Seventeen years ago, Gregory Flynt Taylor was a crack cocaine abuser convicted of killing a prostitute during a late-night prowl for drugs.
On Wednesday, Taylor was a free man, the first convicted felon in U.S. history to be exonerated by a state-mandated innocence commission.
A jury convicted Taylor after prosecutors said blood was found on the SUV he was driving the night Thomas was beaten to death in Raleigh in 1991. But testimony at the commission hearing last week revealed that a follow-up test -- showing that no blood was on the vehicle -- was never passed on to the court.
The hearing also exposed flaws in the state's case involving eyewitness testimony and allegations by a jailhouse snitch who implicated Taylor in the killing.
North Carolina man exonerated after 17 years
ReplyDeleteby David Zucchino
Gregory Taylor was convicted in 1993 of killing a prostitute. A state innocence panel unanimously rules that he didn't. It is the first exoneration by the only such agency in the U.S.
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/17/nation/la-na-innocence18-2010feb18
Seventeen years ago, Gregory Flynt Taylor was a crack cocaine abuser convicted of killing a prostitute during a late-night prowl for drugs.
ReplyDeleteOn Wednesday, Taylor was a free man, the first convicted felon in U.S. history to be exonerated by a state-mandated innocence commission.
Taylor, dressed in a black suit, struggled to hold back tears as family members and supporters erupted in cheers after the panel announced its decision. A sheriff's deputy removed leg shackles and Taylor, his narrow face flushed, embraced his lawyers and parents.
"This is unbelievable," Taylor shouted as supporters mobbed him inside a law school courtroom. "Six thousand, one hundred and forty-nine days -- and finally the truth has prevailed."
A jury convicted Taylor after prosecutors said blood was found on the SUV he was driving the night Thomas was beaten to death in Raleigh in 1991. But testimony at the commission hearing last week revealed that a follow-up test -- showing that no blood was on the vehicle -- was never passed on to the court.
The hearing also exposed flaws in the state's case involving eyewitness testimony and allegations by a jailhouse snitch who implicated Taylor in the killing.
Taylor's case was only the second to reach the three-judge panel, which is appointed by the chief justice of the state Supreme Court. The first case, in 2008, was unsuccessful. The commission has reviewed 634 cases, but only three have received a full hearing by the body's commissioners.
The commission was formed after a state legal advisory body concluded that the appeals process for wrongful conviction claims was "delayed, lengthy, costly, and damaging to the public's confidence in its justice system."
The commission is charged with providing an independent fact-finding forum for credible claims of innocence.
"This case is going to be taught in legal history textbooks," said Kendra Montgomery-Blinn, the commission's executive director.
Tom Ford, the lead prosecutor at Taylor's 1993 trial, shook Taylor's hand moments after the verdict and said he was sorry.
"I understand, Mr. Ford," Taylor said quietly.
Moments later, Wake County Dist. Atty. Colon Willoughby, who had fought to keep Taylor in prison on a life sentence, also shook the freed man's hand.
"I told him I was very sorry he was convicted," Willoughby said. "I said I wished we'd had all this testimony in 1991."
Joseph B. Cheshire V, one of Taylor's lawyers, said of the panel's verdict: "This is really a historic day." He urged other states to establish innocence commissions.
Taylor was embraced by three former felons whose convictions had been overturned by North Carolina courts. One wore a T-shirt that read: "Free Greg Taylor."
"This is not just about innocent people," Taylor told them. "It's about injustice."
Taylor hugged Yolanda Littlejohn, the slain prostitute's sister. Littlejohn has said Taylor was innocent and had helped with his defense. She visited him in prison to tell him she believed in him.
"This is a person who lost a member of her family," Taylor said. "How many people could look at this case objectively and think they might have the wrong person?"
He paused and added: "I don't think I could've done that."
innocent may convicted and felon may escaped.
ReplyDeleteonly Taylor, Beck and the dead prostitute themselves knew what happened. (not the jailhouse snitch nor prostitute's sister)
when the process of prosecution procedure had shown error, if not corrected and case not dismissed immediately, injustice and innocence will be claimed regardless.
the drug influence, the death of prostitute also help them and contribute the case into grey area.
"I don't think I could've done that." a very interesting statement for and on behalf of the victim family.
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Wake Prosecutor Tom Ford – No “Minister of Justice”
...It will help determine the fate of Gregory Flint Taylor, now 47, who was convicted of a 1991 murder in 1993, and was sentenced to serve life.
The victim of that crime was a prostitute whose body was found near Taylor’s vehicle. Taylor stated that his vehicle got stuck after a night of “four-wheeling” and that he had no contact with the victim.
... the prosecution’s case was built on the testimony of a jailhouse snitch and what Wake Prosecutor Tom Ford stated was what appeared to be blood on the bumper of Taylor’s vehicle. Evidently the testimony of the snitch was that Taylor and another man (Johnny Beck), who was later arrested as an accomplice in the crime, had been partying with the victim the night of the crime. The snitch stated to jurors that Taylor told him about the victim’s death. Taylor denied this account, and professed his innocence, claiming that he did not even encounter the victim the day that she died. Although the substance on the Taylor vehicle appeared to be blood, the prosecution did not conduct any forensic testing to confirm it.
Four months after Taylor’s conviction in 1993, murder charges against Beck were dropped by Prosecutor Ford, but not after the prosecutor unsuccessfully attempted to obtain testimony from Taylor implicating Beck in the crime. According to court records and news accounts, Ford offered to reduce Taylor’s sentence in exchange for providing statements supporting Beck’s involvement in the murder.
Wake County prosecutor Tom Ford’s actions in the Gregory Flint Taylor case are below the standards of acceptable prosecutorial conduct in several ways. He failed to see to it that forensic studies were performed on what appeared to be blood on the Taylor vehicle bumper, charged Taylor and Beck without probable cause – relying only on the word of a jailhouse snitch, and he tried to entice statements from Taylor to implicate Beck by offering Taylor a reduced sentence. Of these three malfeasances, the last is the most despicable and goes against his obligation to seek truth as a “minister of justice” before seeking a conviction. Without Taylor’s cooperation on this point, it seems as though Ford was forced to drop the murder charges against Beck.