Reprieve Of Wendys Massacre Killer Brings Mixed Reaction

The State Court of Appeals recent decision to halt the death penalty in New York has stirred mixed reactions from family members of the victims of Queens most grisly bloodbath.
The ruling, which states New Yorks death penalty law is unconstitutional on grounds that its provision on instructions to deadlocked juries is flawed, temporarily spares the lives of four men now on death row, including Queens native John Taylor, who was convicted of murder in the May 2000 Wendys restaurant massacre in Flushing.
Involved in the worst multiple homicide case of its kind in Queens living memory, Taylor, 40, was sentenced on November 26, 2002, by a jury, making him the borough’s first resident on death row since the state reinstituted capital punishment in 1995.
Although the ruling by the State Court leaves the death penalty in place, under the present statute the death penalty may not be imposed. Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said it was too soon to tell whether the higher court ruling was going to reverse Taylor’s sentence.
Predictably, opponents of capital punishment have greeted the ruling as an important victory, but many of the relatives of those killed by Taylor are understandably less enthusiastic.
Pamela Truman-Smith is an example. Its been four years since the gruesome event in Flushing. And although the story has faded from the headlines, it is never far from her mind.
The Jamaica mother lost her daughter Anita Smith when Taylor and his mentally retarded accomplice, Craig Godineaux, bound and gagged the 22-year-old and the six other Wendys staff members and then proceeded to shoot them, execution style, with bullets to the back of the head. Miraculously, two of the seven victims survived the massacre.
Said Truman-Smith: "I didnt support the death penalty in the past because I saw that innocent people had gone to their death. But I saw with my own eyes that John Taylor got a fair trial. I saw that he was guilty. Hes alive and five people are dead. As long as I live, I will work to ensure that he does not just sit in jail. Every day I feel pain. Why shouldnt he? He was a cold-blooded murderer. He murdered five innocent human beings."
Benjamin Nazario, who lost his younger brother Ramon Nazario Julia, 43, in the killings agrees with Truman-Smith: "My brother had a son who will be seven in September. Hes only ever going to see his father on videotape, or when he goes to the cemetery. This is something that will stay with us forever. We could accept it if it was a normal death. But not like this, not this way, it stays with us all the time."
Nazario is incensed at the recent State Court ruling, and his disdain is palpable: "The jury reached a verdict. How can anybody change the judges ruling after the jury decided? Thats not law, thats slapping everyone in the face. If those making the law dont show any respect for their rulings then what are the people on the bottom going to do? I want the sentence to stand and to go through."
Joretta Johnson, whose son Jaquione, 24, was one of only two who survived the shootings, takes a different view. She is the only one among the victims relatives who deeply opposes the death penalty on personal religious grounds. She even took the stand on behalf of the defense lawyers to testify in the trial.
"The only way I could get through this case was to forgive those men early on," said Johnson, adding that she has noticed mood changes in her son since the shooting and that he relives the incident every day. "I believe that had I lost my son, I would still oppose the death penalty. I would know he was with Jesus."
Assistant District Attorney Robert Masters, who prosecuted the case, and who argued for the death penalty, takes a measured look at recent developments.
"Their crime was out of this world," he said. "They had a remarkably fair trial and they were found guilty. I believe the death penalty was an appropriate verdict in Taylors case."
It is by no means clear, lawmakers contend, that the recent State Court ruling will apply to the Wendys case. The outcome is still not certain and law sources suggested that they would vigorously defend Taylors original sentence.
"Its easy to see both sides of the issue," says Truman-Smith, who has attended professional counseling since her daughters death. "Until it comes to your own door. Then everything changes."