Convicted murderer wants pardon from governor

Sanity phase of trial underway

By MARSHA DORGAN
Napa Valley Register

Just days after his arrest for the murder of a Napa man, Alex Taylor was making telephone calls from county jail instructing his mother to contact the governor for a pardon.

Taylor, 26, was convicted last week of the first-degree murder of George Davis, 62, last April in the bedroom of Davis’ Redwood Road apartment.

Taylor’s attorney Jess Raphael filed a motion to determine whether his client should be deemed not guilty by reason of insanity.

The sanity phase of the trial started Monday. They same jury that found Taylor guilty of murder will now decide if he was sane at the time he shot Davis five times in the head.

Raphael played the recorded telephone conversations between Taylor and his mother Cheri Taylor. The collect calls were made from the jail in the first week following Taylor’s arrest.

In the conversation, Taylor asks his mother if she had called the governor.

Taylor said he believed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could give him a reprieve “and that would be good for the governor’s career.”

Taylor, who said he suffers from schizophrenia, admitted to shooting Davis during an interview with detectives the night Davis’ body was discovered in his apartment.

He gave two motives, one being Davis wanted to die and Taylor assisted in his suicide. Taylor also told investigators that he believed Davis was the man who raped him when he was 4. The alleged rape has never been substantiated, and Davis did not live in Napa when Taylor was a youngster.

During other conversations, Taylor’s mother told him he needed to plead insanity and turn over his medical records to authorities, which upset Taylor.

While talking about Davis’ death, Taylor told his mother, “I just snapped.”

Raphael is hoping to convince the jury Taylor did not believe killing Davis was morally wrong.

During the murder trial, Raphael argued that Davis practiced witchcraft and black magic. He said Taylor believed the demons in his body had taken on Davis’ identity, and the only way to rid himself of the demons was to kill Davis.

Prosecutor Gary Van Camp was able to convince the jury by winning a first-degree murder verdict that Taylor planned and with premeditation, intentionally armed himself with a rifle, went to Davis’ apartment and gunned him down in cold blood.

In the sanity phase of the trial, unlike the criminal phase, the burden of proof lies on the shoulders of the defense.

Also unlike the murder trial where the jurors must believe that Taylor killed Davis beyond a reasonable doubt, they only need to be convinced by more than 50 percent he was insane when he pulled the trigger. The vote must be unanimous.

If Taylor is found not guilty by reason of insanity he will be committed to a state mental hospital where he will be treated for his mental illness. He will remain at the hospital until medical experts deem him sane. However, Taylor cannot be kept at the hospital any longer than the punishment for first-degree murder which is 25 years to life.

The sanity phase of the trial expected to last into next week. During that time, the defense and prosecution will call expert medical witnesses who will testify to Taylor’s state of mind when he killed Davis.

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