John Albert Taylor
Encyclopedia
John Albert Taylor was an American
who was convicted
of burglary
and carrying a concealed weapon
in the state of Florida
, and sexual assault
and murder
in the state of Utah
. Taylor's own sister tipped off police in June 1989 after 11-year-old Charla King was found rape
d and strangled to death in Washington Terrace, Utah
. His fingerprint
s were found at the crime scene
, which was located in an apartment complex where he had been staying. In December 1989, Taylor was sentenced to death and placed on death row
at Utah State Prison
.
Taylor gave up appealing his sentence after his request for retrial
was rejected by the Utah Supreme Court
. He became the second person to be executed by firing squad
in the United States
(after Gary Gilmore
) since the death penalty
was reinstated in 1976. Taylor said he chose this method of execution to embarrass the state of Utah. On January 26, 1996, the day of Taylor's execution, legislation
was introduced in the Utah House of Representatives
to eliminate the firing squad. In 2004, the state of Utah withdrew the firing squad as a method of execution, leaving lethal injection
as the only remaining option.
to Albert and Gaylene Taylor, who separated during his infancy. He moved several times during his youth, including a move to Colorado
at the age of nine, when he was told that his father had died. According to Taylor, he was raised in Florida, where he was abused as a child and became involved in drugs by his teens. Taylor stated that he did not get along with his stepfather, a Vietnam veteran
, or his mother: "But she could never control me. My mother had a lot of animosity toward my father. They alienated me for a long time. I was the whipping post." At the age of 13, he stabbed his stepfather. According to court records, he repeatedly rape
d his sister Laurie during his teens, assaulted other young girls, and was committed
to a sex offender
program. In 1974, Taylor moved back to Ogden to live with his grandmother, but soon returned to Florida.
In 1977, Taylor was arrested in Florida and charged with burglary and carrying a concealed weapon
after he was caught with a stolen gun. He was convicted and imprisoned until December 1981, when he was released on parole
. In March 1982, he was arrested in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
for armed burglary, armed robbery
, and sexual assault
. He had been diagnosed at the age of 17 as "a remorseless pedophile
." He was acquitted of the charges in September 1982, but was sentenced to 15 additional years in prison for parole
violations. In 1989, Taylor was released and departed for Utah to be with his sisters and biological father, who he discovered was still alive.
to find the body of her daughter Charla in the bedroom with a nightgown wrapped around her head and panties stuffed in her mouth. After calling the police, she was instructed to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation
and discovered that Charla had been strangled to death with a telephone cord. Charla's foster
grandmother Bertha Poster stated that she had dropped Charla off at the apartment at about 1:30 p.m. after visiting the mall. Charla had been planning to celebrate her 12th birthday at an amusement park on the next day.
s were found on a telephone in the King residence and matched to records provided by authorities in Fort Lauderdale
. He was arrested at about 9 p.m. on June 28 at the home of his half-sister Tresa Taylor in Ogden, Utah
and charged with first-degree murder the next morning. Taylor had arrived from Florida four days before the murder and had been staying with another sister in the same apartment complex.
Sherron King moved out of the apartment complex on June 28. She was upset that the neighbors who came forward as witnesses did nothing when they heard her daughter screaming.
deputy attorney William Daines stated that Taylor previously denied being in the apartment and that two witnesses placed him at the scene at the time of the crime. Prison inmate Mike Gallegos testified that he had a brief conversation in which Taylor told him that he killed a girl by accident. Duane Moyes and James Gaskill of the Weber State College crime laboratory testified that the person who cut the telephone cord with a knife and wrapped it around the neck of the victim was likely the same as the one who left behind fingerprints on the phone. Lab director Gaskill stated that the prints, three of which were matched to fingers on Taylor's left hand, were the only evidence that placed Taylor at the crime scene. Gaskill said there was no evidence in the apartment to indicate a burglary took place or that any other person was connected to the murder.
On December 5, 1989, Judge Roth found Taylor guilty of murder and sexual assault. During the penalty phase of Taylor's trial, his half-sister Leslie Beale traveled from Florida to testify about his harsh treatment under his stepfather and the three years that Taylor spent in a sex offender program at a Florida mental institution. On December 19, Taylor became the first convict in 40 years to be sent to death row
by a Weber County court. Roth said that the facts of the case outweighed any mitigating circumstances. Taylor's father Albert attended most of his son's court proceedings until he died of heart failure on October 8, 1990. Taylor said he was not permitted to attend his father's funeral.
