John B. Taylor

Background

John B. Taylor was 36 years old at the time of the Wendy's Massacre. The killings took place in a Wendy's fast-food restaurant at 40-12 Main Street in Flushing, Queens, New York, on May 24, 2000.

John B. Taylor and his accomplice Craig Godineaux were accused of ordering seven employees into a basement freezer after entering a Wendy's in Flushing, Queens, on May 24, 2000. In the basement, Taylor and Godineaux bound and gagged all seven employees at gunpoint and shot each of them in the head at point-blank range with a Bryco-Jennings Model J38 .380 caliber semi-automatic pistol.

Taylor was described as a former employee of the restaurant.

The offence

The robbery was described as carefully planned. Taylor had the manager, whom he knew, summon the entire staff to the basement on the pretense of having a meeting. Once in the basement, Taylor and Godineaux bound and gagged all seven employees at gunpoint and shot each of them in the head at point-blank range.

All but two of the employees died.

During the attack, $2,400 was taken from the safe. Another account described $3,200 stolen from the eatery. Police arrived after one survivor dialed 9-1-1.

Investigation

Police arrived to find victims and discovered $2,400 missing from the safe.

Evidence against Taylor and Godineaux included eyewitness testimony, ballistics, and fingerprints. Detectives also found Taylor's palm print on a box in the blood-spattered refrigerator.

A videotape taken from the restaurant's surveillance camera was described as found during the search after Taylor’s arrest, and it was said to likely show the two men in the dining area.

Investigators searched Taylor's sister-in-law's house and found cash in a canvas bag believed to have been stolen from Wendy's, and a videotape apparently taken from the restaurant’s surveillance camera.

Investigators said a pattern and method of operation matched Taylor to the Wendy’s and to other robberies being investigated.

Patrick E. Kelleher, the first deputy police commissioner, said Taylor had been identified by a tip to the Police Department's Crime Stoppers phone line not long after the shootings.

Statements by the accused

Statements implicating each other were described as being made by Taylor and Godineaux. Each acknowledged that they had robbed the Wendy's restaurant, but Taylor said Godineaux shot the employees and Godineaux said Taylor did the shooting.

Craig Godineaux told police he did not wear a mask during the robbery because "nobody was going to be left."

Craig Godineaux allegedly told cops that he put a coat on victim Anita Smith to keep her warm in the basement freezer before she was murdered on May 24.

Taylor allegedly told two detectives while en route back to Queens that they should arrest Godineaux:

"Please get Craig," "Please get Craig because I was the only one who saw him shoot those people. I knew three of those people. It was supposed to be a robbery."

Godineaux allegedly said:

"This is that fat bastard's [Taylor's] fault," "I only shot the survivors."

Godineaux later allegedly added:

"I shot five of them. I didn't shoot the girl. That fat bastard shot Anita [Smith]. I liked her. I put a coat on her before she went into the freezer."

Arrest

On May 27, 2000, police arrested John B. Taylor, 36, outside a relative's house in Brentwood, in Suffolk County. Police said he had worked at several fast-food restaurants in New York, including the Wendy's where the massacre occurred.

A short time later, detectives in Queens took Craig Godineaux, 30, into custody. He was seized at the SCR Clothing store at 89-74 165th Street, Jamaica, where he worked.

Taylor was said to have had a .380-caliber pistol in a belt pack when he was seized, and the weapon was turned over to the Police Department laboratory for ballistics tests to determine if it was the gun used in the killings.

After his arrest, cash in a canvas bag believed to have been stolen from Wendy's and a videotape apparently taken from the restaurant's surveillance camera were found at his sister-in-law's house.

Police said it was unclear whether one or two men had fired the shots.

Taylor was described as having been a fugitive since a bench warrant for his arrest on Nov. 5, after he failed to show up for a court appearance in October.

Taylor was arrested on November 5 at his sister-in-law's home at 11 Dillmont Street in Brentwood, after being sought in connection with the massacre.

A commotion involving a child bicycle accident outside the home was described as occurring when police arrived, and during the commotion Taylor came out to watch and was seized.

Trial

John B. Taylor and Craig Godineaux were arraigned. The arraignment of Taylor and Godineaux in the Queens courtroom of Supreme Court Justice Robert Hanophy was described as occurring on five murder charges.

The jury trial is described as having taken place in Queens. On January 22, 2001, Craig Godineaux pleaded guilty and was later sentenced to life in prison.

On November 19, 2002, John Taylor was convicted on 20 counts of murder and attempted murder.

Death sentence jury proceedings

On November 27, 2002, a Queens jury sentenced John B. Taylor to die for the murders of five workers.

The jury was described as eight men and four women. The jury deliberated for eight hours over two days before returning the verdict.

The jury's verdict included death sentences for three of the six capital crimes that Taylor was convicted of committing. Taylor received a death sentence for each of the murders of two employees during a robbery and one for intentionally causing the deaths of five people during the commission of a single crime.

A description included that the jury could not agree that shootings Taylor ordered deserved the death penalty for some counts, and that a unanimous vote is required for a death sentence.

The judge reviewed each of the six counts of murder punishable by death and asked the jury for a punishment verdict on each: life without parole, death, or not unanimous. The judge asked:

"With respect to Count 8, murder in the first degree, did the defendant, John Taylor, intentionally cause the deaths of five persons -- Jean Auguste, Anita Smith, Ramon Nazario, Ali Ibadat and Jeremy Mele? What is your verdict?"

