An attorney representing a woman accused of murder says her defense will be that she was defending herself when she fatally stabbed a Catholic high school teacher in his Orland Park home.
Alisha Walker, 22, is charged with first-degree murder in the January slaying of Alan Filan, 61, a popular teacher at Brother Rice High School in Chicago. She is being held at the Cook County Jail awaiting a trial now set for Jan. 11.
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Attorney Patrick O’Byrne said Walker and Filan argued over money, and she defended herself when he came at her with a knife.
Police said Walker — who has prior arrests for drugs, prostitution and battery — confessed that she went to Filan’s house for a sexual encounter after he contacted her through a classified website called Backpage. They had met at least two other times, she said.
Walker told police in a videotaped statement that she and Filan got into an argument over her fee, and she wrestled a knife away from him and stabbed him, according to Cook County prosecutors.
Filan was found dead on the kitchen floor of his home in the 9400 block of Georgetown Square. The medical examiner’s office determined that he died from multiple stab wounds.
Ed Hensley, Walker’s uncle, said last year that Walker had told relatives that she acted in self-defense when Filan threatened a female friend of hers who had accompanied her to the address.
Filan taught at Brother Rice for nearly 40 years and coached soccer at Andrew High School in Tinley Park from 1988 to 2010.
The trial was expected to begin in September but was delayed due to health problems with one of her attorneys.
Nick Swedberg is a freelance reporter.