The case was automatically appealed to the Utah Supreme Court
, which upheld Taylor's conviction and sentence in October 1991. Taylor's execution was initially scheduled for January 15, 1992. The date was rescheduled to June 24 when Taylor's attorney Martin Gravis requested to withdraw from the case. On June 17, Judge Roth granted a stay of execution
after Taylor's new defense attorney Ron Yengich requested more time to prepare an appeal. At issue was a new 1992 law in Utah that established the sentence of life imprisonment
without parole.
While incarcerated at Utah State Prison
, Taylor kept busy in an effort to overcome his claustrophobia
and boredom. He earned his high school diploma and studied to be a paralegal
until his educational grant money
ran out.
In October 1995, Taylor decided to end further appeals after the Utah Supreme Court rejected his argument that his legal counsel was ineffective. He fired defense attorney Ed Brass, stating: "If I don't fight for my appeal, I don't need an attorney." Taylor said he was prepared to die partly because of his failing health, including an enlarged heart, bleeding
ulcers
, and swollen
legs and feet.
Judge Roth ordered Taylor to choose a method of execution. Taylor chose to be executed by firing squad
to make the process more difficult for Utah state officials. In an interview with the Deseret News, he stated: "I didn't commit the murder, and I'm not going to submit to letting them kill me on that table." Regarding the option of lethal injection
, Taylor said, "I don't want to go flipping around like a fish out of water on that table."
of pizzas "with everything," some law enforcement veterans recalled that the same request was made by Barton Kay Kirkham
, the last man to be hanged
in Utah. Like Taylor, Kirkham had selected his method of execution with the goal of inconveniencing the state. On January 25, 1996, Taylor spent his final evening sharing his pizza with his uncle Gordon Lee while joined by former attorney Ed Brass and Catholic
priest Reyes Rodriguez, who administered the Last Rites
. Taylor, whose stomach had been doing "flip-flops" earlier in the day, requested antacid
medication and declined deputy warden Wally Schulsen's offer for more pizza, soda, and coffee. He gave his glasses to warden Hank Galetka and said, "There is no need for them." Taylor refused an offer to be sedated
before his execution, but was allowed his first cigarette in six years.
Five police officers, who volunteered to carry out the execution, were each paid $300. The shooters used identical Winchester Model 94 rifles. One prison official selected each rifle at random from a table and handed them to another prison official sitting in a small room, out of sight. The second prison official would then load the rifle, and return it to the table. Four of the rifles were loaded with live ammunition. One was secretly loaded with a wax bullet so that none of the officers would be certain that they fired a deadly shot. The non-lethal cartridge was tested to ensure that the report and recoil
was difficult to distinguish from a real cartridge.
in Draper
. Nine media witnesses were allowed to record the actual event. Actor and activist Mike Farrell
appeared as a commentator for the American Civil Liberties Union
in opposition to the death penalty. Elliott King, the uncle of Charla King, was the sole member of the victim's family to arrive as a witness and expressed that he had no sympathy for Taylor. Sister Helen Prejean
, the author of Dead Man Walking, wrote Taylor a letter that was delivered right before his execution.
s. The captain walked down the aisle, tapping each shooter on the shoulder to check to see if they were ready. At 12:03 a.m. Mountain Standard Time on January 26, 1996, every shooter fired at the count of five and the white cloth target on Taylor's chest flew off. His chest moved upward and his left hand tightened into a fist. His grip gradually loosened and his head fell back. A doctor checked Taylor's neck for a pulse and cut two holes in his hood to check for a pupillary light reflex. Taylor was declared dead at 12:07 a.m. and became the 49th person to be executed in the state of Utah since 1852.
, Taylor's remains were cremated
and shipped to his uncle Gordon Lee in Oregon
. The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office said it would specify homicide
as the cause of death on Taylor's death certificate
because the execution met the state's definition of "intentional death by another hand." However, Utah state law exempts the actions of executioner
s from prosecution. A commemorative pin
was created to recognize the staff who had participated in the execution. Eight hours after Taylor's execution, Utah State Representative
Sheryl Allen
first introduced a bill
to eliminate the firing squad, and later succeeded in passing HB180, which removed the right of the condemned to choose their method of execution after February 2004.
