Convicted killer John Albert Taylor has requested a stay of his scheduled June 24 execution for the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl.
Taylor was sentenced to die for the June 23, 1989, murder of Charla Nichole King. Her nude body was found by her mother in the bedroom of their Washington Terrace apartment. She had been strangled with a telephone cord.Taylor's execution by firing squad had been set for what would have been the child's 15th birthday.
Defense attorney Ron Yengich filed the motion for a stay Tuesday. A hearing will be scheduled before 2nd District Judge David E. Roth, who presided over Taylor's trial and imposed the death penalty.
Yengich has indicated he plans to seek a writ of habeas corpus, which would allow review of the case for constitutional errors, but has yet to file anything to seek to overturn Taylor's conviction or sentence.
That filing could come in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court, which has jurisdiction over the Utah State Prison, where Taylor is on death row.
Assistant Attorney General Charlene Barlow said stays are not usually granted when no appeal is pending but that the state will not contest the request.
However, she said she would ask the court to impose a deadline for filing an appeal.
The Utah Supreme Court already has upheld Taylor's sentence, and the U.S. Supreme Court in April refused to hear the case.
Taylor earlier this year said he did not want to pursue his appeal but since has changed his mind.
Yengich, a Salt Lake attorney, entered the case after he was contacted by a group of lawyers in Seattle who take on death penalty appeals without fee. He is a member of the Rocky Mountain Defense Fund, a similar organization.
The Seattle group includes one of the lawyers for Hi Fi killer William Andrews, who faces a July 30 execution date.
The Seattle group was contacted by Taylor's public defender after the Weber County Public Defender Association's funds for Taylor's appeal were exhausted.