Live from Music Row Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Marine Jim Walden to the microphone to describe the story of how his son Jimmy Walden was killed by an illegal alien and set free after serving minimal time.
Leahy: We are joined now by Jim Walden. Jim is with Advocates for Victims of Illegal Alien Crime. On the web at aviac.us. Jim, welcome to our microphones.
Walden: Thank you very much for having us. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak.
Leahy: I have in my hands a tag. The tag, says Lance Corporal James Walden III. 5-6-95 to 2-24-17. Tell me your son’s story.
Walden: Jimmy was an exceptionally smart kid. He was an honor student from the time he started school to the time he finished. He graduated fourth in his class from grade school. Ninth in his class from high school.
He got a four-year ride to Bradley University for electrical engineering. It’s the fourth most prestigious engineering college in the United States.
He went to one semester and he said, you know what? College ain’t for me. I want to go into the military. So he joined the Marine Corps, a family tradition.
Leahy: So you are a Marine Corps veteran?
Walden: I am a Marine.
Leahy: Thank you for that correction. Once a Marine.
Walden: Always a Marine.
Leahy: That’s exactly right now. Where did he grow up? What town?
Walden: He grew up in Peoria, IL. A small town, middle of the state. Definitely not Chicago.
Leahy: Not Chicago. So he joins the Marines. What happened then?
Walden: He got selected for intel. As I said, Jimmy was intelligent. And he went to a year with school between Pensacola, Florida, and Texas. Got his MOS straight out. Military occupational specialty. Was stationed at Fort Meade, Maryland, working for the National Security Agency.
Leahy: Oh, yeah.
Walden: He was a crypto analyst. Basically, Jimmy eavesdropped and spied with a computer. After Jimmy passed, they gave him the Navy Achievement Medal posthumously. In the citation, it said that he was personally responsible for the identification and destruction of 25 high-profile terrorist targets and up to 80 secondary targets.
Leahy: So he was good at his job.
Walden: Very good. His NSA boss said that he’s been in the NSA working for 28 years and he’d never met a more gifted analyst.
Leahy: What happened on February 24, 2017?
Walden: February 24, 2017, at 3:35 p.m. Jimmy had been in meetings all day, and it frustrated him. He was wound up and something that he had learned from me. I’d come home, wound up. I take a ride instead of going to the house irritated.
So he left and got on his motorcycle and went for a ride. It’s a small little two-lane road. Photonic Road in Maryland. Goes right through this beautiful forest.
It’s a little twisty road. Jimmy was wearing boots, jeans, a leather jacket, gloves, full-face helmet. He still had on his reflective vest because it’s required on base.
Thirty miles an hour. Coming in the opposite direction was an illegal by the name of Martin Martinez running 65 miles in a 30 mile an hour zone on a twisty road. Lost control of his car twice, once to the right and then once to the left, right in front of Jimmy.
Crime scene reaction said that Jimmy’s skidmark was only four feet long. It’s all the reaction time he had. He hit the car in the passenger’s door. They said it killed him instantly.
Leahy: What became of the illegal alien driving the car at 60 miles an hour in a 30 mile an hour zone?
Walden: First of all the stepson was in the passenger seat injured from the accident. He climbed out the door and he stepped over my son’s body and ran.
Leahy: And he ran. Was he caught?
Walden: An hour and 45 minutes later with a helicopter and a dog. They found him.
Leahy: And what became of him? What of the case itself?
Walden: It all came to light that he had been officially labeled illegal in 2012 by the state of Maryland. They knew in 2012 that he was in the country illegally.
They gave him a stay, which is basically a free pass. They let him go. Between 2012 and 2017, he was in jail five times. He was convicted.
Leahy: Never deported.
Walden: No. Convicted of a felony of domestic violence. Put on probation.
Leahy: Where is he now?
Walden: He is supposed to be in Mexico.
Leahy: How did he get out?
Walden: He only got a six-year sentence. The only thing they sentenced him for was fleeing the scene of an accident involving a death.
Leahy: You’re kidding me?
Walden: No. They plea-bargained that from ten years to six.
Leahy: And…
Walden: He did three and a half years.
Leahy: And he’s gone.
Walden: He got deported. But I’m pretty sure he’s back.
Leahy: Jim Walden, thank you so much for your story. We’re sorry for your loss. We appreciate you being here today.
Walden: I appreciate so much you guys letting us tell our story.
Leahy: Jim Walden and he’s with Advocates for Victims of Illegal Alien Crime.
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Police Lights” by Tom Woodward. CC BY-SA 2.0.
