Ex-prosecutor angry that judge overturned 1988 death sentence

ST. LOUIS -- A St. Louis county official who prosecuted a capital murder case is infuriated that a federal judge would overturn the death sentence nearly two decades later.

St. Louis County Executive George R. Westfall lashed out Friday at a federal judge's decision to overturn a death sentence for the murder of a potential drug witness almost 16 years ago.

"It's incredibly frustrating and infuriating to get the right punishment for a contract killer, and then a judge sets it aside because he didn't like the words I used," said Westfall, who prosecuted the case in 1988. "All I did was argue the obvious. This guy still deserves to die."

Westfall was county prosecutor when he won death sentences against William Weaver and Daryl Shurn for the murder of Charles Taylor outside his apartment in a St. Louis suburb on July 6, 1987. Taylor was expected to testify against two brothers of Shurn in a federal drug trial. Weaver shot Taylor in the head.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Charles A. Shaw overturned the sentence against Weaver, now 41, ruling that Westfall improperly appealed to jurors' "passions and prejudices" during the hearing to recommend punishment.

In his 135-page ruling, Shaw cited Westfall's statement comparing the jury's duty to that of soldiers in war and to his having said, "If you don't sentence him to die in this case, we shouldn't have a death penalty."

Shurn also won a reversal of his death sentence and is serving life in prison without parole. In 1999, a panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Westfall used improperly emotional arguments in that case, as well.

Shaw has ruled for Weaver before. In 1999, he overturned the conviction and sentence, ruling that Westfall had improperly struck two blacks from the jury pool. But the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Shaw and ordered him to reconsider the case.

This time, Shaw upheld the conviction but overturned the sentence. If Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon does not appeal, then St. Louis County would have to hold another punishment hearing or ask a judge to reduce the sentence to life in prison without parole.

A spokesman for Nixon said the office was reviewing Shaw's order.

Westfall said he stands by his original portrayal of Weaver.