Gun owner cleared of manslaughter in slaying of Warren police officer

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Gun owner cleared of manslaughter in slaying of Warren police officer By: Chad Halcom, Macomb Daily Staff Writer October 12, 2001 A St. Clair County man continues to face charges for illegally possessing the murder weapon in a Warren cop's death, but not for the slaying itself. Macomb County Circuit Judge Deborah A. Servitto refused recently to restore a manslaughter charge against Terry Walker, 49, the registered owner of a 9mm handgun used to kill Warren police Sgt. Christopher Wouters a year ago Thursday."If anyone else had been killed, like just some ordinary citizen, no one would care about charging my client with manslaughter," said Timothy Barkovic, Walker's attorney. "But as far as Warren's concerned, apparently somebody's got to pay for this."Everyone involved in the case agrees Walker didn't literally "possess" the gun when Wouters died -- he wasn't anywhere near the fatal gun exchange with Lleka at a Warren jail booking area. Walker's the legally registered owner of the gun.Police and prosecutors say Lleka "Alex" Juncaj, 29, of Sterling Heights concealed a Bryco 9 mm handgun in his pants and used it to shoot Wouters at police headquarters, during a struggle after his Oct. 11, 2000 arrest in a drug case.That same gun then killed Juncaj, during a scuffle with a second officer. A trace on the weapon led to Walker of Capac.Prosecutors charged Walker with involuntary manslaughter on the theory that his own criminal wrongdoing with the gun contributed to Wouters' death; but 37th District Judge John M. Chmura tossed that out and ordered him to stand trial as a felon in possession of a firearm, a 5-year felony."I'm satisfied the judge gave it full consideration, at least," said Eric Kaiser, chief trial attorney for Macomb prosecutors, who appealed to restore the case. "The problem at this point was probably (showing) abuse of discretion (by the lower court)."Kaiser argued that Chmura abused his discretion by dismissing the manslaughter and felony firearm charges at the District Court.Barkovic sought to quash the only remaining charge since nothing so far shows Walker "possessed" the gun in Macomb County or that he still owned it after his prior felony conviction.But Servitto denied both requests."But for (Walker's) act of unlawfully transferring a gun, would Officer Wouters have been shot and killed?" the ruling states."(T)he Court is not persuaded the answer would be an unequivocal 'no.' The evidence does not establish that (Walker) transferred the gun directly to Juncaj."Both Barkovic and Kaiser said they have no plans to appeal the ruling further, and the case will go to trial as is."The widow sued these (Warren) officials, but my guy isn't being sued. He's not negligent in their lawsuit," Barkovic said. "They (police) are just trying to hang it all on my guy."Kaiser denies that the Walker case is an effort to deflect Warren police officers' responsibility for Wouters' death."I don't care what liability the police officers have. That's not a factor in my decision," he said. http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=2488046&BRD=988&PAG=461&dept_id=141265&rfi=6