The foreman answered:

"Death."

The foreman responded with the word "death" to two other counts but indicated the jury was not unanimous on the three other capital charges.

Sentencing

The jury sentenced John B. Taylor to death on November 26, 2002.

Accomplice sentencing and mental retardation claim

Craig Godineaux was not eligible for the death penalty because of mental retardation. On January 22, 2001, Godineaux pleaded guilty to murdering three people and wounding two others.

Prosecutors described Godineaux as Taylor's accomplice and said he was spared from the death penalty because he is mentally retarded.

At Godineaux’s sentencing hearing on February 22, he said:

"I know my apologies to the families will never bring their loved ones back," he said at his sentencing hearing on February 22. "I do deserve what I get. I don't expect nobody to accept my apology."

Appeals

On October 23, 2007, the Court of Appeals of the State of New York vacated the death penalty portion of the verdict.

The Queens prosecutor's office unsuccessfully fought to have Taylor's case declared an exception to a 2004 Appeals Court decision that found New York's death penalty law unconstitutional due to a flaw in mandated instructions to the jury. The decision found the trial charge instruction "coercive" and described that the flaw required judges to tell jurors that if they deadlocked, the defendant would be sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Outcome

On November 29, 2007, John B. Taylor was re-sentenced to life without parole for the five murders.

As of 2007, he was described as the only inmate on Death Row in New York.

Timeline

• May 24, 2000 — A Wendy's fast-food restaurant at 40-12 Main Street in Flushing, Queens, New York was the site of a robbery and killings carried out by John B. Taylor and Craig Godineaux.
• May 27, 2000 — John B. Taylor was arrested in Brentwood, and Craig Godineaux was taken into custody at a clothing store in Jamaica.
• June 24, 1996 — Employees just arriving for work at 4 a.m. discovered Taylor and a second man in a burglary attempt at the Fifth Avenue store.
• July 12, 1996 — Taylor pleaded guilty to third-degree burglary.
• January 22, 2001 — Craig Godineaux pleaded guilty.
• February 22 — Craig Godineaux made an apology statement at his sentencing hearing.
• November 19, 2002 — Taylor was convicted on 20 counts of murder and attempted murder.
• November 26, 2002 — A jury sentenced Taylor to death.
• October 23, 2007 — The Court of Appeals vacated the death penalty portion of the verdict.
• November 29, 2007 — Taylor was re-sentenced to life without parole for the five murders.

Victims and survivors

Killed

• Jean Auguste, 27
• Ali Ibadat, 40
• Jeremy Mele, 19
• Ramon Nazario, 44
• Anita Smith, 23

Seriously wounded / survived

• Jaquione Johnson, 18
• Patricio (Patrick) Castro, 23

Other details

Taylor and Godineaux were described as binding and gagging seven employees and placing bags over their heads, then shooting them one by one in the head during the robbery.

Police said most of the money was found at Taylor's home.

One survivor described making it out by playing dead while surrounded by bloody bodies after being shot in the cheek. The other survivor was described as spat out a bullet fired into the top of his head, and was released from the hospital late Thursday while under police protection.

Taylor was described as having worked at Wendy's and also having worked at a clothing store in Jamaica where Godineaux was a security guard.

Taylor was described as having previously worked as an assistant manager at two McDonald's restaurants in Manhattan, including one at 341 Fifth Avenue and the other at 22 East 42nd Street.

On June 15, investigators said Taylor held up a Burger King at 78-03 Queens Boulevard and got away in a dark green car.

On twenty minutes later (in June), investigators said Taylor held up a McDonald's at 80-03 Queens Boulevard and escaped with an undetermined amount of cash.

Within a 30-minute period on June 19, investigators said Taylor held up two McDonald's restaurants, one at 38-02 Queens Boulevard and the other at 45-06 Greenpoint Boulevard; he got away with $1,192 in the Greenpoint robbery.

On June 23, investigators said Taylor returned to the McDonald's on Greenpoint Boulevard about 8 p.m.; a manager recalled it was crowded, and Taylor demanded money while flashing a gun stuck in his waistband. The clerk recognized him from the earlier holdup and stuffed a carryout bag with cash ($427). Taylor walked out and ran when a police officer was spotted.

After he was identified by the victims, Taylor was charged with first-degree robbery and criminal possession of stolen property; he was not charged with weapons possession because the gun turned out to be a starter's pistol.

Taylor jumped $3,500 bail in a robbery case in the past (referred to as last autumn).

A dispute erupted between prosecutors and court administrators over the amount of bail and the handling of the case.

Taylor was described as having been on probation from his 1996 conviction when arrested in the Queens robbery.

Pleadings and bail hearings described included Taylor being arraigned the next day before Judge Pauline Mullins in Queens Criminal Court, where prosecutors asked for bail of $100,000, and the judge set bail at $3,500, with Taylor later freed when a friend obtained a bond on Aug. 10.

A bond was described as obtained for bail until Aug. 10, after bail had initially been unable to be raised.

Taylor was described as being unable to appear for a probation violation hearing on Jan. 6, with plea negotiations breaking down in September, a failure to show up for a court appearance in October, issuance of a bench warrant on Nov. 5, and fugitive status until the November arrest.