Ronald Taylor, left, and George Gould
Even if it's eventually proven that Ronald Taylor never took part in the 1993 New Haven murder of Eugenio Deleon Vega, he will never be vindicated in Connecticut courts because he died too soon.
That was the ruling last week by state Superior Court Judge Samuel J. Sferrazza, who told Taylor's wife and lawyer that the only way to overturn Taylor's conviction was a new trial and that's impossible now.
Taylor, 52, succumbed to colon cancer in late October.
He and George Gould spent nearly 16 years in state prison for the killing of that New Haven bodega owner.
They were freed from prison in 2010 after key witnesses in the case recanted their original testimony. Those witnesses claimed they'd been pressured by New Haven cops into fingering Gould and Taylor for the killing.
After lengthy hearings, state Superior Court Judge Stanley J. Fuger called their convictions "a manifest injustice" and ordered the men released. But a state Supreme Court ruling this year dictated that another round of hearings take place, and another state judge ordered Gould back to prison until that happened.
Taylor, who was suffering from late-stage colon cancer, was allowed to stay at home with his family despite protests from the state prosecutor handling the case.
Gould remains behind bars awaiting that new round of hearings.
Taylor's lawyer, Peter Tsimbidaros, told the Hartford Courant he'll appeal Sferrazza's latest ruling that there is no way now to overturn Taylor's conviction.
