A Nov. 27 trial date has been set for an Ogden man charged with capital murder in the strangulation death of an 11-year-old Washington Terrace girl.
John Albert Taylor, 30, entered a plea of not guilty to a first-degree murder charge Wednesday before 2nd District Judge David Roth.Also during Taylor's brief court appearance, defense attorneys John Caine and Bernard Allen asked to be taken off the case because of their relationships with Weber County Attorney Reed Richards, who is expected to prosecute the case.
Caine is a former law partner of Richards, and Allen is a first cousin of the county attorney.
Don Redd, a Layton attorney and a former assistant Davis County prosecutor, and Martin Gravis, a Weber County public defender, will now take over.
Caine said he agreed to withdraw from the case because he didn't want a possible appearance of a conflict of interest if the case was appealed.
Redd and Gravis asked Roth to set the trial for the end of November so they could better prepare themselves. If convicted, Taylor could be sentenced to death.
The defendant is accused of sexually assaulting and killing Charla King on June 23 in the apartment where she and her mother lived. Prosecutors said Taylor's fingerprints were found on a telephone in the bedroom where the victim's nude body was found with a telephone cord wrapped around her neck.
Taylor had been living with his sister in the same apartment complex for about four days before the murder. He was arrested about a week later at another sister's home in a downtown Ogden apartment.
Taylor is being held without bond in the Weber County Jail. He waived his right to a speedy trial.