FirstTrial

the topic of conversation quickly turned to sex. Walls then lay down next to him by the fire, with his head at Doug's feet. "Jack started unbuckling my belt. I didn't know what to do. I told him to stop", said Doug. But Walls was persistent. Doug told him no again, then got up and woke Marc McConnell and Chris Houchens, friends who were asleep in their tents.

The three boys went to Doug's truck to leave but Walls stopped them by taking the keys from the ignition. Early the next morning Walls allowed the boys to leave.Their parents questioned their early return home and it was then that Doug began to tell his father, Cledis Hogan, what had happened the night before. Following are the subsequent events:

-- Dec. 30, 1992: Cledis Hogan contacted Walls and demanded his immediate resignation from Scouting. Mrs. McConnell reported the incident to the Department of Human Services (DHS) Child Abuse Hotline and to the Lonoke County Sheriff's Office.

-- Dec. 31, 1992: Walls wrote a letter of apology to the Hogan's. Excerpt from that letter: "There is a great amount of trust placed in a man who works with young people as I did, and I violated it. I am ashamed of this as I have let everyone down from the Scouts through my own family and it's now up to me to change my life."

-- Jan. 4, 1993: Cledis Hogan reports the incident to Jeffrie A. Herrmann, an executive with the Boy Scouts Quapaw Area Council.

-- Jan. 5, 1993: Herrmann notified Walls the organization was "revoking and severing their relationship" with him. Within a two-week period the Boy Scouts notified DHS on three separate occasions. Law (act 1208 of 1991) required a completed investigation within 30 days. The investigator, Ken Murphy, took no action until May 26, 1993, 6 complaints and 147 days later.

-- Without determination, the investigation was turned over to Larry Cook, Prosecuting Attorney of Lonoke County.

-- June 1, 1993: Jim Rainbolt, criminal investigator with the Arkansas State Police, interviewed Doug Hogan, but labeled the case file as a "false imprisonment" investigation.

-- July 28, 1993: Rainbolt interviewed Walls who claimed he "only hit Hogan on the belt buckle with the back of his hand."

-- Three weeks later, Rainbolt interviewed Marc McConnell and Chris Houchins who both say Walls admitted that night he solicited sex from Doug Hogan.

No other interviews took place.

-- Oct. 8, 1993: Rainbolt closed his investigation stating that Larry Cook "determined that the actions of the suspect in this case do not constitute a crime."

-- Nov. 18, 1993: Cledis Hogan persuaded Municipal Judge Gary Rogers of Carlisle to sign two warrants against Walls on charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and third degree assault, both misdemeanors.

-- Nov. 22, 1993: Walls is arrested on those charges.

-- Nov. 23, 1993: After discussing the matter with Rainbolt, Murphy determined that no abuse took place or was intended and closed his file on the case.

-- Nov. 30, 1993: A copy of this confidential DHS file was released to a person listed only as "Walls."

On Apr. 8, 1994, during a three-hour trial, character witnesses including former

State Representative Bill I. Fletcher, other pillars of the community, and boy after

boy testified on behalf of Walls. Later, it was revealed Walls was sexually assaulting these boys, one of whom said, "I was told if I didn't testify for him, I would end up dead."

Walls was found innocent of the charges, however, Judge Rogers was not satisfied and said, "I personally believe that there may be other charges that may have been filed, but weren't. I'm not making any determination on whether there were any sexual advances or not. That, again, was not before the court."

In a 1999 interview Cledis Hogan said, "You'll never convince me that it wasn't the Walls' power and money that kept Jack out of trouble."

Ken Murphy was fired in June of 1999, one day after a reporter showed DHS officials

documents, which the officials admitted they had never read, that showed Murphy had not only failed to do his job, but had broken the law in the Hogan investigation.