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Thread: David Ray Taylor - Oregon

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    David Ray Taylor - Oregon


    Celestino “Tino” Gutierrez




    David Ray Taylor


    Convicted murderer accused in new killing

    David Ray Taylor, imprisoned 27 years for one slaying, will be tried on another murder charge

    By Greg Bolt
    The Register-Guard

    David Ray Taylor already has spent 27 years in prison for one Lane County murder, and now he faces trial for a second killing that could put him on death row.

    Jury selection began Tuesday for Taylor’s trial on four counts of aggravated murder, part of a 31-count indictment that accuses Taylor of a months-long crime binge that included bank robbery, kidnapping and, ultimately, murder. Conviction on any of the aggravated murder charges would open Taylor to a possible sentence of death by lethal injection.

    Attorneys are expected to spend the next two weeks picking 12 jurors and four alternates to hear testimony in a case expected to take three to four weeks to present. Opening statements are set for April 15.

    Taylor, 58, is accused of murdering 22-year-old Celestino “Tino” Gutierrez of Eugene and then using the younger man’s car to drive to Mapleton and rob a bank, the last in a series of robberies around the state attributed to Taylor, according to police and court records. The killing, which the indictment alleges involved maiming or torturing Gutierrez, took place Aug. 3, 2012.

    A key to the trial could be the testimony of Taylor’s two alleged partners in the killing, A.J. Scott Nelson and Mercedes Crabtree. Crabtree already has pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life in prison with a chance of parole after 30 years. She has agreed to testify against Taylor.

    Nelson faces aggravated murder charges and remains in the Lane County Jail with a trial set for September. According to police records, Nelson fully cooperated with investigators after his arrest and also is likely to be called as a witness against Taylor.

    Their testimony could be important because Lane County Circuit Judge Charles Zennaché has ruled that statements Taylor made to police in which he allegedly admitted to the murder cannot be used in the trial. The judge found that those statements were made after Taylor had invoked his right to remain silent but detectives continued to question him.

    Although police have not discussed details of how they think the killing took place, court records and testimony during pre-trial hearings paint a potentially grisly scenario. Crabtree, who was 18 at the time, already has admitted to posing as a woman in distress to lure Gutierrez from a north Eugene bar to Taylor’s house.

    Exactly what happened after that has not been made public. But both Taylor and Nelson are charged with maiming or torturing Gutierrez and with abuse of a corpse for allegedly dismembering his body.

    Crabtree later said Taylor threatened to kill her if she didn’t do what he told her. People who knew him said Taylor was fascinated with mystical religions and magic and once claimed to have spent 37 years in the “study and practice of the occult sciences.”

    Gutierrez’s body was found in a shallow grave off a remote forest road in the Coast Range west of Eugene. A burn pile in the same area contained fragments of paperwork with Gutierrez’s name on them and provided some of the early clues that led police to believe he was the victim of a violent crime.

    This will be the second time Taylor’s fate has been in the hands of a jury. In 1977, another jury convicted him of murder in the shotgun slaying of a female gas station attendant in Eugene and sentenced him to life in prison.

    The body of the gas station attendant was found in an area not far from where Gutierrez’s body was located.

    The attendant’s murder occurred before Oregon voters passed Measure 11, which sets minimum mandatory sentences for murder and other crimes, and one year before voters reinstated the death penalty. That left the question of Taylor’s eventual release up to the state parole board, which in 2004 voted to release him.

    The release came in spite of some disciplinary problems while in prison and previous reports that Taylor suffered from a severe emotional disturbance. But at the time the parole board voted for Taylor’s release, two of the three members felt he did not represent a threat to the community, records show.

    In all, Taylor now faces 10 counts of first-degree robbery, 13 counts of second-degree robbery, two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm, one count of first-degree kidnapping and one count of first-degree abuse of a corpse, in addition to the four aggravated murder charges.

    The 23 robbery charges stem from just two bank robberies, one on June 8, 2012, in Creswell and the other the Aug. 3, 2012, robbery in Mapleton. The multiple charges reflect 10 separate victims — customers and bank employees — plus separate charges for using a firearm, threatening to use a firearm or threatening to use physical force during the robberies.

