Douglas Walker

By Allie Winter, LAW WEEK COLORADO
Montezuma County District Judge Douglas Walker has declined to comment on defendant convicted murderer Ignacio Rael’s being jolted twice with a Taser gun to get him to Walker’s courtroom.
The tasing came after Walker ordered law enforcement to use “any force necessary” to get convicted murder Ignacio Rael to show up for his sentencing hearing, The Cortez Journal has reported. Walker, who received a lengthy prison term, did not attend his trial.
Real’s lawyer, public defender Tom Williamson, said his client was “tasered several times” when he told deputies that he didn’t want to attend the hearing.
Cortez Journal reporter Steve Grazier told Law Week Colorado that law enforcement “rolled Rael in” on a chair to which he was restrained. “His legs were restrained and I could see something around his chest,” Grazier said.
The Judicial Branch, through spokesman Rob McCallum, also had no comment on the tasing, but the branch said it placed “a high value on its relationship with law enforcement and places its trust in those officials to decide what course of action is necessary in any given situation.”