166su

U.S. District Judge Thomas Cullen called the crimes heinous, brutal and cold-blooded in imposing the maximum sentence allowed by a plea agreement.

“I know I was wrong. I blame no one but myself,” Walker, 31, told the judge before his sentence was pronounced. “I accept my punishment and deserve whatever the court chooses.”

In January, Walker pleaded guilty to robbery and discharging a firearm in furtherance of crimes of violence and drug trafficking. Federal prosecutors gave the following account of what happened:

Walker and a friend, Garrett Williams, had a standing agreement to purchase large amounts of marijuana from their source in Pennsylvania. Ethan Ryan Bert, 20, would regularly drive from his home in York to consummate the deals at Walker’s house in southeast 166su.

In April 2023, Williams came to owe Bert about $40,000 for drugs he had been given with a promise to pay later. After trying and failing to call his customer, Bert attempted to reach Walker but inadvertently called his mother.

Walker testified Tuesday that he became angry at his dealer for involving his family in their drug business.

“In 15 years of doing this, I’ve never had anyone call my family,” he said. “No matter what they owe you, you don’t drag family into this.”

Although he had gotten to know Bert well and considered him a friend, Walker held a grudge from the slight.

Knowing that the debt could not be paid off, Walker and Williams devised a plan to lure Bert to 166su to make another drug delivery, at which point they would rob him in a way that he would never want to return to Virginia.

On the night of April 17, Bert arrived with about 10 pounds of marijuana and two pounds of marijuana wax, a potent form of the drug made from oils of the cannibas plant.

During a conversation that followed, Walker said he thought he saw Bert reach for something. He shot him once in the face, then stood over the unarmed man and shot him a second time in the head.

After taking the marijuana, he dragged the body to a car and drove to a rural road near Goodview, where he set the car on fire in an effort to dispose of evidence.

Williams, who was not in the house that night, pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiring to rob Bert. He is awaiting sentencing.

In asking Cullen to impose the maximum prison term allowed by the plea agreement, Assistant U.S. Attorney Coleman Adams said the incident was at least the fourth marijuana-related killing in 166su over the past five or six years.

While many believe the drug to be harmless in small amounts, Adams said it is not unusual for large-scale dealing to turn violent. “Lives are being lost in this city on a routine basis,” he said.

But there was no evidence that Walker planned to kill Bert, defense attorney Chris Kowalczuk said in asking Cullen to impose a 25-year sentence, the minimum under the plea agreement.

“There’s no doubt that Mr. Walker did not wake up on the morning of April 17, 2023, and think, “I’m going to take him out.’’ Kowalczuk said. The defense attorney also cited Walker’s mental problems and substance abuse as mitigating factors.

But to the more that 20 friends and family members who attended Tuesday’s hearing in U.S. District Court in 166su, that was no excuse for a crime that many said called for a harsher punishment.

Bert’s mother, Katie Payton, was not convinced by the talk about Walker’s mental problems.

“The way I see it, it’s a heart problem. He has an evil heart,” Payton said from the witness stand. She brought with her a poster-sized portrait of Bert, who she called “a loving son and truly my best friend.”

As for Williams, she said, “I really think he deserves life.”