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Court date for driver in Woodmore crash on rape charge rescheduled

Woodmore bus driver Johnthony Walker reacts as his sentence is pronounced during a hearing in Judge Don Poole's courtroom at the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Courts Building on Tuesday, April 24, 2018, in Chattanooga, Tenn. Walker was convicted in February of criminally negligent homicide and a host of lesser charges, and he was sentenced Tuesday to four years in prison.
Woodmore bus driver Johnthony Walker reacts as his sentence is pronounced during a hearing in Judge Don Poole's courtroom at the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Courts Building on Tuesday, April 24, 2018, in Chattanooga, Tenn. Walker was convicted in February of criminally negligent homicide and a host of lesser charges, and he was sentenced Tuesday to four years in prison. Woodmore bus driver Johnthony Walker reacts as his sentence is pronounced during a hearing in Judge Don Poole's courtroom at the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Courts Building on Tuesday, April 24, 2018, in Chattanooga, Tenn. Walker was convicted in February of criminally negligent homicide and a host of lesser charges, and he was sentenced Tuesday to four years in prison.

By Zack Peterson 3 min read

A hearing on an aggravated statutory rape charge for the man convicted in the fatal 2016 Woodmore school bus crash was rescheduled Thursday until late July.

Johnthony Walker now will appear before Judge Allegra Walker in Davidson County General Sessions Court on July 20.

Walker, 25, was arrested last week after allegedly telling police he’d had consensual sex with a 14-year-old girl five times over the last few months while staying in Nashville. He is being held in Davidson County on a $350,000 bond.

Earlier this year, Walker was convicted of six counts of criminally negligent homicide and other charges in connection with the Nov. 21, 2016, crash on Talley Road in Chattanooga that involved 37 Woodmore Elementary School children.

Prosecutors said Walker was speeding and using his phone around the time he lost control of bus 366, ultimately crashing into a tree. Six children died as a result and several others were injured.