Charles Walker (Georgia politician)

Charles W. Walker, Sr. (born November 8, 1947) is a former state senator in the legislature of the state of Georgia. He was first elected in 1990. In 1996, he became Georgia's first African-American Senate Majority Leader. Walker is a Democrat and is from Augusta, Georgia.

Walker owned a myriad of small enterprises under the name The Walker Group. One of Walker's first ventures was a convenience store called "Reklaw's", which is Walker spelled backwards.

Walker started a newspaper called The Augusta Focus that served Augusta's black community. It often expressed opposing viewpoints to Augusta's only daily newspaper, The Augusta Chronicle.

Convicted in 2005 by a federal court in Augusta on charges including tax evasion, mail fraud and conspiracy (127 counts, in all),^[1] Walker is currently serving a ten-year sentence at a Federal Correctional Institution in Estill, South Carolina. His projected release date is September 26, 2022.^[2]

An appeal of his convictions was rejected on July 6, 2007.^[3]

Walker filed a petition for habeas corpus in March 2009. The federal judge who presided over his trial recused himself from presiding over Walker's petition in May 2009.^[1]

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