TAYLOR, MICHAEL

GENERAL INFORMATION

DOB: January 30, 1967
Race: African-American
Gender: Male

CRIME AND TRIAL

County of conviction: Jackson
Number of counts: One
Race of victim: White
Gender of victim: Female
Date of crime: March 22, 1989
Date of sentencing: May 14, 1991

TRIAL COUNSEL:

Marty McClain and Leslie Delk (first sentencing hearing)
Jimmy McMullen (second hearing)

LEGAL STATUS:

Current proceedings:

None as of this writing

Last judicial decision:

Lethal Injection Legislation - Taylor v. Crawford, ___ F.3d ___, 2007 WL 1583874 (8^th Cir. June 4, 2007). Eighth Circuit ruled that Missouri’s lethal injection procedure is not cruel and unusual punishment.

CURRENT COUNSEL:

John W. Simon
P.O. Box 16005
Clayton, MO 63105
314-645-1776

REPORTED OPINIONS:

Denial of habeas affirmed by Taylor v. Bowersox, 329 F.3d 963 (8th Cir. 2003); cert. denied, 124 S. Ct. 1681 (2004).
Conviction, sentence and denial of post-conviction relief affirmed by State v. Taylor, 929 S.W.2d 209 (Mo. banc 1996), cert. denied, 519 U.S. 1152 (1997).

SIGNIFICANT LEGAL ISSUES:

Whether the denial of Taylor's motion to withdraw his guilty plea based upon the fact that his sentencing judge was not the same judge who accepted his plea was a violation of due process.
Whether Taylor procedurally defaulted his claim that guilty plea counsel rendered ineffective assistance, where he did not assert such a claim on his second Rule 29.15 motion, which followed his re-sentencing on his first (and successful) Rule 29.15 motion.

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