Accused killer walks free for weeks after falling behind on ankle monitor payments

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - A man charged with capital murder, fell behind on payments of his ankle monitor device. So he was able to walk free unmonitored for two weeks.

Clint Walker is accused in the deadly robbery of a game room back in 2016.

He was released on a $100,000 bond in June, and forced to wear a GPS-monitoring device.

How the court system is set up, a defendant out on bond is required to pay for their ankle monitor device.

But when Walker didn't make his payments, Guarding Public Safety, the county's GPS vendor, located him and took back their device. 

"I really would just like to know why -- the reason why he was running the streets unmonitored," said Hugo Garcia, the son of a victim in the 2016 robbery. "He stopped paying for the ankle monitor. Then they took it off. They just simply took it off."

Harris County District Attorney's office is calling it a concerning loophole and a public safety issue.

"When he was instructed to then come get another monitor, he failed to show up -- violating his conditions of bond," said David Mitcham, First Assistant at the DA's office. "For a period of roughly two weeks he was in the wind."

Teresa May, Director of the Harris County Supervision and Corrections Department, says the county court system was not in violation. Instead, May says, the vendor violated their agreement by not complying with the appropriate procedure of reporting an offender who has failed to pay. 

"I was never informed ... we were never informed that this individual was out on bond," says Garcia.

The DA's office tells FOX 26 that they are requesting the judiciary to take immediate action to "overhaul the flaws in the electronic monitoring of defendants."

"I believe something needs to immediately be done," Garcia said. "This can't happen for someone who's violent and who's accused of capital murder ... to be wandering the streets is unacceptable."

For Hugo, the thought that Walker, the man accused of killing his father, was allowed bond is hard to accept.

"Everyone deserves a right to bond, but come on, this guy had priors. The red flags were there. This guy shouldn't have been in the streets."

FOX 26 reached out to the vendor Guarding Public Safety, but has not heard back.

May says the county is no longer in business with them.