BONNE TERRE, MISSOURI: A man convicted of shooting his live-in girlfriend and her three young children to death was executed by lethal injection on Tuesday, February 7. The execution order was carried out despite the death row inmate's claims, till the very end, that he was thousands of miles away when the killings took place. The 58-year-old Leonard 'Raheem' Taylor became the third Missouri inmate to be put to death since November at the state prison in Bonne Terre.
Taylor's death was the nation's fifth execution this year, following one in Missouri, two in Texas, and one in Oklahoma — all by lethal injection. The convict is said to have "kicked his feet" as 5 grams of pentobarbital were administered. He then took a couple of deep breaths before ceasing all movement.
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'Death is not your enemy'
Taylor, in his final statement, declared that Muslims don't die but "live eternally in the hearts of our family and friends." He added, "Death is not your enemy, it is your destiny. Look forward to meeting it. Peace!"
Raheem Taylor’s official last statement. “Death is not your enemy, it is your destiny. Look forward to meeting it. Peace!” pic.twitter.com/Vl4PCnMWpd
— Monica Obradovic (@MonicaObradovic) February 7, 2023
The convict, who previously went by his birth name Leonard, had maintained that he was far away in California when Angela Rowe and her daughters Alexus, 6, and AcQreya Conley, 5, and son Tyrese Conley, 5, were killed in 2004. Taylor eventually garnered the support of the NAACP, the Midwest Innocence Project, and dozens of civil rights and religious groups. However, his claims of innocence were refuted time and again. Last week, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell declined Taylor's request for a hearing before a judge, saying the "facts are not there to support a credible case of innocence." The same week, the US Supreme Court declined to intervene in the case. Furthermore, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson declined to grant clemency on Monday, the same day the Missouri Supreme Court denied a stay request.
While it was established that Taylor was not in Missouri when the bodies were found, his whereabouts at the time of the killings remained unclear. Taylor and Rowe reportedly lived with her children at a home in the St. Louis suburb of Jennings. Taylor boarded a flight to California on November 26, 2004. Police responded to the home on December 3, 2004, after concerned relatives said they hadn't heard from Rowe. Responding officers found the bodies of Rowe and her children and realized that all four had been shot to death. A medical examiner initially ruled that the killings likely happened within a few days of the discovery of the bodies, when Taylor would have been in California. However, during his trial, Medical Examiner Phillip Burch admitted the killings could have happened two or three weeks before the discovery of the bodies.
Was Raheem Taylor innocent?
Taylor's attorney Kent Gipson claimed several people — including relatives of Rowe and a neighbor — saw her alive in the days after Taylor left St. Louis. Meanwhile, Taylor's daughter Deja claimed in a court filing that she and her father even called Rowe and one of the children during his visit to her place in California. However, then-St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch said Taylor's claim of innocence was "nonsense" and that the alibis offered by his daughter and her relatives were "completely made up." Speaking to the Associated Press, McCulloch said the evidence indicated Rowe and the kids were killed on the night of November 22 or on November 23, when Taylor was still in St. Louis. He also noted that Rowe made around 70 outgoing calls or texts each day, and made none starting November 23. What's more? DNA from Rowe's blood was found on Taylor's glasses when he was arrested. A relative who took him to the airport testified he saw Taylor toss a gun into the sewer. Meanwhile, Taylor's brother told the authorities that he had admitted to the crime. Police believe Taylor shot Rowe during a violent argument and proceeded to kill her children because they were witnesses, CBS News reported.
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