The legal saga of two men convicted of killing a Hammond gun shop owner during a 2000 robbery will continue after they lost their bid to have their second trial overturned but won another chance at less than life in prison.
The 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that U.S. District Judge James Moody did not properly address the upbringing of Styles Taylor, 35, and Keon Thomas, 40, in his sentencing and ordered that both be remanded for a new sentencing hearing.
However, the court upheld their convictions for killing Frank Freund Sr.
Taylor’s attorneys declined to comment on the ruling, and an attorney for Thomas could not be reached for comment.
James Freund said he was happy that his father’s killers would not get another trial but that he still thinks they both should have been sentenced to death.
“He killed a guy who was 72 years old, a WWII veteran and raised six kids,” James Freund said. “What has (Taylor) done for this community… other than be a burden?”
He argued it would be an injustice to let either one of them out of prison, adding that Taylor was out on parole for a prior conviction when he killed Frank Freund.
Taylor and Thomas were originally convicted of killing Freund 2004.
However, in 2011, the 7th Circuit overturned the original conviction when they ruled that prosecutors had improperly struck black people from the jury.
The two were tried again in 2012 and again convicted of murdering Freund. Moody then sentenced them both to life in prison in 2013.
The two men appealed their second conviction, this time on several grounds, including that prosecutors should not have been allowed to introduce a video of Taylor’s brother saying Taylor had confessed his role in the crime to him.
Taylor’s brother argued during the second trial that he only said that because the police had threatened to charge him in the case, but the 7th Circuit ruled that it was OK to show the video to the jury as it was being used to dispute the brother’s testimony.
However, the court did agree with them that Moody had not properly addressed their arguments during sentencing about their backgrounds. Judge Eric Posner wrote in the opinion that Taylor’s upbringing was particularly concerning, including the fact that his mother tried to abort his pregnancy by drinking rum and taking quinine capsules and beat and neglected him after he was born three months early.
Other relatives used Taylor when he was as young as 4 years old to take part in burglaries, Posner noted, and he was introduced to drugs and gambling when he was 8.
The court ruled that the upbringing of both Taylor and Thomas could be mitigating factors for a prison term off less than life in prison, in which case Moody needs to at least address them.
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“For they suggest that external forces beyond (Taylor’s) ability to control created cognitive and psychological impairments that greatly diminished his ability to resist engaging in serious criminal activity,” Posner wrote.