Mo. Supreme Court rejects appeal citing judge's comments in book

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The Missouri Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by convicted killer Michael A. Taylor, who tried to get his death sentence vacated after his case was referenced in a judge's book.

The court on Tuesday denied Taylor's motion, which also asked for his guilty plea to be dropped. He and another man, Roderick Nunley, were convicted in the 1989 rape and killing of a 15-year-old Kansas City girl.

Taylor and his attorneys based their appeal in part on statements Judge Robert Dierker Jr. made in his book, "The Tyranny of Tolerance." Dierker, a judge in St. Louis, presided over post-trial proceedings in Taylor's case in 1991. All of the judges in Jackson County, where Kansas City is located, had recused themselves.

In his book, released in December, Dierker references Taylor's case in a portion where he talks about liberals "tying the criminal justice system up in knots over endless death penalty procedural questions."

"The cases of Nunley and Taylor show how effective this ceaseless litigation has been," Dierker writes in the book.

Dierker also criticizes individuals whom he refers to as "illiberal liberals" -- those who raise questions of racial discrimination in capital sentencing.

Taylor's attorneys said Dierker violated the state's Code of Judicial Conduct by commenting publicly on the pending case.

Dierker told The Kansas City Star that he had no comment on Taylor's motion and that the family of their victim, Ann Harrison, didn't need their agony prolonged.

Taylor and Nunley pleaded guilty to raping and killing Harrison after kidnapping her from in front of her house while she waited for the school bus.

In 1992, Dierker issued a ruling that rejected appeal claims by Taylor and Nunley that included allegations that race -- they are black and the victim white -- was a factor in how they were prosecuted.

Dierker, in his 80-page ruling, affirmed the men's death sentences.

The Missouri Supreme Court set aside the death sentences in 1993 but another judge later resentenced Taylor and Nunley to death.

Taylor was to be executed early last year, but his lawyers won a stay. They are pursuing a federal appeal based on concerns about Missouri's lethal injection method.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis is considering the appeal.

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Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kansascity.com