Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 11, 1991 TAG: 9103110352
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: JACKSONVILLE, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
Walter Thomas Taylor Jr., 24, of Salem, Va., showed no emotion as Circuit Judge Michael Weatherby rejected a defense request for concurrent life terms and imposed consecutive sentences, which means Taylor must serve 50 years before he is eligible for parole.
"What you did was cold. What you did was brutal. What you did was heartless. What you did was absolutely and utterly despicable," Weatherby said.
Taylor was convicted Feb. 8 of two counts of first-degree murder in the Aug. 8, 1987, slayings of 21-year-old Paula Smits and her 3-year-old daughter Amanda.
During the trial, the defense argued that the slayings were the result of post-traumatic stress syndrome. They said Taylor developed the syndrome after 37 shipmates died when two Exocet missiles fired by an Iraqi jet hit his guided missile frigate while it was on patrol in the Persian Gulf.
Weatherby said he was imposing the two consecutive life terms because that's what he believed the jury wanted when it set a life sentence instead of death in Florida's electric chair.
The judge said that although he felt that death was appropriate, he didn't think overriding the jury sentence would withstand an appeal because of Taylor's mental condition.
Assistant State Attorney Jon Phillips said to impose a concurrent sentence would, in effect "give him [Taylor] one free murder."
"This is two heinous, cruel and atrocious murders. The defendant should be locked up for the rest of his life," Phillips argued before the judge.
Taylor has been in prison since 1987, so he must serve another 46 1/2 years before he can be considered for parole.
by CNB