Walter J Blair faces imminent execution after an appeal to the US Supreme Court was denied on 17 May 1993. Walter Blair, black, was sentenced to death in 1980 by an all-white jury, in an unfair trial that may have been racially prejudiced. Although he initially confessed to the crime, he shortly after claimed that this was coerced by police, and he has consistently maintained his innocence. He was largely convicted on the testimony of a co-defendant who was offered immunity from prosecution and probation for unrelated charged pending against him, in exchange for his testimony. According to Blair’s present attorney, evidence presented at trial suggested that the co-defendant was the actual perpetrator of the crime.
