Stanley Roger Beale, a 36-year-old male, was fatally shot in Richmond, Virginia on November 22, 1996. His life was cut short in an act of gun violence that would later be part of a capital murder case. The man responsible for his death, Darick Demorris Walker, was eventually apprehended and brought to justice for this and another killing.
The evening of the murder, Walker entered an apartment where Beale was present with his daughter, Bianca, and another individual.
An altercation ensued, and despite Bianca's pleas that her father did not know him, Walker opened fire. Beale was shot three times and succumbed to his injuries. His daughter, who was 13 at the time, was a key witness to the traumatic event and later identified Walker as the assailant from a photospread. Another witness, a fourteen-year-old girl in a nearby apartment, testified to seeing a man she knew as 'Todd' enter her friend's apartment that same night and exclaim, 'I shot him.' She also identified this man as Walker.
Darick Demorris Walker was subsequently arrested and faced a jury in the Circuit Court for the City of Richmond in late August and early September of 1998. He was indicted on multiple charges, including one count of capital murder for the killings of both Stanley Roger Beale and another man, Clarence Threat, within a three-year period. In addition to the capital murder charge, Walker was indicted on four counts of the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and two counts of burglary. The jury found him guilty on all charges. For the capital murder of Beale and Threat, Walker was sentenced to death. He also received prison terms for the other convictions. His conviction and death sentence were later affirmed on direct appeal by the Supreme Court of Virginia, and his subsequent petition for state habeas relief was denied.
