# Did Walter Becker do prison time?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-walter-becker-do-prison-time/678080>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 6, 2014, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-walter-becker-do-prison-time/678080 "2014-01-06T23:35:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-walter-becker-do-prison-time/678080/1 "2014-01-06T23:35:16Z")

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My friend has a vague recollection of hearing something like that about the Steely Dan guitarist. My google-fu is working fine, but I can’t find any mention of it.

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**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-walter-becker-do-prison-time/678080/2 "2014-01-07T00:40:48Z")

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Perhaps your friend is remembering the wrongful death lawsuit filed against Becker in 1978 after his girlfriend’s death from a drug overdose.

> **[Walter Becker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Becker)**
>
> Walter Carl Becker (February 20, 1950 – September 3, 2017) was an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He was the co-founder, guitarist, bassist, and co-songwriter of the jazz rock band Steely Dan.
> Becker met future songwriting partner Donald Fagen while they were students at Bard College. After a brief period of activity in New York City, the two moved to Los Angeles in 1971 and formed the nucleus of Steely Dan, which enjoyed a critically and commercially successful ten-year ca...

> [@](#):
>
> After the duo returned to New York in 1978, Becker’s girlfriend Karen Stanley died of a drug overdose, resulting in a large wrongful death suit volleyed against him.

> **[Steely Dan lyrics, songs and albums | LyricsFreak](https://www.lyricsfreak.com/s/steely+dan/)**
>
> Steely Dan lyrics - Find all lyrics for songs such as Deacon Blues, Hey Nineteen, Reeling In The Years at LyricsFreak.com

> [@](#):
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> Becker was also having personal difficulties. His girlfriend at the time, Karen Stanley, died of a drug overdose in their shared Upper West Side Apartment. Becker was hit with a $17 million wrongful death suit, later settled out of court in his favor, but he was shocked by the accusations and the tabloid press coverage that followed.