Convicted woman set for release

LEBANON, Ind. -- A woman who gained national attention last year for impersonating a long-missing girl was expected to walk out of jail early Thursday, less than four weeks after she pleaded guilty in the hoax.\nDonna Walker, of Topeka, Kan., was to be released from the Boone County Jail shortly after midnight after receiving credit for time already served and for good behavior, said Jeff Edens, the county's chief deputy prosecutor.\n"There have been no problems with her behavior that would prevent her release," Edens said.\nWalker pleaded guilty but mentally ill April 2 to a felony count of attempted identity deception and a misdemeanor charge of false reporting and was ordered to serve an 18-month term under an agreement with prosecutors. She has been jailed for about nine months in Indiana and Kansas since she surrendered to authorities July 31.\nUnder terms of her release, Walker is to serve four years of probation for impersonating Shannon Sherrill last summer through phone calls and e-mail messages.\nSherrill was six when she vanished in 1986 while playing hide-and-seek near her mother's home in Thorntown, about 30 miles northwest of Indianapolis.\nWalker, 36, could return to Kansas to serve probation, but defense attorney Michael Gross declined Wednesday to say where she would go after her release.\n"It's always been her plan to return to Kansas, but I don't know how quickly," Gross said. "She's certainly ecstatic to be out of jail."\nWalker could have faced up to four years in prison if she had been convicted of the 12 counts filed against her last year.\nWalker was found competent to stand trial. But a psychiatrist who examined her concluded she suffers from a mental disorder that compels her to perpetrate "grand hoaxes" to gain attention.\n"She has been on Social Security disability since she was about 19 for mental health issues, but that was suspended while she was in jail," Gross said. "Hopefully, she will be able to resume that. I don't think it's likely she could be gainfully employed."\nWalker told a judge during a hearing last year she had been adjusting to new medication for mental illness when she telephoned Sherrill's father and claimed to be her. Walker even contacted police and the news media to perpetuate the story -- often disguising her voice and posing as at least two other people.\nThe family's hopes grew. But about 15 minutes before authorities held a news conference July 30, family members learned investigators had concluded it had been a hoax.\nIn October, Sherrill's mother, Dorothy Sherrill, sued Walker in a lawsuit seeking unspecified damages. The complaint seeks to block Walker from making money from the case and alleges Walker invaded the family's privacy by claiming the girl's identity, intentionally causing emotional distress and fraud.\nDorothy Sherrill's attorney, Jeff Jacob, said she was pleased with the probation conditions imposed on Walker but disappointed the woman was not required to complete more jail time.\nProsecutors said Walker's 18-month sentence -- with another 18 months suspended -- was the longest allowed under state law given Walker's illness, which weighs against harsher penalties.