    Similarly, all four aggravated murder charges involved the alleged killing of Gutierrez, but each alleges different aggravating factors. Taylor is accused of murdering Gutierrez after having been convicted of murder previously, of committing the murder as part of the kidnap and robbery of Gutierrez, of committing the murder to cover up his involvement in the kidnap and robbery of Gutierrez, and of maiming or torturing Gutierrez as part of the killing.

    What that does is give the jury four different reasons they could find Taylor guilty of aggravated murder. If the panel returns more than one aggravated murder conviction, it’s likely they would merge together into a single charge for sentencing.

    Taylor also is suspected, but not charged, in a December 2011 bank robbery in Eugene, one in January 2012 in Clackamas and another in Newberg in May 2012. All of those robberies were takeover-type robberies in which one or more men armed with guns forced bank employees and customers onto the floor and ordered them to surrender items of personal identification, threatening to use it to track them down if they cooperated with police.

    Taylor also is charged with robbery, assault and other crimes in connection with an armed home invasion robbery in Lake Oswego in April 2012. A trial on those charges is set for July.

    This will be the second aggravated murder trial in Lane County in as many months. A jury last month convicted Johan Stevon Gillette of two counts of aggravated murder in the bludgeoning deaths of his father and his father’s domestic partner.

    Gillette avoided a possible death sentence by working out a deal to accept life in prison with no chance for parole. The families of both victims opposed a death sentence.

    http://www.registerguard.com/rg/news...vated.html.csp

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    Opening arguments pushed back to Friday in Taylor murder trial

    Attorneys involved in a Lane County capital murder case agreed Monday that they’ll need a few more days to select a jury before launching headlong into a complex trial that could take several weeks to complete.

    Opening statements in David Ray Taylor’s trial had been scheduled for Tuesday. But attorneys haven’t wrapped up preliminary interviews with potential jurors, a phase of the proceedings that began April 1 and should be completed by Wednesday.

    Lane County Circuit Judge Charles Zennaché said Monday during a pretrial hearing with attorneys that he expects them to select 12 jurors and four alternates by Thursday, with opening statements and witness testimony to follow on Friday.

    Taylor, who spent 27 years in prison after a Lane County jury convicted him in 1977 of murdering a female gas station attendant in Eugene, sat next to defense attorney Brad Cascagnette of Eugene during Monday’s brief hearing. Cascagnette and Oregon City attorney Christopher Burriss represent Taylor.

    Lane County Deputy District Attorney David Schwartz is prosecuting the case, with help from colleague Christopher Parosa.

    Prosecutors may seek the death penalty if the jury convicts Taylor, 58, of aggravated murder in the death of 22-year-old Eugene resident Celestino Gutierrez in August 2012.

    Taylor allegedly masterminded a scheme that involved luring Gutierrez to his home before the slaying. Authorities suspect Taylor and two much-younger associates then used Gutierrez’s car to drive to Mapleton and rob a bank.

    One of Taylor’s co-defendants, Mercedes Crabtree, pleaded guilty last year in the murder case and was sentenced to life in prison with a chance of parole after 30 years. Crabtree, who was 18 at the time of Gutierrez’s death, has agreed to testify against Taylor at his upcoming trial.

    The other suspect in the case, A.J. Scott Nelson, is also likely to be called as a witness. Nelson, 24, has been held in the Lane County Jail since he, Taylor and Crabtree were arrested in the days following Gutierrez’s death.

    Testimony from Nelson and Crabtree could be important to the state’s case, particularly because Zennaché has ruled that statements Taylor made to police in which he allegedly admitted to the murder cannot be used in the trial. The judge found that those statements were made after Taylor had invoked his right to remain silent but continued to be questioned by detectives.

    Key trial testimony could also come from Taylor’s girlfriend at the time of his arrest. The woman, Wretha Breckenridge, told a detective that she had heard Taylor, Nelson and Crabtree discussing Gutierrez’s murder, according to court records.

    Crabtree said last year during her sentencing hearing that she posed as a woman in distress to lure Gutierrez from a Eugene bar to Taylor’s house.

    Exactly what happened after that has not been made public. But both Taylor and Nelson are charged with abuse of a corpse for allegedly mutilating Gutierrez’s body, which was found in a shallow grave off a remote forest road in the Coast Range west of Eugene. A burn pile in the same area contained fragments of paperwork with Gutierrez’s name on them and provided some of the early clues that led police to believe he was the victim of a homicide.

