Taylor Gets Death Sentence For Wendys Massacre

John Taylor sat stone cold and impassive on Tuesday as a Queens County jury sentenced him to death by lethal injection for brutally murdering five restaurant workers at Wendys in Flushing, a crime prosecutors branded one of the most callous in Queens history.
As the jury foreman answered, "death," to repeated murder counts read off in Criminal Court, the families of Taylors victims remained calm and composed. Justice Steven Fischer earlier had warned them to avoid outbursts.
Ironically, the prosecution team supervised by District Attorney Richard A. Brown, all acknowledged they are opposed to the death penalty and were required to seek the death penalty because of a new state law. Brown said he is a long time opponent of capital punishment.
"I have found," he said, "that the death penalty has little effect on closure for families of the victim."
After the jury verdict, the defense team said it would move for an appeal to the New York State Court of Appeals. The law requires such an appeal in murder cases.
"That which took place that night at Wendys shocked the city," Brown said. "It was among the worst crimes that the city has ever seen. It was cruel and it was inhuman."
Taylors accomplice, Craig Godineaux, was sentenced earlier to life imprisonment without parole. He was spared the death penalty because it was ruled that he is mentally retarded.
The brief trial in criminal court amassed overwhelming evidence and the only real issue was the penalty handed down by the jury. Defense counsel John Youngblood had acknowledged his clients crime, but pleaded with the jury to spare his life for the sake of his children. The jury saw no mitigating factors and in quick order voted unanimously for the death penalty.
Brown said the families of the victims had undergone a great ordeal in listening to the grisly crime as recounted by the prosecution team of Dan Saunders and Robert Masters.
"I am more than satisfied that we as an office have done that which the people of this county elected us to do," said Brown.