"The good news is Mr. Walker has another chance," said Mike Reynolds. "The bad news is, a chance to do what?"
Douglas Walker was the inspiration for the Three Strikes law, and he committed yet another felony after he was released for his role in the 1992 murder of Kimber Reynolds.
Walker inspired the law and he was almost sentenced under it. A judge gave him the benefit of the doubt after he committed a third strike 11 years after the Reynolds murder, and because of that, he's back living in Fresno Friday.
Douglas Walker has spent most of the 21 years since the death of Kimber Reynolds behind bars. Convicted for robbery and accessory to murder, he got a nine-year sentence at the age of 28. And although he was already very familiar with state penitentiaries, he told ABC's 20/20 his life of crime was at an end.
"There's not a day that goes by I don't feel remorse for what happened to that girl but i mean, there's nothing I can do to change that," Walker told 20/20.
"Do you feel you can be a productive person outside?" reporter Tom Jarriel asked. "I know I can," Walker said.
"Law abiding?" asked Jarriel.
"Law abiding," said Walker.
That statement became a lie a few years after his release when he was convicted of grand theft. In the meantime, Reynolds' father had used his daughter's death to bring to life the Three Strikes law, requiring sentences of 25 to life for third strike felons. But when it came time to sentence walker, a judge decided not to apply the law to the man who inspired it.
A decade later, he's out of prison, living in Fresno, and a thorn in the side of Reynolds.
"Unfortunately not everybody responds well to rehabilitation," said Mike Reynolds. "I think he's evidence of that."
State statistics back him up, 56.9 percent of first time offenders released from prison get sent back for new crimes, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. But 76.4 percent of repeat offenders commit new crimes after they're released.
Action News tried to ask walker why he'd be the exception to the rule this time around.
"That's what I want to talk to him about, obviously," the reporter said as he talked with Walker and family members through the front door of their house.
"There ain't no talking," Walker said."He doesn't want to talk to you guys," a sister told the reporter. "I mean, he's trying to live his life the best that he can, that's just the way it goes."
"I hope that for not only his sake but more importantly the rest of our sake that he stops doing crime, but if you want to ask me what the odds are, unfortunately I would suggest he's a creature of habit and his habits are bad," Reynolds said.
Under the prison realignment act, AB-109, because Walker's last crime was non-violent, he was not released to the strict supervision of parole.
He's on post-release community supervision and not subject to nearly as many restrictions.
