[color="Blue"](He'll probably be out in less than three. This with a history of violence, warrants,
and then fleeing to California after the attack to avoid prosecution. )😡

http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-14/1147246148106960.xml&storylist=orlocal

Walker sentenced to prison in student's death

5/10/2006, 12:06 a.m. PT
The Associated Press

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — A man convicted of throwing a punch that led to the death of a University of Oregon student was sentenced to more than six years in prison.

Lane County Judge Gregory Foote issued the sentence for manslaughter to 23-year-old Darrell Sky Walker during an emotional hearing Tuesday.

Phillip Gillins, 22, died from a brain injury on the same June weekend he was to walk in graduation ceremonies.

"Instead of graduation, we spent two days watching him die in the hospital," his father, Peter Gillins, told the court. "He was awake when we got there and we watched him slowly fade out over two days."

His mother, Linda Gillins, said her son was an empathetic person who rescued animals and helped elderly neighbors with household chores.

"You are evil," she told Walker. "You destroy. You destroyed Phillip."

Walker's attorney, David Lesh, argued at trial that one of Walker's friends was the attacker. Lesh indicated that he would appeal or ask for a new trial within the next 30 days.

The attack happened as Gillins and two friends walked home after drinking beer at a bar near campus.

As they walked, a young white man pushed his way through the group. Gillins, who was white, is alleged to have made a racist remark to the man — a claim his friends and family dispute. Moments later, the trio was confronted by three men headed the opposite direction. One was a black man. The others were white.

The black man, Walker, shoved one of Gillins' friends and punched Gillins in the face, Lane County Deputy District Attorney Debra Vogt said during the trial. Gillins fell and never got up.

Vogt said Tuesday that Walker has a history of drinking and fighting and is wanted on four warrants for drunken driving incidents in California.

She said Walker has a chip on his shoulder and reacts to "anything he perceives as a racial comment, whether it really is one or not."

Walker's family sat silently in the courtroom as Peter Gillins described how he resigned his position as a juvenile court judge in Portland after his son's death. He said he could no longer hear cases in which children assaulted other children.

The judge criticized Walker for attacking Gillins to defend the honor of a friend who never appeared in court to testify on Walker's behalf.

"Violence is stupid and senseless and in this case tragic," Foote said.