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Saline jury finds Taylor guilty of capital murder |
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Friday, 26 June 2009 |
A Saline County Circuit Court jury found Jason Taylor of Mabelvale guilty of capital murder.
The verdict was returned around 6 p.m. Thursday after three days of testimony and arguments.
Circuit Judge Gary Arnold is presiding.
Taylor, 25, is convicted of killing Derrick Utsey, 28, whose body was found Oct. 15 on the Hensley Mail Route Road in Saline County.
The jury also found Taylor guilty of kidnapping after prosecutors showed that Utsey had been bound and gagged.
Deputy Prosecutor Carrie Robertson said electrical tape was tied so tightly around Utsey to hold a sock in his mouth that he was strangled.
Taylor also is charged with aggravated robbery in the incident. The jury was to decide on that charge this morning. Sentencing also was to take place today.
Taylor’s ex-girlfriend, Christina Head, and his admitted accomplice, Bradley Carter, have testified for prosecutors, who contend Taylor deliberately set out to murder Utsey. They argued that Taylor borrowed the .22-caliber revolver and stopped at a friend’s house to get electrical tape, socks and a blanket.
Taylor’s DNA was found on the gun that authorities contend was used in the killing. Taylor has maintained that he had nothing to do with the murder.
In closing arguments, Robertson displayed jailhouse letters from Taylor to show inconsistencies and his intent for everyone police were questioning to get their stories aligned.
Defense lawyer Dustin Dyer said “the squeaky wheel gets the deal.” He asked the jurors to consider that “all witnesses have a motive,” contending that they were under pressure from authorities.
Carter, 28, of Little Rock is also charged in the murder. He has not been tried.
Dyer was alluding to the possibility that Carter cooperated with prosecutors in hopes that he would get a “better deal.”
Prosecutor Rebecca Bush said the witnesses who testified in Taylor’s trial were his friends, not Carter’s, so the notion that they were trying to protect Carter isn’t there.
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