Unlawful Actions: Lawyer Attempts to Kill Colleague

South Carolina attorneys, Irby Walker and Doug Thornton, had been working alongside one another for decades. Although the two grew close enough to share office space, the relationship dissipated sometime after 2006. Dislike soon morphed into hate and then, regrettably, into vengeance. 

Horry County Police recently caught wind of a plot in which Walker was attempting to hire a hit man to kill Thornton, his longtime colleague. In response to the plot, local police dispatched an undercover officer posing as a hit man to begin negotiations with Walker.

During the conversation, Walker affirmed his plot and agreed to pay the undercover officer (posing as a hit man) with a substantial check. With the first-person evidence in hand, police arrested Walker on the spot and charged the scornful lawyer with solicitation to commit a felony. 

When arrested, Walker referred to the charges as farcical, stating, “I’ve been a hardworking attorney for a long time. I believe I’m an ethical person.” These comments; however, proved meaningless, as Walker later pleaded guilty to the charge. 

For his felonious intentions, Walker received a 10-year prison sentence, with a seven year suspension—meaning he will only serve three years for his attempted murder plot. In addition to the jail time, Walker’s law license was, not surprisingly, revoked.