The U.S. Supreme Court has refused, without comment, to hear an appeal of the conviction of Utah death-row inmate Von Lester Taylor.
Taylor was sentenced to execution for the December 1990 murder of two women at a family cabin in Oakley.Taylor and co-defendant Edward Deli broke into the cabin and fatally shot Kaye Tiede, 51, and her mother, Beth Potts, 72. They also shot and seriously wounded Tiede's husband, kidnapped the couple's two girls and set the cabin on fire before fleeing.
Tiede's husband was able to ride down the mountain on a snowmobile and contact police, who stopped the car with the perpetrators and two girls a short time later.
Taylor pleaded guilty to homicide and a jury sentenced him to die. Deli was convicted of second-degree murder and received a life sentence.
Taylor appealed first to the Utah Supreme Court then to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that he had received inadequate counsel in his defense.