John Albert Taylor

John Albert Taylor (June 6, 1959 – January 26, 1996) was an American who was convicted of burglary and carrying a concealed weapon in the state of Florida, and sexual assault and murder in the state of Utah.

In 1974, Taylor moved back to Ogden to live with his grandmother, but soon returned to Florida.

He became the second person to be executed by firing squad in the United States (after Gary Gilmore) since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

Taylor said he chose this method of execution to embarrass the state of Utah.

In 1977, Taylor was arrested in Florida and charged with burglary and carrying a concealed weapon after he was caught with a stolen gun.

He was convicted and imprisoned until December 1981, when he was released on parole.

In March 1982, he was arrested in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for armed burglary, armed robbery, and sexual assault.

He had been diagnosed at the age of 17 as "a remorseless pedophile."

He was acquitted of the charges in September 1982, but was sentenced to 15 additional years in prison for parole violations.

Taylor's own sister tipped off police in June 1989 after 11-year-old Charla King was found raped and strangled to death in Washington Terrace, Utah.

His fingerprints were found at the crime scene, which was located in an apartment complex where he had been staying.

In December 1989, Taylor was sentenced to death and placed on death row at Utah State Prison.

Taylor gave up appealing his sentence after his request for retrial was rejected by the Utah Supreme Court, though he continued to maintain his innocence.

In 1989, Taylor was released and departed for Utah to be with his sisters and biological father, who he discovered was still alive.

"From all I saw, my father was a good man. But while I was growing up, I was told so many stories about him that I've come to learn were all lies. My father was being painted a villain when he really wasn't one. I've come to learn that the real villain was my mother."

At around 3:20 p.m. on June 23, 1989, Sherron King returned from work to her apartment in Washington Terrace, Utah to find the body of her daughter Charla in the bedroom with a nightgown wrapped around her head and panties stuffed in her mouth.

After calling the police, she was instructed to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation and discovered that Charla had been strangled to death with a telephone cord.

Charla's foster grandmother Bertha Poster stated that she had dropped Charla off at the apartment at about 1:30 p.m. after visiting the mall.

On November 27, 1989, the trial commenced under District Judge David Roth after Taylor waived his right to a jury.

Taylor testified on his own behalf that he only entered the apartment in the act of burglary while no one was home, leaving his fingerprints on the phone when he found money underneath it.

Weber County deputy attorney William Daines stated that Taylor previously denied being in the apartment and that two witnesses placed him at the scene at the time of the crime.

Prison inmate Mike Gallegos testified that he had a brief conversation in which Taylor told him that he killed a girl by accident, and masturbated on the corpse.

On January 26, 1996, the day of Taylor's execution, legislation was introduced in the Utah House of Representatives to eliminate the firing squad.

John Albert Taylor was born in Ogden, Utah to Albert and Gaylene Taylor, who separated during his infancy.

He moved several times during his youth, including a move to Colorado at the age of nine, when he was told that his father had died.

According to Taylor, he was raised in Florida, where he was abused as a child and became involved in drugs by his teens.

Taylor stated that he did not get along with his stepfather, a Vietnam veteran, or his mother: "But she could never control me. My mother had a lot of animosity toward my father. They alienated me for a long time. I was the whipping post."

At the age of 13, he stabbed his stepfather.

According to court records, he repeatedly raped and sodomized his sister Laurie during his teens, and raped, and sodomized other young girls, and was committed to a sex offender program.

Charla had been planning to celebrate her 12th birthday at an amusement park on the next day.

Prosecutors believe that Taylor entered the house with intent on sexually molesting the girl.

When she caught him in the house, prosecutors believe, he chased her into the bedroom, and placed her underwear in her mouth.

He raped her, placed a nightgown over her head, and strangled her to death.

On June 25, a tipster, who was later revealed to be Taylor's sister Laurie Galli, contacted Washington Terrace Police officer Marcia Gathercole with information connected to the murder.

Taylor's fingerprints were found on a telephone in the King residence and matched to records provided by authorities in Fort Lauderdale.

He was arrested at about 9 p.m. on June 28 at the home of his half-sister/incestous lover Tresa Taylor in Ogden, Utah and charged with first-degree burglary, first-degree child rape, and first-degree murder the next morning.

Taylor had arrived from Florida four days before the murder and had been staying with another sister in the same apartment complex.

"I remember telling my father that whoever they arrested for this crime was history, and that was before my arrest."

Sherron King moved out of the apartment complex on June 28.

She was upset that the neighbors who came forward as witnesses did nothing when they heard her daughter screaming.