Death penalty for St. Louis man convicted of quadruple murder
STLtoday: "A judge this morning sentenced Leonard Taylor to die by lethal injection for fatally shooting his girlfriend and her three children in Jennings in 2004. In St. Louis County Circuit Court today, Judge James R. Hartenbach imposed the sentences of four death penalties that a jury recommended on Feb. 29. Hartenbach also rejected requests for a new trial. Those requests were made by a trio of defense lawyers who represented Taylor and by Taylor himself. In his written statement to the court, Taylor called his convictions ``manifest injustice.' Taylor is 43.
This brings to 47 the number of people under a sentence of death in Missouri.
The sentencing comes just one day after the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that lethal injections, if properly administered, were a humane means of executing a condemned prisoner. By a 7-2 margin, the court rejected a constitutional attack on the main method of carrying out the death penalty across America. Its ruling cleared the way for executions to resume in several states after a seven-month delay.
Missouri's latest execution was in October, 2005.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
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