<p>Former state Senate majority leader Charles Walker got an unfair trial after four white men his defense team already had rejected were included in the jury, lawyers for the ex-lawmaker argued Wednesday.</p><p>A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals heard an appeal by Walker, who was sentenced to more than 10 years in federal prison in 2005 after being convicted on 127 counts that included using his government post to make himself rich.</p><p>The jury, drawn from counties throughout southeast Georgia, included four white men, five white women, two black women and one black man. Walker is black.</p><p>"The result of the ... challenge was that it tilted the ultimate jury drastically from the composition of the community," attorney Don Samuel said.</p><p>Samuel also argued that the Augusta Democrat was given an unfairly long sentence and that federal prosecutors never proved one of their key claims _ that Walker used his clout to coerce Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta into hiring workers from his personnel company.</p><p>Government lawyers countered that U.S. District Judge Dudley H. Bowen Jr. acted properly and that testimony in the trial showed that Grady officials considered Walker's position before signing a contract with him.</p><p>The four disputed jurors, including one who would become jury foreman, replaced one white man, two black women and one white woman.</p><p>During jury selection, Bowen replaced the jurors after saying it appeared the defense was removing candidates based strictly on race.</p><p>Federal law allows lawyers on both sides to strike several jurors from the jury pool without stating a reason, as long as it's not because of their race or sex. All 10 defense strikes in the case were white males and all six removed by the prosecution were black.</p><p>But Samuel said the defense had "race-neutral" reasons for all of its strikes. Two jurors rejected by the defense were accountants. The defense team did not want accountants on a case that included tax evasion charges.</p><p>Several others had political ties the defense believed could turn the jurors against Walker, Samuel said. They included then-Blackshear city Councilman Kevin Manders, who went on to become foreman. Walker supporters have circulated a photograph of Manders receiving a state grant check from Gov. Sonny Perdue _ possibly Walker's fiercest rival at the statehouse _ on behalf of the city.</p><p>While the appeals judges questioned both sides, the panel seemed to express more concerns with the prosecution's arguments. Judge Stanley F. Birch Jr. said he had questions about whether the government proved the Grady hospital charges.</p><p>Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Marsh said testimony showed Grady officials considered that Walker could "help them in the Legislature" if they hired his firm.</p><p>"There's evidence there was an understanding," Marsh said. "There's evidence that there was a wink and a nod."</p><p>But when questioned by Birch, he acknowledged it was a Grady official, not Walker, who brought up the then-lawmaker's clout in a meeting.</p><p>"What was he supposed to do? Put his hands over his ears and run out the door?" Birch asked.</p><p>Afterward, lawyers for both sides said they were pleased with the hearing. Samuel said the judges' heavy questioning of Marsh showed they "recognized exactly what the Achilles heel was for the government." But he added that its impossible to predict court decisions based on such questions.</p><p>Still, the hearing clearly encouraged Walker supporters who attended.</p><p>Champ Walker, the ex-senator's son, smiled and hugged another supporter in the hallway outside the courtroom.</p><p>"He's coming home!" the younger Walker said.</p><p>He declined to answer media questions afterward, as did several other Walker supporters.</p><p>The son of a sharecropper, Walker rose to become one of Augusta's wealthiest businessmen and one of the most powerful lawmakers at the statehouse after his colleagues named him majority leader in 1999.</p><p>Amid questions about his business dealings, he was defeated for re-election in 2002. But Augusta-area voters returned him to office two years later, despite a pending 142-count federal indictment.</p><p>Prosecutors said the motive behind Walker's fraud was to pay off $530,000 in gambling debts he had accrued in several casinos between 1996 and 2003.</p><p>The appeals court could take several months to issue a ruling.</p><p>Walker, who is being held at a federal prison in Estill, S.C., was not present at the hearing.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x1cdfda8)</p>
