GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The attorney for the Zeeland native accused of killing his wife and a state police trooper in upstate New York appears to be devising a bold defense strategy, blaming the military for not doing enough to help U.S. Army Sgt. Justin Walters.
“Had the military maybe properly addressed the needs of Sgt. Walters, this tragedy could’ve been avoided,” Ed Narrow, Walters’ defense attorney, told WWNY-TV Tuesday.
Walters faces two counts of murder after police said he shot and killed his wife, Nichole, and New York State Trooper Joel Davis on July 9 at Walters’ home in Theresa, a town near the Canadian border.
Narrow told WWNY-TV that he talked with Walters for an hour and half Monday night. Narrow said they didn’t talk about the criminal case, but rather about Walters’ service in the Army. The 32-year-old soldier was stationed at Fort Drum in New York after serving two combat tours in Afghanistan.
“Having experienced the horrors of war, Sgt. Walters brought some of those back with him, and he has been suffering from his experiences in Afghanistan since his deployments,” Narrow told WWNY-TV.
Walters’ mother told 24 Hour News 8 last week that he had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder earlier this year, but that he was getting treatment.
It now appears that Walters’ attorney is using his client’s time in the service to build a defense.
“There were services that were provided to Sgt. Walters by the United States military,” Farrow told WWNY-TV. “However, it’s our opinion that the services that were provided post-deployment were wholly inadequate.”
Long before his time in the Army, Walters was in trouble with the law. 24 Hour News 8 pulled juvenile records in Ottawa County that revealed six felony convictions against Walters when he was a teenager living in the Holland area. In 1999, 24 Hour News 8 reported that he and another 15-year-old were charged after compiling a ‘hit list’ of fellow students and then trying to obtain a weapon.
At proceedings last week for the killings, Walters told a judge he didn’t know why he was appearing in court.
When asked about that, Farrow would only say, “We recognize the fact that this is a tragedy.”
Full Story on WOODTV8