Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, Hillsborough County Case # 01-8692  
Sentencing Judge: The Honorable Barbara Fleischer
Attorney, Trial: Deborah Goins – Assistant Public Defender
Attorney, Direct Appeal: Andrea M. Norgard – Assistant Public Defender
Attorney, Collateral Appeals – Mark Gruber – CCRC-M

Date of Offense: 05/25/01

Date of Sentence: 09/29/04

Circumstances of Offense:

William Taylor met Sandra Kushmer and her brother, Billy D. Maddox, at Harry’s Bar in Riverview.  Taylor knew Kushmer from school. 

When Taylor noticed that Kushmer’s brother bought expensive drinks and left generous tips, he decided to rob them. He took them to their mother’s house where he attacked them and robbed them. 

Taylor hit Kushmer in the head then shot her in the face with a shotgun.  He then severely beat Maddox.  Maddox nearly died from the beating, he received several fractures to his skull and allegedly still suffers from lasting brain damage from the incident.

After the incident, while still in Tampa, Taylor washed his bloody clothes, pawned the shotgun, made charges to the Maddox’s credit card and attempted to cash one of Maddox’s checks. 

Taylor then fled to Memphis, Tennessee, where he assumed Maddox’s identity of a stockbroker and used his stolen credit cards and checks to make purchases.  Taylor was arrested in Memphis. 

Taylor has given various accounts of what happened.   At one point he claimed that his wife, Lorena Taylor, and a man named Jose Arano were present and participated in the crimes; however, neither of them has been charged with a crime. 

Additional Information:

Taylor’s first trial ended in a mistrial because jurors were mistakenly allowed to hear a portion of Taylor’s confession in which he discussed committing burglaries in Miami. 

Prior Incarceration History in the State of Florida:
 

In 1976, Taylor shot a woman and assaulted another in Delaware.  He spent 23 years in prison for the crimes.  It is stipulated that under the name of Mark Levy, Taylor lived in Elko County, Nevada and assaulted and burglarized a female co-worker in 1977. 

*****

Trial Summary:

06/12/01          Indicted as follows:

Count I: First-Degree Murder
Count II: Attempted Murder
Count III: Robbery with a Deadly Weapon
Count IV: Robbery with a Firearm
Count V: Armed Burglary of a Dwelling
Count VI: Felon in Possession of a Firearm

03/26/04           Mistrial was declared.

06/02-09/04      Retrial held.     

06/09/04           Jury returned guilty verdicts on counts I through V of the indictment.

06/14/04           Jury recommended death by a vote of 12-0.

09/29/04           Sentenced as follows:

Count I: First-Degree Murder – Death
Count II: Attempted Murder – Life
Count III: Robbery with a Deadly Weapon – Life
Count IV: Armed Burglary – Life with a 20 year mandatory minimum
Count V: Armed Burglary of a Dwelling – Life with a 10 year mandatory minimum

*****

Case Information:

On 11/19/04, Taylor filed a Direct Appeal in the Florida Supreme Court.  He argued that the trial court erred in denying the motion to suppress evidence seized in an unlawful search and that the sentence of death is disproportionate for this case.  Taylor also contended that the Florida Capital Sentencing process is unconstitutional since the judge, rather than the jury, determines the sentence and the existence of his prior violent felony should not bar the application of Ring to his death sentence.  Finally, Taylor argued that the jury instructions given during the penalty phase unconstitutionally shifted the burden of proof onto him and the instructions improperly minimized and denigrated the role of the jury in violation of Caldwell v. Mississippi.  

The court affirmed Taylor’s conviction and death sentence on 06/29/06.

On 10/25/06, the Circuit Court entered an order finding competency to waive postconviction proceedings & counsel.

On 12/04/06, an appeal of the Circuit Court order was filed in the Florida Supreme Court.  The appeal is pending.

FloridaCapitalCases.state.fl.us