People of the United States
The people of the United States, also known as simply Americans or American people, are the inhabitants or citizens of the United States. The United States is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
who was convicted
Conviction
In law, a conviction is the verdict that results when a court of law finds a defendant guilty of a crime.The opposite of a conviction is an acquittal . In Scotland and in the Netherlands, there can also be a verdict of "not proven", which counts as an acquittal...
of burglary
Burglary
Burglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...
and carrying a concealed weapon
Concealed carry
Concealed carry, or CCW , refers to the practice of carrying a handgun or other weapon in public in a concealed manner, either on one's person or in proximity.-In Canada:...
in the state of Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, and sexual assault
Sexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....
and murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
in the state of Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
. Taylor's own sister tipped off police in June 1989 after 11-year-old Charla King was found rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
d and strangled to death in Washington Terrace, Utah
Washington Terrace, Utah
Washington Terrace is a city in Weber County, Utah, United States. The population was 8,551 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Ogden–Clearfield, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area....
. His fingerprint
Fingerprint
A fingerprint in its narrow sense is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. In a wider use of the term, fingerprints are the traces of an impression from the friction ridges of any part of a human hand. A print from the foot can also leave an impression of friction ridges...
s were found at the crime scene
Crime scene
A crime scene is a location where an illegal act took place, and comprises the area from which most of the physical evidence is retrieved by trained law enforcement personnel, crime scene investigators or in rare circumstances, forensic scientists....
, which was located in an apartment complex where he had been staying. In December 1989, Taylor was sentenced to death and placed on death row
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
at Utah State Prison
Utah State Prison
Utah State Prison, or USP, is one of two prisons managed by the Utah Department of Corrections' Division of Institutional Operations. It is located in Draper, Utah, United States, about 20 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.-History:...
.
Taylor gave up appealing his sentence after his request for retrial
New trial
A new trial or retrial is a recurrence of a court case. Depending on the rules of the jurisdiction, a new trial may occur if:*a jury is unable to reach a verdict ;...
was rejected by the Utah Supreme Court
Utah Supreme Court
The Utah Supreme Court is the supreme court of the state of Utah, USA. It has final authority of interpretation of the Utah Constitution. The Utah Supreme Court is composed of five members: a chief justice, an associate chief justice, and three justices. All justices are appointed by the governor...
. He became the second person to be executed by firing squad
Execution by firing squad
Execution by firing squad, sometimes called fusillading , is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war.Execution by shooting is a fairly old practice...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(after Gary Gilmore
Gary Gilmore
Gary Mark Gilmore was an American criminal, and murderer, who gained international notoriety for demanding that his own death sentence be fulfilled following two murders he committed in Utah. He became the first person executed in the United States after the U.S...
) since the death penalty
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
was reinstated in 1976. Taylor said he chose this method of execution to embarrass the state of Utah. On January 26, 1996, the day of Taylor's execution, legislation
Legislation
Legislation is law which has been promulgated by a legislature or other governing body, or the process of making it...
was introduced in the Utah House of Representatives
Utah House of Representatives
The Utah House of Representatives is the lower house of the Utah State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Utah. The House is composed of 75 representatives elected from single member constituent districts. Each district contains an average population of 35,000 people...
to eliminate the firing squad. In 2004, the state of Utah withdrew the firing squad as a method of execution, leaving lethal injection
Lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting a person with a fatal dose of drugs for the express purpose of causing the immediate death of the subject. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but the term may also be applied in a broad sense to euthanasia and suicide...
as the only remaining option.
Background
John Albert Taylor was born in Ogden, UtahOgden, Utah
Ogden is a city in Weber County, Utah, United States. Ogden serves as the county seat of Weber County. The population was 82,825 according to the 2010 Census. The city served as a major railway hub through much of its history, and still handles a great deal of freight rail traffic which makes it a...
to Albert and Gaylene Taylor, who separated during his infancy. He moved several times during his youth, including a move to Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
at the age of nine, when he was told that his father had died. According to Taylor, he was raised in Florida, where he was abused as a child and became involved in drugs by his teens. Taylor stated that he did not get along with his stepfather, a Vietnam veteran
Vietnam veteran
Vietnam veteran is a phrase used to describe someone who served in the armed forces of participating countries during the Vietnam War.The term has been used to describe veterans who were in the armed forces of South Vietnam, the United States armed forces, and countries allied to them, whether or...
