‘A grave injustice’: U.S. Rep. Cori Bush calls for Missouri execution to be halted

U.S. Rep Cori Bush said Sunday she opposes the execution of a man on death row in Missouri for a 2004 quadruple murder he says he did not commit.

The St. Louis Democrat said going forward with the execution of Leonard “Raheem” Taylor next week would be “a grave injustice.”

Taylor has been incarcerated for nearly 20 years after being arrested for the murders of his girlfriend and her three young children in Jennings, near St. Louis. The 58 year old has maintained his innocence, arguing he was in California when the homicides occurred.

His attorneys have submitted his case for review to prosecutors in St. Louis County and a clemency application to Gov. Mike Parson’s office.

Taylor is scheduled to die by lethal injection Feb. 7.

In her post on social media, Bush said there was “significant” evidence to support Taylor’s innocence claims.

“Raheem’s execution must be halted and the death penalty must be abolished,” Bush said.

Should Taylor’s execution go forward, he will be the third person the state has put to death in 10 weeks.

Though the death penalty is in decline across most of the country, Missouri is one of five states that have executions scheduled this year.

Innocence claim

On Nov. 26, 2004, Taylor flew to California to meet one of his daughters for the first time.

Eight days later, the bodies of Angela Rowe and her children Alexus Conley, 10, Acqreya Conley, 6, and Tyrese Conley, 5, were found in the home they shared with Taylor.

The autopsies initially indicated the homicides had taken place two to three days before the bodies were found, which would have eliminated Taylor as the killer.

But at trial, St. Louis County medical examiner Phillip Burch told jurors that the temperature in the house had been in the 50s, which led to the estimated time of death changing. The murders could have taken place two to three weeks before the bodies were discovered — when Taylor would still have been in town.

In an affidavit signed Wednesday, less than two weeks before the execution date, forensic pathologist Jane Turner cast doubt on the medical examiner’s determination on the time of death. There was evidence of rigor mortis when the victims were discovered. That would not last more than a week after death even with the cold temperature in the house, according to Turner. Other postmortem changes that would occur a week or more after death were not present.

That meant the condition of the bodies suggested the victims were killed after Taylor left town.

In charging him, investigators also relied on Perry Taylor, Leonard Taylor’s brother, who told police Leonard Taylor had confessed to killing Rowe and the kids before leaving for California. But at trial he recanted.

James Trainum, a policing expert who served with the Washington, D.C., Police Department for 27 years, also reviewed the investigation at the request of Taylor’s attorneys.

He identified “red flags” pertaining to Perry Taylor’s interrogations, saying the tactics police used “were extremely coercive” and have been known to produce false statements.

In addition to Taylor’s alibi, his attorneys say police failed to investigate other suspects including gang members who were after Taylor following a botched drug deal.