Tackett wants out of plea agreement

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

TACKETT

With the ink scarcely dry on a plea agreement which took 14 years to put together, the man serving time for the 1990 robbery and shooting of Paul Walker wants a new deal.

The defendant, Roger Dale Tackett, 32, has filed a petition for post-conviction relief, just three months after he entered a guilty plea and was given a 20-year sentence. Tackett, who will be eligible for parole after serving only 30 percent of his sentence, says he wants a reduction of sentence, citing among other things, ineffective assistance of counsel.

Tackett took a plea deal this February rather than stand trial for the Dec. 19, 1990 shooting of Paul Walker, who remains confined to a wheelchair from a bullet fired at near point-blank range which struck him in the neck. Tackett went to prison still denying he was the person who fired the blast which paralyzed Walker. However, he did not deny being part of the early morning robbery of the service station where Walker worked.

The robbers took a strong box containing about $500 during the heist. Lawmen suspect more people were involved in the robbery and shooting. However, only Tackett has been brought to justice. Three suspects, one of whom was Tackett, were arrested shortly after the crime in 1990, but all were released due to lack of evidence. Tackett was re-arrested last year after the cold case was re-opened.

While supposedly waiving right of appeal, some inmates, after accepting plea agreements, are able to file such appeals. In the case of Tackett, the appeal was filed within 120 days of his sentence, thereby allowing him to circumvent the waiving of appeal.

According to District Attorney General Dale Potter, the state will strongly oppose Tackett’s request for a reworking of his plea agreement.

“What happened is he got to prison and found out he didn’t like it there very much,” Potter said of Tackett’s change of heart once being incarcerated in the state prison. “Some inmates get up there and have a lot of time on their hands so they file papers.”

Tackett was appointed an attorney to look into his case during his first appearance last week. To obtain a change in sentence, Tackett will have to prove ineffective assistance of counsel, prosecutorial misconduct, or will have to introduce exculpatory new evidence in his favor.