, or his mother: "But she could never control me. My mother had a lot of animosity toward my father. They alienated me for a long time. I was the whipping post." At the age of 13, he stabbed his stepfather. According to court records, he repeatedly rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
d his sister Laurie during his teens, assaulted other young girls, and was committed
Involuntary commitment
Involuntary commitment or civil commitment is a legal process through which an individual with symptoms of severe mental illness is court-ordered into treatment in a hospital or in the community ....
to a sex offender
Sex offender
A sex offender is a person who has committed a sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and by legal jurisdiction. Most jurisdictions compile their laws into sections such as traffic, assault, sexual, etc. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convictions for crimes of a...
program. In 1974, Taylor moved back to Ogden to live with his grandmother, but soon returned to Florida.
In 1977, Taylor was arrested in Florida and charged with burglary and carrying a concealed weapon
Concealed carry
Concealed carry, or CCW , refers to the practice of carrying a handgun or other weapon in public in a concealed manner, either on one's person or in proximity.-In Canada:...
after he was caught with a stolen gun. He was convicted and imprisoned until December 1981, when he was released on parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
. In March 1982, he was arrested in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010...
for armed burglary, armed robbery
Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
, and sexual assault
Sexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....
. He had been diagnosed at the age of 17 as "a remorseless pedophile
Pedophilia
As a medical diagnosis, pedophilia is defined as a psychiatric disorder in adults or late adolescents typically characterized by a primary or exclusive sexual interest in prepubescent children...
." He was acquitted of the charges in September 1982, but was sentenced to 15 additional years in prison for parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
violations. In 1989, Taylor was released and departed for Utah to be with his sisters and biological father, who he discovered was still alive.
Death of Charla King
At around 3:20 p.m. on June 23, 1989, Sherron King returned from work to her apartment in Washington Terrace, UtahWashington Terrace, Utah
Washington Terrace is a city in Weber County, Utah, United States. The population was 8,551 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Ogden–Clearfield, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area....
to find the body of her daughter Charla in the bedroom with a nightgown wrapped around her head and panties stuffed in her mouth. After calling the police, she was instructed to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is an emergency procedure which is performed in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore spontaneous blood circulation and breathing in a person in cardiac arrest. It is indicated in those who are unresponsive...
and discovered that Charla had been strangled to death with a telephone cord. Charla's foster
Foster care
Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in the private home of a state certified caregiver referred to as a "foster parent"....
grandmother Bertha Poster stated that she had dropped Charla off at the apartment at about 1:30 p.m. after visiting the mall. Charla had been planning to celebrate her 12th birthday at an amusement park on the next day.
Arrest
On June 25, a tipster, who was later revealed to be Taylor's sister Laurie Galli, contacted Washington Terrace Police officer Marsha Gathercole with information connected to the murder. Taylor's fingerprintFingerprint
A fingerprint in its narrow sense is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. In a wider use of the term, fingerprints are the traces of an impression from the friction ridges of any part of a human hand. A print from the foot can also leave an impression of friction ridges...
s were found on a telephone in the King residence and matched to records provided by authorities in Fort Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010...
. He was arrested at about 9 p.m. on June 28 at the home of his half-sister Tresa Taylor in Ogden, Utah
Ogden, Utah
Ogden is a city in Weber County, Utah, United States. Ogden serves as the county seat of Weber County. The population was 82,825 according to the 2010 Census. The city served as a major railway hub through much of its history, and still handles a great deal of freight rail traffic which makes it a...
and charged with first-degree murder the next morning. Taylor had arrived from Florida four days before the murder and had been staying with another sister in the same apartment complex.
Sherron King moved out of the apartment complex on June 28. She was upset that the neighbors who came forward as witnesses did nothing when they heard her daughter screaming.
