After six hours, jurors sentence Taylor to death

Nine days after it began, the homicide trial of rampage killer Ronald Taylor ended with the jury's decision Sunday morning to impose a death sentence on the 41-year-old Wilkinsburg resident.

By law, the sentence is automatically appealed to the state Supreme Court.

Returning from four hours of deliberations Saturday night, jurors discussed the question two hours yesterday before coming to the unanimous decision to send Taylor to a death chamber, choosing the penalty over a life sentence for each of the three slain.

The trial was held in the courtroom of Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Lawrence O'Toole.

As he had through most of the trial, Taylor remained stone-faced when the six men and six women delivered their verdict. His mother and family quickly left the courtroom without comment.

Attorneys for Taylor had hoped the mitigating circumstance of his battle with paranoid schizophrenia would have swayed jurors against the penalty. Instead, jurors rejected that plea just as they rejected his insanity defense Thursday and found him guilty of first-degree murder.

"It was hard," said Joy Webb, a juror from McKeesport. "The trial was very hard and very emotional and impacted an entire community. We took all that into consideration."

"I'm glad it's over," Webb said.

Some family members of those killed praised the jury's decision.

"I feel that Mr. Taylor brought it onto himself because of his actions," said Michaela Sanielevici, of Greenfield, mother of slain University of Pittsburgh student Emil Sanielevici. Sanielevici, 20, was the last to die during Taylor's shooting spree on March 1, 2000.

Carol Kroll, the wife of the first rampage victim, wept before reporters, saying she hoped that now she could begin to put her life back together. John Kroll, 55, of Cabot, Butler County, had been at work repairing the door to Taylor's apartment when the killer started his attack.

"I'm very glad they recognized that John's life was worth something," Carol Kroll said. "I'm glad the jurors did their job and I thank them for it."

Taylor also killed Joseph Healy, 71, of Wilkinsburg, a retired Roman Catholic priest turned storyteller.

District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. issued a statement shortly after the verdict was released. "I would once again like to express my sincerest condolences to the families of John Kroll, Joseph Healy and Emil Sanielevici," Zappala wrote. "I admire their patience and resolve during this difficult time."

Zappala also expressed sympathy for Steven Bostard, 26, of Swissvale and Richard Clinger, 58, of North Huntingdon Township, who were wounded in the shooting.

Clinger left the courtroom without comment yesterday. Partially paralyzed from the shooting, he walked away using a cane and shaking his head.

Bishop Donald W. Wuerl of the Diocese of Pittsburgh issued a statement calling the sentence "an unfortunate reflection of the violence in our society."

"The use of the death penalty diminishes our society's commitment to the dignity and worth of all human life. Even in the face of horrific and senseless crimes, the death penalty does nothing to protect the innocent against individual crimes," Wuerl said in the statement.

"It is regrettable that, once again, a choice has been made to respond to violence with more violence...Life imprisonment without parole serves the need for justice and at the same time reaffirms the essential dignity of all human life," the statement concludes.

Deputy District Attorney Edward Borkowski, though he fought hard to win the sentence, said he found "no great joy" in it.

"It was an emotional trial for everyone," Borkowski said.

Defense attorneys expressed outrage at the sentence.

"It's very hard for me to have faith in a system that puts seriously mentally ill people to death," said Assistant Public Defender Lisa Middleman, who led the sentencing phase of Taylor's defense.

Jurors had stayed up late deliberating Saturday after a busy day of testimony and closing arguments. A crucial piece of expert testimony came from Dr. Michael Welner, a forensic psychiatrist from New York.

Prosecutors paid $30,000 to gain Welner's expertise in fighting the insanity defense. He told jurors Taylor's mental illness hadn't been severe enough to prevent him from knowing right from wrong at the time of his attack.

John Elash, who led Taylor's defense during the guilt phase of the trial, tried to block Welner from testifying. Elash argued that Welner had testified this spring that he couldn't form an opinion because Taylor refused to cooperate with him during interviews.

Borkowski had used that argument in a failed appeal to the Superior Court in an effort to deny Taylor the use of an insanity defense.

But in court Saturday, Borkowski argued that Welner had been able to form an opinion based on a review of other materials, such as medical records and police reports and interviews with witnesses and victims. And defense attorneys did not prove Saturday that Welner ever said specifically that Taylor's reluctance to cooperate prevented him from forming an opinion.

O'Toole allowed the doctor to testify, with the understanding Welner would not draw from any information he might have gained from an interview with Taylor in July 2000 to determine whether Taylor was competent to stand trial.

The judge allowed Welner to use whatever information he gleaned from Taylor during interviews this spring in which Taylor largely refused to cooperate, though the psychiatrist stuck to sources other than those interviews to make his case to jurors.

Middleman tried to attack Welner's credibility before jurors by painting him as an expert for hire during her cross-examination.

Borkowski, who has cited a gag order and declined to comment during the trial, answered questions yesterday regarding Welner's fee and the prosecutor's decision to keep Welner off the stand during the trial's guilt phase.

Borkowski had planned to use Welner, who wrote an extensive report on Taylor's mental health, but at the last minute didn't use him to dispute expert testimony from defense witness Dr. Horacio Fabrega, a University of Pittsburgh psychiatry professor.

Fabrega testified psychotic delusions drove Taylor to kill.

Borkowski said Welner's presence on the stand wasn't necessary. He chose instead to rely on a thorough cross-examination of the defense expert.

"It was clear in our mind that Fabrega had not met the legal standard," Borkowski said.

Borkowski declined to say whether he would hire Welner in the future, but defended the expense of hiring him for the Taylor trial.

"You're going to put a price tag on Kroll's life• You're going to put a price tag on Healy's life• You're going to but a price tag on Sanielevici's life?"

The end of Taylor's trial marks the second time this year Borkowski has won death penalty sentences for rampage killers. The prosecutor won the sentence this spring against Richard Baumhammers, 36, of Mt. Lebanon. Baumhammers killed five and wounded another in a shooting spree shortly after Taylor's in April 2000.

Borkowski admitted the strain had been great at times, but declined to discuss his personal journey through the trials.

"I was operating at a high level for a long time," Borkowski said. "But I'm fine."

"There's always another case," he said.