United States v. Taylor, No. 13-3469 (7th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseIn 2000 an almost totally deaf 73‐ year‐old, the federally licensed owner of a gun store in Hammond, Indiana, was shot to death and the store robbed of many of its guns. Taylor and Thomas, drug dealers, were indicted for the murder and robbery and in 2004 convicted and were sentenced to life in prison. The convictions were vacated in 2011 because of a possible violation of Batson, arising from the government’s striking a black juror in the first trial. Retried in 2012, both defendants were again convicted and again sentenced to life imprisonment. The Seventh Circuit vacated Thomas’s sentence and otherwise affirmed. The facts regarding Taylor’s personal history, if true, are possible grounds for mitigation—for reducing his sentence from life to a term of years. They suggest that external forces beyond his ability to control created cognitive and psychological impairments that greatly diminished his ability to resist engaging in serious criminal activity. When substantial grounds for mitigation are presented, the sentencing judge must explain his reasons for rejecting them.
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