A federal trial has now been scheduled for Jan. 24 in U.S. District Court in Bismarck for Derrick Stephen Walker, 45, of Minot, on a child sexual exploitation charge. The trial has been postponed previously and a defense attorney for Walker is arguing that evidence of a three-way Snapchat conversation should be suppressed and not admitted during the trial.

Two women had been charged in connection with the case and are set to testify against Walker at his trial. Katie Heidinger, 33, from Velva, previously accepted a plea deal that calls for her to serve 30 years in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised probation. Heidinger, who had been having an affair with Walker according to court documents, had been accused of sexually abusing small children and sending images of the abuse to Walker at his request in December 2019 and January 2020. According to court documents, Heidinger will also testify at the trial that she and Walker sexually abused a baby boy together on one occasion. Heidinger’s sentencing has been delayed due to Walker’s upcoming trial. She is currently in custody at the Ward County Jail.

A second woman, Katrina Huston, 35, from Ryder, accepted a plea deal in state court on a charge of Class A felony gross sexual imposition and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, with all suspended but the 130 days she has already served in jail, and 10 years of supervised probation. Walker had allegedly asked Huston to send him images of the exploitation of teenage girls.

All three had originally been charged in state court but the cases against Walker and Heidinger were transferred to federal court.