Attorneys gave opening statements Monday in the trial of Jerry Wayne Walker, a western Kentucky man accused of starting a fatal fire when he attended Murray State in the late 1990s. Walker is facing arson, manslaughter and 14 counts of wanton endangerment charges for the 1998 fire that killed student Michael Minger. Minger, a Niceville, Florida sophomore studying music, died of smoke inhalation on September 18, 1998, as he tried to flee the fourth- floor fire in Hester Hall on Murray State's campus. The blaze also seriously injured another student. Walker was originally tried for murder in 2001, but the jury deadlocked 10-2 in favor of acquittal, and the judge declared a mistrial. State police revisited the case and brought the new charges last year, more than a decade after Walker was originally charged. Walker, now 35, was working as an assistant principal and minister at his church in Paducah when he was charged in September. The trial has been moved to Marshall County from Murray.