    In addition to Gutierrez’s murder and the Mapleton robbery, Taylor is also charged with holding up a bank in Creswell in June 2012. Nelson and Crabtree were not involved in that crime.

    Authorities also suspect Taylor is the man who carried out three more armed bank robberies in late 2011 and early 2012. One of them was in Eugene, the other two in the Portland area.

    Meanwhile, Taylor is charged in Clackamas County with assault, robbery and other crimes in connection with an armed home-invasion robbery in Lake Oswego in April 2012. A trial in that case is scheduled for July.

    http://www.registerguard.com/rg/news...urder.html.csp
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    Juror’s fainting spells prompt delay in Eugene man’s murder trial

    Witness testimony in a Eugene man’s murder trial was set to resume this morning, but a judge suspended the proceedings until tomorrow after learning that a juror had experienced fainting spells earlier today.

    Lane County Circuit Judge Charles Zennaché said the juror, a woman who was not identified, indicated that she wants to continue serving on a panel that will eventually render a verdict in David Ray Taylor’s case. Zennaché did not say what had prompted the juror’s fainting spells, which occurred outside the courtroom.

    Taylor, 58, is accused of working with two other people to murder 22-year-old Eugene resident Celestino Gutierrez in 2012. Taylor is additionally charged with robbing two banks. He could face the death penalty if convicted of the slaying.

    A dozen prosecution witnesses testified after attorneys gave opening statements in Taylor’s trial last Friday.

    Taylor previously served 27 years in prison after being convicted in 1977 of killing a Eugene gas station attendant.

    Prosecutors allege that Taylor had two much-younger accomplices carry out a scheme that worked to lure Gutierrez to his home on Aug. 3, 2012. Taylor and one of the other suspects then allegedly killed Gutierrez and dismembered his body, prosecutors said.

    The three suspects then used Gutierrez’s car as a getaway vehicle after robbing a bank in Mapleton, prosecutors said.

    Gutierrez’s body was later found buried in a forested area near Crow.

    Defense attorney Brad Cascagnette told the jury in his opening statement that one of the other suspects, A.J. Scott Nelson, had actually been the person who killed Gutierrez.

    The third suspect, Mercedes Crabtree, pleaded guilty last year to participating in the murder and a previous bank robbery in Creswell that Taylor allegedly committed.

    http://www.registerguard.com/rg/news...aylor.html.csp
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    Murder victim’s last night unfolds in courtroom testimony

    The story of the last night of Eugene resident Celestino Gutierrez’s life began to unfold today in Lane County Circuit Court.

    A prosecution witness told a jury during murder suspect David Ray Taylor’s trial that Gutierrez drove her to the Brew & Cue bar on Highway 99 in Eugene on Aug. 2, 2012, to meet with several of her friends.

    “He wanted to go somewhere else,” Deseree Connor testified, explaining that they went to the Brew & Cue only because her friends were already there.

    Connor said she had been a friend of Gutierrez’s since high school.

    Prosecutors allege that Taylor had two younger accomplices stage a dispute at the bar that worked to lure Gutierrez to Taylor’s home on Jessen Drive, not far from the Brew & Cue.

    Taylor and one of the other suspects are alleged to have killed Gutierrez, 22, and dismembered his body. The three suspects then allegedly used Gutierrez’s car to rob a bank in Mapleton.

    Taylor, 58, faces a potential death penalty if convicted of the slaying. One of his attorneys told the jury last week that one of the other suspects, A.J. Scott Nelson, was the person who killed Gutierrez, who was 22 at the time.

    The third suspect, Mercedes Crabtree, pleaded guilty last year to participating in the murder. Crabtree, who was 18 at the time, also admitted to participating in a June 8, 2012, robbery of a bank in Creswell.

    In addition to facing charges of aggravated murder and abuse of a corpse, Taylor is charged with multiple counts of robbery for the Mapleton and Creswell bank heists.

    http://www.registerguard.com/rg/news...-brew.html.csp
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    Home became murder scene

    A stepbrother testifies that suspect David Ray Taylor lived rent-free in the house in return for upkeep

    By Jack Moran
    The Register-Guard

    David Ray Taylor lived rent-free at the Eugene home where he allegedly directed and helped carry out a horrific murder in 2012, his stepbrother told a Lane County jury on Thursday.

