POSSIBLE INNOCENCE: New Evidence Regarding Missouri Man Facing Execution

Leonard Taylor (pictured) is a Missouri death-row prisoner who was convicted in 2008 of a quadruple murder that occurred in St. Louis in December 2004. His execution is scheduled for February 7, 2023. Taylor has consistently maintained his innocence. Although Taylor’s attorneys have discovered new evidence to substantiate his claim, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell announced that he would not ask a judge to hold an evidentiary hearing in the case.

Taylor claims that he was not in St. Louis at the time of the murder. In support of that claim, a forensic pathologist submitted a signed affidavit that cast doubt on the medical examiner’s determination of the time of death in the murders. According to the pathologist, Dr. Jane Turner, the evidence suggests the victims were killed after Taylor left St. Louis. When prosecutors learned of his “airtight alibi,” Taylor alleges they prodded witnesses to change their testimony about the timing of the homicides, putting him in town.

Taylor is currently in solitary confinement. In an interview with the Kansas City Star, Taylor said he has sought strength in his Islamic faith and is a “student of life.”