posted October 6, 2008
Defense attorney Bill Ortwein told a Federal Court jury on Monday that the death penalty should be reserved for "the worst of the worst", which he said does not include Rejon Taylor.
Testimony began later in the morning in the case in which government prosecutors are asking the panel to sentence the 24-year-old Atlanta man to death by lethal injection.
The only other option for the jury is life in prison without the possibility of parole after he was convicted earlier of the 2003 murder of Atlanta restaurant operator Guy Luck in Collegedale.
Attorney Ortwein also told the jury that co-defendant Sir Jack Matthews is "equally guilty" and agreed earlier to a life sentence.
The attorney said Matthews "would have been the one who killed Guy Luck if his gun hadn't jammed."
He said the third person charged, Joey Marshall, had been a drug dealer. He said he agreed to life, but might get a lesser sentence for helping the government.
Prosecutor Chris Poole said the jury should give the death penalty if it finds there are more "aggravating circumstances" than "mitigating circumstances".
He called Taylor the ringleader in the plan to kidnap and carjack the restaurant operator, who he said had been stalked by Taylor.
He said Taylor had outlined in a letter to a female at the workhouse his past "life of crime."
In the letter, Taylor said he was taught how to be a criminal by his father, who is now serving time in prison.
He told of starting his own mobile detailing business when he was 16, then getting into identity theft.
Taylor said in the letter that was a lucrative business because he closely studied some wealthy individuals, including via the Internet, then began using their credit card information.
FBI Agent Jim Melia said after the murder, Taylor said he robbed drug dealers in Atlanta "to get money so he could get out of town."
Taylor said in the letter he felt he was going to "beat this case" and win a new trial. He called his conviction "a minor setback."
The prosecution also called Robin Belcher, daughter of Guy Luck girlfriend and business partner Stephanie Belcher.
She said he was "the smartest man I ever knew" and "a very good friend."
The witness said he was multi-talented and had been all over the world.
She said she was on her first trip to Europe when she was told he had been killed.
The defense called a police officer who said she filed charges of statutory rape and child molestation charges against Matthews.
She said she interviewed a middle school girl who said she met Matthews at a game room at a mall, then gave her a ride home.
She said they exchanged phone numbers, then they met five times for sex.
The officer said she interviewed Matthews about the case a short time after the Guy Luck incident.
She said he chuckled and said, "I killed somebody, but I didn't have sex with her."
She said the child sex charges were dropped because of the federal charges Matthews faced.
Defense attorneys read the school record of Matthews that included numerous suspensions for being unruly.
Tonya Walton, aunt of Taylor, said he was a very good, quiet, easy-going child and teen who would use the computer to produce church programs.
She said he was "loving and caring. He always had a positive attitude."
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