Walker Takes Plea Deal

Johnathan Walker entered an Alford Plea Friday morning in Keokuk County District court to one count of Willful Injury, a Class D Felony. An Alford Plea is in essence a guilty plea however the defendant maintains their innocence while conceding that they likely would be convicted at a trial. Walker was initially charged with Attempted Murder, however the trial information as amended prior to Walker’s hearing on Friday to add the Willful Injury charge. The charge of Attempted Murder will be dismissed, pursuant to a plea deal. Walker is expected to be sentenced to a five-year suspended prison sentence at his sentencing in July and will serve a five-year term of probation in lieu of actual prison time.  

Walker was arrested in early March after an incident in rural Keokuk County where he was accused of stabbing a What Cheer man 17 times in the chest and abdomen and striking him with a baseball bat muliple times, breaking several bones. A motive has never been revealed in the incident.

For more on this story, catch the May 2 edition of the News-Review.