"GOV. BEV PERDUE SAID TODAY THAT TAYLOR IS ENTITLED TO COMPENSATION FROM THE STATE, THOUGH SHE DID NOT COMMIT TO THE PARDON. SPEAKING WITH REPORTERS AT AN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ANNOUNCEMENT IN WINSTON-SALEM, PERDUE SAID SHE HAS NOT YET RECEIVED TAYLOR'S REQUEST FOR A PARDON BUT SAID SHE IS "DEEPLY TROUBLED" THAT ANOTHER N.C. INMATE HAD BEEN WRONGLY IMPRISONED. "THE MAN WAS DONE WRONG AND THE STATE AND COUNTRY HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO RIGHT THAT WRONG," PERDUE SAID. "YOU COULDN'T SELL ME 17 YEARS OF MY LIFE FOR $800,000. WHATEVER THE MAN IS OWED BY THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, I WILL WORK AGGRESSIVELY TO MAKE SURE HE GETS.""
REPORTERS MANDY LOCKE AND MARK JOHNSON: NEWS OBSERVER;
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BACKGROUND: Seventeen years ago, Taylor was convicted of the September, 1991 murder of Raleigh prostitute Jacquetta Thomas, 26, whose body was found dumped on South Blount Street in Raleigh. Taylor, 47, said he spent the night of September 25, 1991 drinking and doing drugs with friends while he drove around southeast Raleigh to buy crack cocaine. Taylor said he believed police latched on to him for the murder because he and a friend drove along a dirt path off the same cul-de-sac where Thomas's body was found. Taylor and the friend smoked crack, but his SUV got stuck as they tried to drive away. They abandoned the SUV and walked to a nearby street to get a ride. Taylor testified they saw what they thought was a body but didn't report it to police. When Taylor returned in the morning to get the SUV, the police were already there. During several days of testimony, a parade of witnesses poked holes in the original evidence against Taylor. A SBI agent testified that while initial tests on some items from Taylor's sport utility vehicle were positive for blood, follow-up tests were negative. Those negative tests were not revealed to the jury that convicted Taylor. A dog training expert testified that the bloodhound that investigators said found the scent of the victim on Taylor's SUV was not trained in scent identification. A jailhouse snitch who said that Taylor confessed his involvement in Thomas's killing to him stood by his original testimony, but did admit that Taylor got the method of killing wrong. Johnny Beck, the man who was in Taylor's SUV on the night of the murder, testified neither he nor Taylor were involved in Thomas's death. Taylor had exhausted his appeals, but the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission reviewed the evidence against him last year and recommended the case to the three judge panel for further review. The commission is the only state-run agency in the country that investigates claims of innocence. Now the Commission has declared him innocent - the first time an inmate has been freed through the actions of the state's Innocence Inquiry Commission.
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"Greg Taylor has asked the governor for a pardon that would clear the way for him to collect compensation for 17 years of wrongful imprisonment," the March 6, 2010 News Observer story begins, under the heading, "Taylor seeks pardon, compensation."
"Taylor, 47, was exonerated last month by three judges who determined he was innocent," the story continues.
"A Wake County jury convicted Taylor in 1993 of murdering Jacquetta Thomas, a woman whose battered body was abandoned in an isolated cul-de-sac in Southeast Raleigh. Faulty blood evidence and wrong testimony from a jailhouse informant and a prostitute had helped convict Taylor.
A pardon from the governor would clear the way for Taylor to collect $750,000, the most any wrongfully accused person can receive. Without the pardon, he cannot apply for the money.
Gov. Bev Perdue said today that Taylor is entitled to compensation from the state, though she did not commit to the pardon.
Speaking with reporters at an economic development announcement in Winston-Salem, Perdue said she has not yet received Taylor's request for a pardon but said she is "deeply troubled" that another N.C. inmate had been wrongly imprisoned.
"The man was done wrong and the state and country have a responsibility to right that wrong," Perdue said. "You couldn't sell me 17 years of my life for $800,000. Whatever the man is owed by the state of North Carolina, I will work aggressively to make sure he gets."
Since his release, Taylor has been trying to get his life in order. He's been spending time with family and friends and trying to make sense of a world that left him behind following his arrest more than 19 years ago. He is learning to text and take photos with a digital camera and has set up a Facebook page. "The story can be found at:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/03/05/371827/taylor-seeks-pardon-compensation.html
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;
