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.”