October 3rd Set for Michael Roberts' Execution
We are shocked and greatly saddened by the brutal and senseless murder of Mary Taylor and extend our condolences to her family. However, we cannot condone the state's planned murder of another human being.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch August 31, 2001
The Missouri Supreme Court Friday set an execution date of Oct. 3 for
Michael Roberts in the beating death in February 1994 of his Jennings
neighbor, Mary Taylor, a nursing home activities director.
A jury in St. Louis County Circuit Court convicted Roberts, now 25, in
March 1995 and recommended the death penalty. The conviction and death
sentence has been upheld on appeal, said a spokesman for Missouri
Attorney General Jay Nixon.
As Taylor fought for her life, begged Roberts to stop and prayed to God
for help, Roberts beat her with a hammer 19 times and strangled her. She
was also stabbed and drowned in a pot of water.
Roberts described Taylor's last moments in a videotaped confession. After
the murder, Roberts said he stole $200 and an answering machine, and went
to a party where his friends used the money to buy and smoke crack
cocaine.
Taylor, 56, worked at the Bell Crest Nursing Home where she had advanced
from cook to nurse's aide to activities director. She was the mother of
3 and grandmother of 6, for whom she crocheted gifts of potholders,
tableclothes, Christmas stockings and lampshade covers.
(source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch)