71-Year-Old Alabama Man Receives 30-Month Prison Sentence in Cocaine Distribution Conspiracy

James Walker, 71, of Huntsville, Alabama, will serve 30 months in prison after U.S. District Judge John L. Sinatra, Jr. sentenced him on May 7, 2026, U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced the same day.

The sentence covers Walker's conviction on one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, a mixture and substance containing cocaine. The penalty includes the prison term plus an unspecified period of supervised release that begins after incarceration ends.

Federal sentencing guidelines and the statutes invoked require forfeiture of any proceeds or property traceable to the conspiracy.

The operational change locks in a fixed 30-month term of imprisonment where none had been imposed. Walker moves from pretrial status directly into Bureau of Prisons custody to begin serving the sentence immediately following the May 7 hearing. Upon release he enters supervised release under standard conditions that restrict travel, association, and substance use while mandating reporting to a probation officer.

Downstream, the Bureau of Prisons must designate a facility and calculate Walker's release date based on the exact 30-month term and any jail credit already accrued. The U.S. Probation Office for the Western District of New York now schedules post-release supervision and prepares conditions that will bind Walker for its full duration.

Any assets identified during the investigation must be transferred to federal forfeiture accounts within the timelines set by the court's judgment. The sentence also counts toward the Department of Justice's ongoing enforcement statistics for cocaine trafficking cases in the Western District of New York.

This sentencing concludes one defendant's role in a larger federal drug conspiracy prosecution brought in the Western District of New York. The Department of Justice has used the same conspiracy statute in hundreds of multi-defendant cocaine cases nationwide in recent years, routinely securing multi-year prison terms and supervised release periods that extend years beyond the incarceration phase.