Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Massacre mastermind gets life (not death)

Closing a chapter on an especially bloody crime, the state’s highest court tossed out the death sentence yesterday that was imposed on a man for his role in the murders of five workers at a Wendy’s restaurant in Queens seven years ago.

The divided decision by the Court of Appeals not only ordered the man, John B. Taylor, to be resentenced — almost certainly to life in prison without parole — but also reaffirmed a landmark decision three years ago that effectively invalidated the state’s death penalty law.


State’s Highest Court Tosses Out Death Sentence in Killings at a Queens Wendy’s

Mr. Taylor, the last remaining man on New York State’s death row, was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death at his trial in Queens in 2002. He and an accomplice, Craig Godineaux, were found to have forced seven people into a walk-in freezer at the Wendy’s in Flushing, bound and gagged them, then forced them onto their knees before shooting each in the head.

Two of the victims survived and testified at Mr. Taylor’s trial. (Mr. Godineaux, who is mildly retarded, pleaded guilty to murder in the case and is serving a life sentence without parole.)


Convicted Murderer In Wendy's Massacre To Be Re-Sentenced To Life

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

oh, great. Knowing my luck I'll wind up sharing a cell with him.

Anonymous said...

There was a request put forward in Flushing
shortly after......
that the Wendy's site be turned into something
that would benefit the entire community
as a living useful memorial:
i.e.
information/visitors/meditation/historical/arts etc. center .

That being rejected......
we figured that Dave Thomas
could have paid for the planting of numerous trees.....
street trees....whatever...... trees......
in keeping with Flushing's horticultural history
and the appropriateness of them as living symbols
to the lives lost.

Fat chance!
old jovial appearing (in his TV commercials) Dave
was present when , I believe 2 or 3 trees were planted in the Queens Botanical Gardens.
That cheap phony.
Now he's pushing up daisies
in some other stone garden somewhere.

I stopped patronizing Wendy's thereafter!

Anonymous said...

the real blame belongs on the Democrat cowards in the Assembly, who refuse to reinstate the death penalty. The murderer has more rights than his victims.

Anonymous said...

I'd grind that stone killer into a Wendy's hamburger
and serve him to the dogs!

Anonymous said...

I know one of his children and he/she told me about it.I was in total shock.