United States v. Stephanie Kay Stearns, United States of America v. Buck Duane Walker, AKA Roy A. Allen

Eleanor and Malcolm Graham disappeared without a trace in August 1974. Their boat appeared in October in the possession of the appellants, Stearns and Walker, who claimed that the Grahams had drowned. Appellants were charged with theft and convicted, and Walker’s conviction was vacated and later dismissed on speedy trial grounds. See U. S. v. Walker, 575 F.2d 209 (9th Cir.1978); U. S. v. Stearns, 550 F.2d 1167 (9th Cir.1977).

In 1981, when Eleanor Graham’s skull and some bones surfaced with evidence of foul play, appellants were indicted for felony (robbery) murder. At issue now are their claims of double jeopardy and res judicata.

FACTS

The paths of Stearns, Walker, and the Grahams crossed in the summer of 1974 in a lagoon off Palmyra, an uninhabited atoll in the Pacific Ocean. The Grahams arrived in their luxurious 37-foot boat, the Sea Wind, with state-of-the-art technology, outfitted for a two-year cruise.

Stearns and Walker had to be towed into the lagoon because of their sailboat’s broken engine. Walker’s boat, the Iola, had taken a month to make the trip from Hawaii, about 1,000 miles, although most vessels make it in four to seven days. Without money and provisions,…