Murder trial
On November 27, 1989, the trial commenced under District Judge David Roth after Taylor waived his right to a jury. Taylor testified on his own behalf that he only entered the apartment in the act of burglary while no one was home, leaving his fingerprints on the phone when he found money underneath it. Weber CountyWeber County, Utah
Weber County is a county located in the U.S. state of Utah, occupying a stretch of the Wasatch Front, part of the eastern shores of Great Salt Lake, and much of the rugged Wasatch Mountains. As of the 2000 census, the population was 196,533, an increase of 24.1% over its population in 1990. By...
deputy attorney William Daines stated that Taylor previously denied being in the apartment and that two witnesses placed him at the scene at the time of the crime. Prison inmate Mike Gallegos testified that he had a brief conversation in which Taylor told him that he killed a girl by accident. Duane Moyes and James Gaskill of the Weber State College crime laboratory testified that the person who cut the telephone cord with a knife and wrapped it around the neck of the victim was likely the same as the one who left behind fingerprints on the phone. Lab director Gaskill stated that the prints, three of which were matched to fingers on Taylor's left hand, were the only evidence that placed Taylor at the crime scene. Gaskill said there was no evidence in the apartment to indicate a burglary took place or that any other person was connected to the murder.
On December 5, 1989, Judge Roth found Taylor guilty of murder and sexual assault. During the penalty phase of Taylor's trial, his half-sister Leslie Beale traveled from Florida to testify about his harsh treatment under his stepfather and the three years that Taylor spent in a sex offender program at a Florida mental institution. On December 19, Taylor became the first convict in 40 years to be sent to death row
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
by a Weber County court. Roth said that the facts of the case outweighed any mitigating circumstances. Taylor's father Albert attended most of his son's court proceedings until he died of heart failure on October 8, 1990. Taylor said he was not permitted to attend his father's funeral.
Appeals
Utah Supreme Court
The Utah Supreme Court is the supreme court of the state of Utah, USA. It has final authority of interpretation of the Utah Constitution. The Utah Supreme Court is composed of five members: a chief justice, an associate chief justice, and three justices. All justices are appointed by the governor...
, which upheld Taylor's conviction and sentence in October 1991. Taylor's execution was initially scheduled for January 15, 1992. The date was rescheduled to June 24 when Taylor's attorney Martin Gravis requested to withdraw from the case. On June 17, Judge Roth granted a stay of execution
Stay of execution
A stay of execution is a court order to temporarily suspend the execution of a court judgment or other court order. The word "execution" does not necessarily mean the death penalty; it refers to the imposition of whatever judgment is being stayed....
after Taylor's new defense attorney Ron Yengich requested more time to prepare an appeal. At issue was a new 1992 law in Utah that established the sentence of life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
without parole.
While incarcerated at Utah State Prison
Utah State Prison
Utah State Prison, or USP, is one of two prisons managed by the Utah Department of Corrections' Division of Institutional Operations. It is located in Draper, Utah, United States, about 20 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.-History:...
, Taylor kept busy in an effort to overcome his claustrophobia
Claustrophobia
Claustrophobia is the fear of having no escape and being closed in small spaces or rooms...
and boredom. He earned his high school diploma and studied to be a paralegal
Paralegal
Paralegal is used in most jurisdictions to describe a paraprofessional who assists qualified lawyers in their legal work. This is true in the United States and many other countries. However, in Ontario, Canada, paralegals are licensed by the Law Society of Upper Canada, giving paralegals an...
until his educational grant money
Grant (money)
Grants are funds disbursed by one party , often a Government Department, Corporation, Foundation or Trust, to a recipient, often a nonprofit entity, educational institution, business or an individual. In order to receive a grant, some form of "Grant Writing" often referred to as either a proposal...
ran out.
In October 1995, Taylor decided to end further appeals after the Utah Supreme Court rejected his argument that his legal counsel was ineffective. He fired defense attorney Ed Brass, stating: "If I don't fight for my appeal, I don't need an attorney." Taylor said he was prepared to die partly because of his failing health, including an enlarged heart, bleeding
Upper gastrointestinal bleeding
Upper gastrointestinal bleeding refers to hemorrhage in the upper gastrointestinal tract. The anatomic cut-off for upper GI bleeding is the ligament of Treitz, which connects the fourth portion of the duodenum to the diaphragm near the splenic flexure of the colon.Upper GI bleeds are considered...
ulcers
Peptic ulcer
A peptic ulcer, also known as PUD or peptic ulcer disease, is the most common ulcer of an area of the gastrointestinal tract that is usually acidic and thus extremely painful. It is defined as mucosal erosions equal to or greater than 0.5 cm...
