The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals

The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the 2003 conviction and death sentence of Richard Taylor (see Oct. 16, 2003). He had been first sentenced to death in 1984 for the 1981 killing of Ronald Moore, a prison guard. At the time, Taylor was serving a sentence for a lesser crime.
The original verdict was set aside because Taylor's complex mental-health history had not been fully investigated. He was again sentenced to death in 2003, but today the Court of Appeals stated again that Taylor deserves a new trial due to a variety of constitutional errors at his original trial. These errors include the denial of his constitutional right to counsel at a pre-trial competency hearing, the failure of the trial court to hold a competency hearing during the trial, and the failure of the trial court to appoint advisory counsel. Taylor, who is severely mentally ill, was permitted to represent himself at trial with little questioning of his competency. At his 2003 trial, Taylor represented himself without advisory counsel and presented no evidence towards his defense.