State supreme court upholds Middle Georgia man’s murder conviction, life sentence

The state supreme court rejected a Middle Georgia man’s motion to get his murder conviction and life sentence overturned, rejecting his claim that a trial judge’s instructions misled a jury.

Tuesday, the Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Malik Taylor’s felony murder conviction in the 2017 death of Jyleel Solomon, denying him a new trial.

According to court documents and previous Telegraph reporting, Taylor was driving in Milledgeville on Nov. 16, 2017 and Solomon was one of three passengers. Taylor drove by a home in the 100 block of Central Avenue where several people were gathered outside.

Someone fired shots from Taylor’s car, hitting one of the people outside the home. Solomon was hit in the head by return fire. He was driven to a local hospital, where he later died.

Taylor and the other two passengers were charged with felony murder and other charges in connection with the shooting and Solomon’s death.

Taylor was tried a year later in a Baldwin County courtroom on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault. He was convicted and given a life sentence, plus 60 years.

He filed a motion for a new trial on Nov. 14, 2018 and then amended this motion several times — most recently on July 9, 2021.

The trial court denied Taylor’s amended motion for a new trial on July 1 after four hearings. On July 6, Taylor filed a notice of appeal. The case was docketed for the Supreme Court of Georgia and was argued on Dec. 8.

Taylor’s basis for appeal

Taylor raised an affirmative defense, which admits to the act charged but seeks to excuse, justify, or mitigate it. Once an affirmative action defense is raised, the state has to disprove the defense beyond a reasonable doubt.

The affirmative defense Taylor used during his trial — that he was shot at first and fired in self defense — was ultimately rejected by the jury.

According to the court decision, in his appeal Taylor argued that “the trial court’s instruction on self defense was in error because it misled the jury about who bore the burden of proof for that affirmative defense.”

Prompted by Taylor’s claim, the supreme court reviewed whether the judge erred in giving the jury instructions and whether that error affected the outcome of the trial.

“We reject Taylor’s argument because we reject his reading of the jury instruction,” Justice Andrew Pinson wrote in a unanimous opinion.