Leonard Taylor’s last words before execution in Missouri

Leonard “Raheem” ​​Taylor, a 58-year-old man convicted of the 2008 murder of his girlfriend and their three young children, was executed by lethal injection in Missouri on Tuesday night.

Taylor was found guilty of the murder of Angela Rowe, 28; her daughters Alexus Conley, 10, and AcQreya Conley, 6; and her son Tyrese Conley, 5. The four victims were found shot to death on December 3, 2004 at their home in Jennings, Missouri.

The victims “received execution-style wounds to the head and multiple other gunshot wounds,” according to Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, who said Monday the state will execute Taylor’s sentence.

“Leonard Taylor brutally murdered a mother and her three children. Evidence shows Taylor committed these atrocities and a jury found him guilty. Courts have consistently upheld Taylor’s convictions and sentences based on the facts and the Constitutions of Missouri and the United States,” Parson said.

During the trial, blood from Taylor’s sunglasses and car was proven to match Rowe’s DNA profile. A witness testified that they saw Taylor discard the possible murder weapon at the scene, which matched the caliber of the bullets used in the murders. Bullets of the same caliber were also later found in Taylor’s car.

A nationwide manhunt led to authorities finding Taylor hidden in the floor of a car after leaving another friend’s home in Kentucky. He was arrested four days after the bodies were discovered.

Although Taylor continued to say he was innocent, Parson said the “facts of his guilt” in the murders had been proven.

“Despite his self-interested claim of innocence, the facts of his guilt in this gruesome quadruple murder remain,” Parson said. “The state of Missouri will carry out Taylor’s sentences in accordance with the court’s order and bring justice to the four innocent lives he stole.”

The Missouri Supreme Court last week denied a motion to stay Taylor’s execution, and his attorneys filed another motion that was also denied. Then Parson said that Taylor’s sentence would be carried out.

Taylor died Tuesday at 6:16 p.m. local time at the state prison in Bonne Terre, Missouri. The execution came shortly after a refusal for further investigation or eventual residency.

Taylor made a final written statement before his death.

“O you who believe! Seek help through patience and prayer. Verily, Allah is with the patient and does not speak of them [Muslims] who were slain dead in the path of Allah; no, (they/we are) alive, but you do not perceive it [their life and strength]. Holy Quran Sura 2:153-154

“Muslims do not die, we live forever in the hearts of our family and friends. From Allah we come and to Allah we will all return. Everyone will have their turn to die.

“Death is not your enemy, it is your destiny. Look forward to meeting him.

“Peace!”

He was the third inmate to be executed in Missouri in the past four months.

Taylor was Rowe’s friend and continued to claim he was in Kentucky, not near her home, at the time of the quadruple murders.

His attorneys say Taylor boarded a flight to California to visit his daughter eight days before the bodies of Rowe and their three children were found, arguing it was impossible for her client to put the murders in the coroner’s report specified time frame to commit. Airport surveillance footage confirmed Taylor’s whereabouts.

Before the trial, the coroner’s office stated that Rowe and her children were killed three days before their bodies were found. During the trial, the bureau said they were killed three weeks, not three days, before their bodies were discovered The Kansas City Star.

Taylor’s daughter, Deja Taylor, was 13 when he visited. She provided an affidavit that she and her father called Rowe during his visit to California.

Taylor’s attorney, Kent Gipson, requested a hearing on Taylor’s innocence claim last month. Gipson filed that motion under a Missouri law that allows a prosecutor to request a hearing before a judge when new evidence could prove a wrongful conviction.

“I think any fair thinking person looking at all the evidence we have now would have serious doubts as to whether he’s guilty and that’s all we’re really asking – to be able to make a.” opportunity before a judge,” said Gipson.

news week had previously reached out to Gipson for comment.

St. Louis County Attorney Wesley Bell said last week he would not file the motion because he lacked credibility.

“The facts are not there to support a credible case of innocence,” said Bell, adding he would support a stay of execution so his team could “further investigate the timing of when the victims died.”

The Midwest Innocence Project, a non-profit law firm, sent a request to Parson asking him to convene an independent investigative committee. The group also made a plea for clemency.

“Based on the evidence, we believe with certainty that Mr. Taylor is innocent,” said the group’s executive director, Tricia Rojo Bushnell Riverfront times last week. “But those determinations should be made by a fact finder.”