A 66-year-old con man from Laguna Seashore accused of plotting from behind bars to have a federal decide put in a wooden chipper and several other different regulation enforcement officers killed was convicted as soon as once more on Friday after his earlier conviction was overturned on attraction.
John Arthur Walthall, whereas serving a 14-year sentence on the federal jail in Lompoc for a phony gold-mining scheme, was accused of plotting a bloody revenge towards the decide, prosecutors and brokers he believed had been chargeable for his long-term incarceration.
Prosecutors stated Walthall laid out his plan to different inmates, who reached out to the FBI. An secret agent was despatched to the jail to speak to Walthall. Recorded conversations from behind bars had been performed throughout each trials.
The audio captured Walthall saying he wished former U.S. District Choose Andrew Guilford to endure a “good and painful loss of life” by “shoving him in an (expletive) wooden chipper” and the FBI brokers and federal prosecutors “killed on the spot.”
Walthall’s attorneys have accused different inmates of planting the scheme in Walthall’s head so they may report him to authorities and earn day without work their very own jail sentences.
Over time, Walthall has at instances acted erratically throughout courtroom hearings, at factors launching into rambling, seemingly stream-of-conscious speeches referencing imprecise accusations of regulation enforcement wrongdoing and alleged threats to his security.
Walthall was convicted of the costs in 2016, with U.S. District Choose Cormac J. Carney sentencing Walthall to a different 20 years in jail, after describing him as a bitter, offended, sadistic and merciless man.
In 2019, a federal appeals courtroom overturned Walthall’s conviction, discovering that he had been improperly denied the proper to signify himself at trial, setting the stage for a retrial.
Throughout closing arguments Friday in Walthall’s newest trial, his legal professional, Charles Brown, advised jurors that the plan Walthall was recorded discussing – which included hiring successful squad to kill the regulation enforcement officers – was “completely, one hundred pc not believable.” The protection legal professional blamed the inmates who knowledgeable on Walthall, telling jurors they “manipulated” Walthall by “planting the seeds” of the scheme and “fanning the flames.”
“Phrases alone should not a criminal offense,” the protection legal professional stated. “Phrases alone should not sufficient… this isn’t a criminal offense, it's a fantasy, a fiction.”
Assistant U.S. Legal professional Fred Sheppard advised jurors that portray Walthall because the sufferer is “ridiculous.”
“He wished these individuals useless, he obsessed about it,” Sheppard stated. “He was keen to con whoever it took to make it occur.”
In accordance with prosecutors, Walthall has a historical past of in search of revenge towards regulation enforcement officers, together with buying three firearms and a silencer in 2011 whereas awaiting his fraud trial and scouting potential dump websites to bury our bodies earlier than being taken into custody.
Sheppard famous that in one in every of his recorded jail conversations Walthall in contrast himself to a king piece on a chess board and famous that “a king doesn’t have interaction in fight.”
“The one factor he discovered again in 2011 is that when the king engages in battle the sport is over,” the prosecutor advised jurors.
Jurors on Friday deliberated for lower than three hours earlier than discovering Walthall responsible.
He's scheduled to return to courtroom for sentencing on Aug. 8.