Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 24, 1995 TAG: 9509250085
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: JACKSONVILLE, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
It was the second jury to convict Walter Thomas Taylor.
Just as in his 1991 trial, jurors found that Taylor knew what he was doing when he killed Paula Smits, 20, and her daughter, Amanda.
But this time, prosecutors did not pound the murder weapon on a table or model the semen-stained nightgown the victim was wearing. Those inflammatory tactics caused an appeals court to order a new trial for Taylor.
The verdicts mean Taylor, 29, will spend the rest of his life in prison barring another successful appeal. The only other sentence for first-degree murder in Florida is the electric chair, but prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.
``It's been a living hell, but the good Lord found a way to make the truth come out,'' said Paula Smits' sister, Donna Heinz. ``Because this case didn't have anything to do with the Stark, maybe the honor can be returned to it.''
Taylor's lawyers argued that a 1987 Iraqi missile attack that killed 37 Stark shipmates triggered hallucinations, nightmares and post-traumatic stress disorder. Taylor said he suffered from those when he attacked the mother and daughter.
``It's very difficult to convey to people in our society the depths of mental illness,'' Assistant Public Defender Charles Cofer said after the verdict was announced.
Taylor testified that he and Paula Smits had consensual sex after he showed up to use the phone at her apartment.
He said he thought she was an Iraqi terrorist when he struck her head eight times with a hammer and bound and gagged her. He said he didn't realize he was hitting a child when he swung the hammer twice at Amanda.
- Associated Press
by CNB