    James Ledgerwood testified during Taylor’s murder trial that he allowed his stepbrother — who previously spent 27 years in prison for killing a gas station attendant in 1977 — to move into his late aunt’s vacant house at 4111 Jessen Drive in early 2011.

    Taylor was supposed to “keep it secure,” Ledgerwood said of the home. “It had some family history.”

    The house off Highway 99 is now known as the spot of one of the most ghastly murders in Lane County’s recent history.

    Lane County prosecutors allege that Taylor devised a plan to have two younger acquaintances lure 22-year-old Eugene resident Celestino Gutierrez Jr. to the home in order to kill him and steal his car for use in a bank robbery on Aug. 3, 2012.

    One of Taylor’s accomplices, Mercedes Crabtree, testified earlier this week that Taylor gave instructions to the third suspect in the case, A.J. Nelson, during a drawn-out attack against Gutierrez inside the Jessen Drive residence’s living room.

    After Nelson was unable to cause fatal injuries to Gutierrez despite binding him with metal wire, driving a crossbow bolt into his head and choking him repeatedly, Taylor wrapped a metal chain around the victim’s neck and choked him until he died, Crabtree said.

    Taylor and Nelson then allegedly dismembered Gutierrez’s body in a bathtub. His remains were later found buried in the Crow area southwest of Eugene.

    Taylor, 58, could be sentenced to death if he is found guilty of aggravated murder in Gutierrez’s death.

    Crabtree, 20, has pleaded guilty to murder charges and is serving a lifetime prison term. A trial for Nelson, 24, is scheduled for September.

    In addition to hearing brief testimony from Ledgerwood, the jury spent most of Thursday listening to dry but potentially important information from a series of forensic analysts who discussed identifying and collecting blood and other evidence from the Jessen Drive house.

    Two civilian employees of the Eugene Police Department’s Forensic Evidence Unit testified that in several areas of the home, investigators found “diluted” blood stains that indicated someone had made efforts to clean the crime scene.

    The forensic unit workers also said blue wire and rugs at Taylor’s home appeared similar to items found at Gutierrez’s burial site.

    Prosecutors played for the jury a video of one of the forensic unit workers walking through the single-story, two-bedroom home to document its condition prior to when police began collecting items for forensic testing.

    Ledgerwood testified that furniture, appliances and an assortment of knick-knacks inside the house all had belonged to his aunt before her death in 2010. He said he is the trustee of her estate, a title that comes with maintenance responsibilities at the home.

    Taylor was supposed to “keep the yard up, (and) keep the weeds down,” Ledgerwood said.

    Ledgerwood, who testified that he has known Taylor “on and off” since 1969, appeared to glance in Taylor’s direction and nod slightly as he walked away from the witness stand on Thursday.

    Taylor’s mother married Ledgerwood’s stepfather.

    Taylor told prison officials in a proposed parole plan before his release from the Oregon State Penitentiary in 2004 that he planned to live temporarily with his parents in Eugene while seeking a job at a local substance abuse treatment provider.

    Taylor was not employed when police arrested him five days after Gutierrez was killed.

    http://www.registerguard.com/rg/news...ugene.html.csp

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    Murder suspect won’t testify

    David Ray Taylor declines to give evidence at his trial, and the two sides will make closing arguments today

    By Jack Moran
    The Register-Guard

    David Ray Taylor shook his head vigorously and told the judge presiding over his murder trial that he had no desire to tell a jury his side of a story that prosecutors have characterized as a tale of horror.

    “It wouldn’t be in my best interests,” Taylor told Lane County Circuit Judge Charles Zennaché on Tuesday, shortly after one of his attorneys announced that he would not call any witnesses to testify in Taylor’s defense or present any evidence to rebut allegations made by prosecution witnesses in recent weeks.

    Now that both sides have rested, the jury today will hear closing arguments before convening in private to review ample evidence in the capital murder case.

    If the jury convicts Taylor of aggravated murder in the death of 22-year-old Eugene resident Celestino Gutierrez, they will return to the courtroom to hear additional evidence during a second phase of the trial. Jurors will then launch into deliberations to decide if Taylor deserves to be sentenced to death or to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    Lane County prosecutors on Tuesday called one final witness to tie together a somewhat complicated case that included testimony from several dozen people over nine days.

    Eugene police Detective Jeff Donaca discussed a series of maps that depicted the movements of two vehicles that Taylor allegedly drove while planning, carrying out and covering up a bank robbery and Gutierrez’s murder in August 2012.

