Taylor’s right to counsel, including standby counsel, the Court of Criminal Appeals took an important step forward for justice in Tennessee and for justice for the mentally ill.” Taylor, to suffer delusions of grandeur and to seek to represent themselves at their capital trials. “Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for mentally ill defendants, like Mr. “Richard Taylor’s capital trial highlights the fundamental unfairness of capital prosecutions of mentally ill defendants,” Stubbs said. The jury that sentenced Taylor to death was never presented with compelling evidence of Taylor’s difficult childhood, suicide attempts, psychiatric hospitalizations or severe mental illness. ![]() ![]() The few cross-examination questions he posed during the guilt-innocence phase of his trial were delusional, and he was completely silent during the sentencing phase of the proceedings. Wearing prison garb and sunglasses, Taylor called no witnesses, introduced no evidence, and presented no defense. In 2003, Taylor, who was schizophrenic, delusional and heavily sedated by forced medication, faced his two-day capital trial alone – representing himself without even standby counsel to help him. The ruling also states that the trial court gave erroneous instructions to the jury during the sentencing phase of the trial. Taylor’s right to counsel, including the right to standby counsel, the Court firmly established critical protections for mentally ill defendants who face capital charges.”įriday’s ruling states that a number of significant errors were made during Taylor’s 2003 trial, including the denial of his constitutional right to counsel at a pre-trial competency hearing, the failure of the trial court to hold a competency hearing during the trial, and the failure of the trial court to appoint advisory counsel. “The decision by the Court of Criminal Appeals rights the terrible injustice of a death sentence imposed against Richard Taylor, who faced his capital trial – while mentally ill, likely incompetent, and forcibly medicated – without the benefit of counsel,” said Cassandra Stubbs, a staff attorney with the ACLU’s Durham, N.C.-based Capital Punishment Project. ![]() The ruling concludes that Taylor unconstitutionally faced his capital trial alone – without counsel – because the trial court in Williamson County “failed to consider the full panoply of evidence relevant to whether the defendant knowingly and voluntarily waived his right to counsel.” Handed down Friday, the ruling grants Taylor a new trial because of numerous constitutional errors. Taylor was represented during the appeal of his conviction by the American Civil Liberties Union and Kelly Gleason, then a private attorney and now with the Office of the Tennessee Post-Conviction Defender. NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals has reversed the conviction and death sentence of Richard Taylor, a severely mentally ill man who has twice been forced to stand trial despite his mental illness and likely incompetence.
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