At the new sentencing hearing, Mickens presented evidence in mitigation.  The jury was told that Mickens’s mother raised her children with the financial assistance of her grandfather.  When Mickens began to get into trouble, his mother found little support or assistance in the juvenile justice system.  The jury also heard testimony that while he was imprisoned, Mickens was a good inmate.  A correctional officer stated that he completed his chores, in addition to participating in "a Literacy Incentive Program that teaches inmates mathematics, spelling, and reading."  The correctional official also testified that Mickens would be housed with inmates with similar sentences if the jury sentenced him to life imprisonment rather than death.  The prison counselor testified that Mickens had participated in counseling sessions and was cooperative.  The jury again sentenced Mickens to death, despite the evidence of his troubled childhood and the testimony of the correctional officer and the prison counselor.  

Mickens again appealed his conviction and death sentence.  Mickens raised several issues on appeal, including the fact that one juror’s brother had been murdered. The Appellate court refused this claim because the juror testified during voir dire that he would be impartial during the trial despite what had happened to his brother.  Mickens also appealed on the grounds that his trial attorney, Brian Saunders, sufered from a conflict of interest.  Saunders had represented Hall on assault charges prior to Hall’s death.  The same judge that dismissed the charges against Hall because of his death then appointed Saunders to represent Mickens.  Mickens did not learn that Saunders had represented Hall until Mickens’s new attorney accidentally discovered the information.  The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that Saunders’s prior representation of the murder victim did not create a conflict of interest that prejudiced Mickens’s defense.  The Fourth Circuit rejected all of Mickens’s claims and affirmed his death sentence.   

Walter Mickens, Jr. has been on death row since August 20, 1993.