, and swollen
Water retention (medicine)
The term water retention signifies an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the circulatory system or within the tissues or cavities of the body.Water is found both inside and outside the body’s cells...
legs and feet.
Judge Roth ordered Taylor to choose a method of execution. Taylor chose to be executed by firing squad
Execution by firing squad
Execution by firing squad, sometimes called fusillading , is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war.Execution by shooting is a fairly old practice...
to make the process more difficult for Utah state officials. In an interview with the Deseret News, he stated: "I didn't commit the murder, and I'm not going to submit to letting them kill me on that table." Regarding the option of lethal injection
Lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting a person with a fatal dose of drugs for the express purpose of causing the immediate death of the subject. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but the term may also be applied in a broad sense to euthanasia and suicide...
, Taylor said, "I don't want to go flipping around like a fish out of water on that table."
Execution
When Taylor ordered a last mealLast meal
The last meal is a customary part of a condemned prisoner's last day. Often, the day of, or before, the appointed time of execution, the prisoner receives a last meal, as well as religious rites, if they desire. In the United States, inmates generally may not ask for an alcoholic drink...
of pizzas "with everything," some law enforcement veterans recalled that the same request was made by Barton Kay Kirkham
Barton Kay Kirkham
Barton Kay Kirkham was a deserter of the United States Air Force who was discharged in 1955 after committing a robbery in Colorado...
, the last man to be hanged
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
in Utah. Like Taylor, Kirkham had selected his method of execution with the goal of inconveniencing the state. On January 25, 1996, Taylor spent his final evening sharing his pizza with his uncle Gordon Lee while joined by former attorney Ed Brass and Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
priest Reyes Rodriguez, who administered the Last Rites
Last Rites
The Last Rites are the very last prayers and ministrations given to many Christians before death. The last rites go by various names and include different practices in different Christian traditions...
. Taylor, whose stomach had been doing "flip-flops" earlier in the day, requested antacid
Antacid
An antacid is a substance which neutralizes stomach acidity.-Mechanism of action:Antacids perform a neutralization reaction, increasing the pH to reduce acidity in the stomach. When gastric hydrochloric acid reaches the nerves in the gastrointestinal mucosa, they signal pain to the central nervous...
medication and declined deputy warden Wally Schulsen's offer for more pizza, soda, and coffee. He gave his glasses to warden Hank Galetka and said, "There is no need for them." Taylor refused an offer to be sedated
Sedative
A sedative or tranquilizer is a substance that induces sedation by reducing irritability or excitement....
before his execution, but was allowed his first cigarette in six years.
Five police officers, who volunteered to carry out the execution, were each paid $300. The shooters used identical Winchester Model 94 rifles. One prison official selected each rifle at random from a table and handed them to another prison official sitting in a small room, out of sight. The second prison official would then load the rifle, and return it to the table. Four of the rifles were loaded with live ammunition. One was secretly loaded with a wax bullet so that none of the officers would be certain that they fired a deadly shot. The non-lethal cartridge was tested to ensure that the report and recoil
Recoil
Recoil is the backward momentum of a gun when it is discharged. In technical terms, the recoil caused by the gun exactly balances the forward momentum of the projectile and exhaust gasses, according to Newton's third law...
was difficult to distinguish from a real cartridge.
Media coverage
Over 168 news and television crews from around the world were on hand to report the execution, which was set up inside a warehouse at Utah State PrisonUtah State Prison
Utah State Prison, or USP, is one of two prisons managed by the Utah Department of Corrections' Division of Institutional Operations. It is located in Draper, Utah, United States, about 20 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.-History:...
in Draper
Draper, Utah
Draper is a city in Salt Lake and Utah Counties in the U.S. state of Utah, located about south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Between 1990 and 2000 Draper was Utah's fastest-growing city over 5,000 people . Its population in 1990 was 7,143 and had grown to 25,220 by the 2000 census...
