Emma Walker killing: Has William Riley Gaul reached his last attempt to get conviction overturned. What to know.

Is it the end of the legal road for William Riley Gaul? The former Maryville College football player who was found guilty in 2018 of first-degree murder for shooting his ex-girlfriend, cheerleader Emma Jane Walker, has lost yet another attempt at overturning his conviction.

Gaul, who is now 25, is serving a 51-year sentence for the Nov. 21, 2016, shooting of Walker. Attempts to overturn the conviction and secure a new trial failed at multiple levels, with the state Supreme Court last month denying a request for a review.

What led to the fatal shooting of Emma Walker?

Emma Jane Walker was just 16 at the time of her death, an honor student and cheerleader at Central High School. Gaul and Walker began dating in 2014, when he was a junior at Central and a football player and she was a freshman. The relationship was rocky and eventually Walker’s parents tried to put a stop to it, trial testimony showed.

Two weeks before the slaying, Walker told friends she had finally decided to end things with Gaul permanently. At trial, prosecutors said Gaul went to Walker's home and fired two gunshots into her bedroom while she was sleeping. One of the bullets struck Walker just behind the ear, killing her. Her mother found her dead in her bed in the morning.

Gaul and his lawyer, Wesley Stone, did not deny he fired the gunshots that night, but insisted Gaul was trying to win Walker back as part of an elaborate and clumsy series of ploys for attention that included staging his own kidnapping and trying to pose as Walker's "rescuer."

Gaul did not testify, apologized to family at sentencing hearing

After deliberating for four hours, a jury convicted Gaul, 19 at the time, of first-degree murder, as well as stalking, felony murder, tampering with evidence, reckless endangerment, possessing a firearm during a dangerous felony and theft between $500 and $1,000.

Criminal Court Judge Bob McGee imposed a mandatory life sentence for the murder charge in September 2018. Gaul will be eligible for parole after serving 51 years in prison. He would be in his 70s.

Gaul, who did not testify at trial, apologized to Walker's loved ones and his own family for his crimes during a hearing to decide his punishment on several lesser convictions related to the teenage girl's shooting. The sentence imposed for the additional convictions added up to a little more than a decade, but is being served at the same time as the life sentence, making it essentially symbolic.

Gaul's murder conviction upheld, Supreme Court opts against review of appeal

In 2021, Gaul requested a new trial based on claims of insufficient evidence, but the motion was denied. Gaul then filed an appeal with the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals the same year. An appellate judge ruled in February 2023 to uphold his murder conviction and modified the felony theft conviction, which had no effect on the time Gaul must serve in prison.

In April, Gaul's attorney requested permission to appeal that decision at the state Supreme Court level, which is the state court of last resort. That request was denied last month, court records state; only capital cases get an automatic review. That means the ruling from the Court of Criminal Appeals stands.

Once a defendant’s conviction and sentence have been affirmed in the state appellate courts, a defendant can file a petition for writ of habeas corpus − a petition for release from unlawful imprisonment − in the federal district court, the state Office of the Attorney General states. A defendant can only obtain federal relief if they can show a violation of a federal constitutional right, however.

Wesley Stone, the attorney who handled the appeals, did not return calls for comment.

Liz Kellar is a Tennessee Connect reporter. Email liz.kellar@knoxnews.com.

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