Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 26, 1993 TAG: 9305260128
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In January, a jury convicted Eric Ricardo Taylor of aggravated malicious wounding and set his sentence at 20 years in prison.
A woman who witnessed the shooting but said nothing at the time decided to come forward after reading a newspaper story about Taylor's conviction, according to a motion for a new trial filed by Roanoke lawyer Gary Bowman.
After hearing the woman testify last week that an unidentified man - not Taylor - did the shooting, Judge Clifford Weckstein ordered a new trial.
Once again, Taylor faces the possibility of a life sentence for the shooting that left Phillip Todd Martin paralyzed and in a wheelchair. The jury's 20-year term was the minimum he had faced.
Martin, 34, testified earlier that he was shot in the neck the night of Jan. 5, 1992, in the parking lot of Omirr's, a Melrose Avenue nightspot. But he offered few details about Taylor's alleged motive.
Taylor did not testify at his trial, relying instead on several alibi witnesses who said he was not in the area of Omirr's at the time of the shooting.
Chief Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Betty Jo Anthony, who described Taylor as a "street warrior" during his first trial, opposed the request for a new trial.
"We're not ignoring her," Anthony said of the new witness. "But the victim saw the shooter, and he identifies the defendant."
According to court records, the new witness saw the shooting from her grandmother's home nearby, but did not call police for fear of reprisal from drug dealers she believed were involved.
Anthony said it is rare for someone to receive a new trial based on evidence discovered after the fact.
Attorneys who represent death-row inmates often lament that Virginia law that makes it hard to receive a new trial on discovered evidence, but Taylor's case was different in that he was awaiting sentencing and still was under Weckstein's jurisdiction at the time he made his request.
To receive a new trial, defendants must show the newly discovered evidence could not have been obtained at the time of trial, that it is relevant and material, and that it would have caused a different outcome had it been known.
Taylor is being held without bond pending his second trial, scheduled for July.
by CNB