Man not guilty of killing Morehouse classmate

By Larry Hartstein

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

One of four men charged in the torture and murder of a Morehouse College student was found not guilty Monday by a Clayton County jury.

Breylon Garland, 24, was acquitted in the 2006 murder of his classmate, Carlnell Walker. A 23-year-old tennis standout, Walker was bound, gagged, doused in gasoline and left in a car trunk to die.

The jury deliberated for four hours after the one-week trial.

"We gave the jury all the evidence that we had, and I'm stunned and disappointed by the verdict," District Attorney Tracy Graham Lawson said.

Garland's attorney, Robert Mack, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Another defendant, Miles Allen, was found guilty in August and sentenced to two life terms plus 70 years. Two defendants await trial.

Prosecutors said the defendants were looking for money when they attacked Walker, who had been in car crash a few months earlier and had bragged about a financial settlement.

Walker was found in the trunk of his car, parked in the garage of his Riverdale home, two weeks after his death. His mom had called police saying she'd been unable to reach her son.