. Nine media witnesses were allowed to record the actual event. Actor and activist Mike Farrell
Mike Farrell
Michael Joseph "Mike" Farrell is an American actor, best known for his role as Captain B.J. Hunnicutt on the television series M*A*S*H . He is an activist for politically liberal causes....
appeared as a commentator for the American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
in opposition to the death penalty. Elliott King, the uncle of Charla King, was the sole member of the victim's family to arrive as a witness and expressed that he had no sympathy for Taylor. Sister Helen Prejean
Helen Prejean
Sister Helen Prejean, C.S.J., is a Roman Catholic religious sister, a member of the Congregation of St. Joseph, who has become a leading American advocate for the abolition of the death penalty.-Death row ministry:...
, the author of Dead Man Walking, wrote Taylor a letter that was delivered right before his execution.
Death
Shortly before midnight, Taylor was led into the execution chamber and strapped to a chair 17 feet away from the shooters with a hood covering his head. Multiple bright lights covered Taylor. Sandbags were arranged behind him to prevent any ricochetRicochet
A ricochet is a rebound, bounce or skip off a surface, particularly in the case of a projectile. The possibility of ricochet is one of the reasons for the common firearms safety rule "Never shoot at a flat, hard surface."-Variables:...
s. The captain walked down the aisle, tapping each shooter on the shoulder to check to see if they were ready. At 12:03 a.m. Mountain Standard Time on January 26, 1996, every shooter fired at the count of five and the white cloth target on Taylor's chest flew off. His chest moved upward and his left hand tightened into a fist. His grip gradually loosened and his head fell back. A doctor checked Taylor's neck for a pulse and cut two holes in his hood to check for a pupillary light reflex. Taylor was declared dead at 12:07 a.m. and became the 49th person to be executed in the state of Utah since 1852.
Aftermath
After an autopsyAutopsy
An autopsy—also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction—is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...
, Taylor's remains were cremated
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
and shipped to his uncle Gordon Lee in Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office said it would specify homicide
Homicide
Homicide refers to the act of a human killing another human. Murder, for example, is a type of homicide. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English...
as the cause of death on Taylor's death certificate
Death certificate
The phrase death certificate can describe either a document issued by a medical practitioner certifying the deceased state of a person or popularly to a document issued by a person such as a registrar of vital statistics that declares the date, location and cause of a person's death as later...
because the execution met the state's definition of "intentional death by another hand." However, Utah state law exempts the actions of executioner
Executioner
A judicial executioner is a person who carries out a death sentence ordered by the state or other legal authority, which was known in feudal terminology as high justice.-Scope and job:...
s from prosecution. A commemorative pin
Award pin
An award pin is a small object, usually made from metal or plastic, with a pin on the back, presented as an award of achievement or a mark of appreciation. They are worn on clothes such as jackets, shirts or hats....
was created to recognize the staff who had participated in the execution. Eight hours after Taylor's execution, Utah State Representative
Utah House of Representatives
The Utah House of Representatives is the lower house of the Utah State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Utah. The House is composed of 75 representatives elected from single member constituent districts. Each district contains an average population of 35,000 people...
Sheryl Allen
Sheryl Allen
Sheryl L. Allen is a Republican politician and educator from Bountiful, Utah. She represented the 19th District of the Utah House of Representatives from 1994 to 2011...
first introduced a bill
Bill (proposed law)
A bill is a proposed law under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an act or a statute....
to eliminate the firing squad, and later succeeded in passing HB180, which removed the right of the condemned to choose their method of execution after February 2004.
See also
- Capital punishment in Utah
- Capital punishment in the United StatesCapital punishment in the United StatesCapital punishment in the United States, in practice, applies only for aggravated murder and more rarely for felony murder. Capital punishment was a penalty at common law, for many felonies, and was enforced in all of the American colonies prior to the Declaration of Independence...
- Opposition to capital punishment in the United StatesOpposition to capital punishment in the United StatesOpposition to capital punishment in the United States existed as early as the colonial period. Opposition to the death penalty peaked in 1966 , rising to 47% opposition, higher than those who supported it , the rest had 'no opinion'...
External links
- 1996: John Albert Taylor at Executed Today
- January 26, 1996 – John Albert Taylor at Execution of the Day