A Morristown man accused of tossing a loaded handgun into a dumpster while fleeing local police in 2019 now has a contempt citation, too, after a heated virtual exchange with a judge on Monday.
Delmar Walker, 35, persisted in interrupting Superior Court Judge Stephen Taylor after being warned to stop.
“Enough!” Taylor finally exploded. “I got a full calendar today, and I’m not going to listen to you.”
“Well, I should have been on the…,” Walker started.
“All right, now you’re in contempt of court!” Taylor said. The judge set a January trial date for the weapons charges, and denied a request from Morris County Assistant Public Defender Tracy Denholtz to release Walker from the Morris County Jail under strict conditions.
Walker already violated a prior release by getting booted from a halfway house and failing to check in with court officials, the judge said.
Taylor had granted that release after denying several such requests over concerns about Walker’s prior convictions and skipped court appearances.
The judge eventually relented, he said, because Walker made progress in a substance abuse recovery program at the jail, and because the pandemic blocked his right to a speedy trial. Walker had been in custody since his arrest by Morristown police on Dec. 26, 2019.
But Walker has not touched base with the court’s Pretrial Services agency since July 2021, according to the agency.
The Morris County Prosecutor’s Office sought a bench warrant for Walker’s arrest after learning he was not at Freedom House last month, said Assistant Prosecutor Elizabeth Beaman.
Walker was discharged from that program “for breaking the rules,” Denholtz told the judge.
During Monday’s Zoom hearing, Walker contended an official from Pretrial Services advised him that reporting to that office “was unnecessary,” and to focus on his pending trial. No court date had been set at that point, Walker said repeatedly.
“How can I miss a court date that was never set, your Honor?” Walker said, pressing the judge to check transcripts from a virtual hearing. “Don’t just make up things and act like I’m the worst person.”
Infuriated, Taylor told Walker he had blown a break that few other judges would have given him.
“There are rules that have to be followed, there are conditions of release that have to be followed. They are non-negotiable. They are not suggestions that a defendant may choose to follow. Similar to the rules at Freedom House,” Taylor said.
“Mr. Walker didn’t follow those rules. It’s unfortunate, but the decision was his, and his alone. Now he has to deal with the consequences of being discharged from Freedom House and violating the conditions of release.”
Taylor added he would investigate Walker’s claim about Pretrial Services.
A day after Christmas In 2019, a citizen reported seeing Walker fling a gun into a Flagler Street dumpster when he was running from police. They were pursuing him from a Martin Luther King Avenue grocery store for arrest warrants.
Authorities say a surveillance video recorded the throw, and a .22 caliber handgun was found in the dumpster.
Walker was charged with unlawful handgun possession, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and obstructing the administration of law, and indicted. Plea offers were rejected by both sides.
The prosecution is opposing a request from Denholtz–a request she acknowledged Monday as “overly broad”–for all police records relating to Clyde Potts Drive in the year preceding Walker’s alleged crime.
Police responded to 700 calls there over that period, according to Beaman, the assistant prosecutor.
Denholtz explained that she hopes to demonstrate it’s a high crime area. “If there were other gun offenses, it makes it more likely that somebody else could have put this gun in the dumpster,” the public defender said.
The judge suggested Denholtz could make her point simply by asking police to confirm the number of calls they responded to.
