Texas I'm going to go ahead and Wrongfully convicted and executed and there's a lot of power in recognizing that and I think that putting that on a government building, though it's juvenile building, I think it's an appropriate thing because it'll certainly remind all of us of how wrong the criminal justice system can go. Dallas County District Attorney, former judge John Cruz. Oh, thank you, judge, for being with us. Thank you. Have a good day.