‘Intolerable injustice’: Innocence Project calls for halt to Missouri man’s execution

The Midwest Innocence Project is calling for Leonard Taylor’s execution on Tuesday to be stopped, saying failure to do so would result in an “intolerable injustice.”

In a 22-page letter issued late Thursday, the organization called on Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to appoint a board of inquiry to investigate Taylor’s innocence claims. The Innocence Project and the law firm Phillips Black signed onto the request.

Governors have the authority to convene a board to investigate whether a person on death row should be executed, and to make a recommendation.

On Nov. 26, 2004, Taylor flew from Missouri to southern California, a fact never disputed by prosecutors.

His girlfriend Angela Rowe and her three children were found dead on Dec. 3, 2004, at their home in the St. Louis area.

Initially, investigators said the victims had been killed no more than a few days before they were discovered.

But at trial, St. Louis County medical examiner Phillip Burch told jurors the temperature in the house had been in the 50s, which led to the estimated time of death changing. He testified the murders could have taken place two to three weeks before the bodies were discovered — when Taylor would still have been in town.

The Midwest Innocence Project said Burch’s testimony was a “sleight of hand” that came about after a pre-trial meeting between him and prosecutors.

The organization also contended that Taylor had constitutionally deficient representation. His trial and post-conviction attorneys did not retain a forensic pathologist to review the time of death evidence — until last week. On Jan. 25, forensic pathologist Jane Turner signed an affidavit saying there was evidence of rigor mortis when the victims were discovered. That would not last more than a week after death even with the cold temperature in the house, according to Turner. Other postmortem changes that would occur a week or more after death were not present.

That meant the condition of the bodies suggested the victims were killed after Taylor left town, according to Turner.

His attorneys, the Midwest Innocence Project argues, also failed to rebut statements made to police by Perry Taylor, Leonard Taylor’s brother. During an interrogation, Perry Taylor said his brother had confessed to the murders. At trial, Perry Taylor recanted.

Last Thursday, policing expert James Trainum issued a report saying police had used coercive tactics known to produce false statements when they questioned Perry Taylor.

The Missouri Supreme Court will consider a motion to stay Taylor’s execution, submitted earlier this week. Attorneys for Taylor have also sent a clemency request to Parson’s office.

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office said Wednesday that Taylor does not have a credible innocence claim and that competing expert testimony was not enough to prove innocence. A delay “simply frustrates the interests of justice,” the AG’s office stated.

Across the country, more than 3,360 people have been exonerated. That includes 52 people in Missouri, four of whom were on death row, the Midwest Innocence Project wrote. Of the total exonerations, flawed forensic evidence was a factor in 23% of the cases and false confessions were a factor in 12%.

In August 2017, former Gov. Eric Greitens appointed a board of inquiry in Marcellus Williams’ case, halting his execution.

Kelli Jones, a spokesperson for Parson, said the governor “carefully reviews the specific facts and circumstances of each case to determine if clemency is appropriate. Governor Parson will examine Taylor’s application and announce his decision when this review is complete, as has been practice in other capital cases.”