    Weeks before the slaying, FBI agents had attached tracking devices to the two vehicles while investigating a series of armed bank heists that Taylor had allegedly committed in Lane County and the Portland area between late 2011 and June 2012.

    Taylor, 58, allegedly had two younger accomplices stage a dispute outside a Eugene bar that worked to lure Gutierrez to Taylor’s home shortly before 1 a.m. on Aug. 3, 2012. Prosecutors say that after Gutierrez was killed at the house, Taylor and another suspect in the case dismembered his body.

    The three suspects then allegedly used Gutierrez’s car as a getaway vehicle in a bank robbery in Mapleton later that same day.

    One of Taylor’s two attorneys, Brad Cascagnette, told the jury during his opening statement that one of the other suspects, A.J. Scott Nelson, was the person who had actually killed Gutierrez. Cascagnette will have an opportunity to remind the jury of that allegation while making his closing argument today.

    A trial for Nelson, 24, is scheduled for September. The third suspect, 20-year-old Mercedes Crabtree, pleaded guilty last year to participating in Gutierrez’s murder and is now serving life in prison. Crabtree, who testified against Taylor at his trial, may apply for parole after serving 30 years behind bars.

    Taylor is in the rare position of facing a possible murder conviction after having previously been found guilty of murder. He served 27 years in prison for the shotgun slaying of a Eugene gas station attendant in 1977. The state parole board, on a 2-to-1 vote, granted Taylor’s release in 2004.

    http://www.registerguard.com/rg/news...trial.html.csp

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    Murder case in hands of jury

    David Ray Taylor could face the death penalty if convicted of murdering Celestino Gutierrez as part of a bank robbery plot.

    The outcome of aggravated murder and 30 other criminal charges against Taylor now rest with the jury.

    The prosecution told the court Wednesday that Taylor and AJ Scott Nelson took turns choking Gutierrez before killing him and disposing of his body.

    "We're here on Mr. Taylor, and Mr. Taylor was the other half of the personally involved people in the killing of Celestino Gutierrez," prosecutor David Schwartz told the jury.

    Taylor was the ringleader who personally stalked his pray at a bar that night, the prosecution contents. Video from a bar the night Gutierrez disappeared in August 2012 shows Taylor sitting next to the victim.

    "He's in there for one purpose, and you can see him sit down and look down at Gutierrez," Schwartz said.

    Alleged accomplice Mercedes Crabtree testified she lured Gutierrez away from the bar so that Nelson and Taylor could kill him.

    The prosecution contends Taylor showed Nelson how to dismember and dispose of a body.

    Defense attorney Bradley Cascagnette told the jury to convict Taylor of the bank robberies - but said that to convict Taylor of murder, they would have to know exactly what happened inside the house that night.

    "It comes back to what do you know happened in there," he said, "and if you can't know, you have to vote not guilty."

    The prosecution contends Crabtree's testimony pins the murder on Taylor.

    But Cassagnette said Crabtree was protecting herself and Nelson, her friend and lover.

    The prosecution told the jury to disregard that notion.

    "Her statements make Nelson guilty as hell," Schwartz said.

    http://www.kmtr.com/news/local/Murde...258378781.html
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    Guilty verdict in 2012 Eugene slaying

    EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Jurors in Lane County have convicted a 58-year-old man of aggravated murder in the 2012 death of a young Eugene, Oregon, man.

    The Register-Guard says (http://is.gd/5Md2tE) the jury also convicted David Ray Taylor on Thursday of robbery charges in connection with two bank robberies committed in 2012.

    Jurors found that Taylor kidnapped and robbed Celestino Gutierrez, the murder victim.

    The same Circuit Court jury will next decide whether Taylor should be sentenced to death or to life without parole.

    Prosecutors said Taylor used Gutierrez's car as a getaway vehicle in a bank robbery.

    Taylor previously spent 27 years in prison for murdering a Eugene gas station attendant in 1977.

    http://democratherald.com/news/state...00f276859.html

  9. #9
    Weidmann1939
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    Having served 27 years for a previous murder conviction. The death sentence would seem a slam dunk.

  10. #10
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    If Oregon law is like that of most other states, all he needs to dodge a death sentence is just one juror who lied during voir dire.

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