ROCKVILLE — (Updated) After 16 years in prison, Ron Taylor stepped into the sunshine a free man Thursday, in time to celebrate his wedding anniversary with a spaghetti dinner.
Taylor and George Gould, who have served over 16 years of 80-year sentences on murder convictions, were released from state custody during an emotional hearing Thursday morning in Rockville Superior Court. A judge found that the two New Haven men had been imprisoned for a murder they didn’t commit.
“I believed in him,” said Taylor’s wife Mary, after a judge ordered her husband freed on their 15th wedding anniversary. “I believed in his innocence.”
Newly freed, standing on the courthouse steps amid a scrum of reporters with lawyers in the background, Taylor had a message for the criminal justice system.
“I think some of them prosecutors need to be accountable for their actions,” he said. “They put people behind bars knowing they was innocent.”
Gould spoke next. He said he’d been “waiting for this for a long while. I always knew it would come to this day.”
Taylor said knowing that he was innocent allowed him to keep his peace of mind in prison. “OK, I got convicted. Now it’s time to go to work to get out,” he told himself.
Taylor has cancer; he underwent chemotherapy treatments Wednesday. “Thanks to the nurses at UConn Ward 5, I’m doing great,” he said, when asked about his health.
What are his plans? “Live,” Taylor said. “Just live.”
Then he added, “Live outside them walls.”
Gould said he has no plans. He’ll take it “day by day.”
Superior Court Judge Stanley Fuger ordered the two men released from prison shortly after 10 a.m., Thursday after determining the men were actually innocent and overturning their convictions two weeks ago. The state is appealing Fuger’s decision, but did not object to their release on a $100,000 non-surety bond.
Taylor (center in photo) and Gould (at right in photo) appeared at the courthouse Thursday morning wearing orange prison jumpsuits and handcuffs. Family members gathered for a brief, 3‑minute hearing.
When Judge Fuger ordered them freed, the courtroom burst into applause. The judge quieted down the crowd. “This is a court of law,” he said.
Taylor and Gould were convicted in 1995 of killing a Fair Haven bodega owner in 1993. Years later, a star witness for the state recanted her story. Private investigator Gerry O’Donnell re-researched the case. Taylor, who’s 51, and Gould, who’s 48, filed a habeas corpus claim of actual innocence before Judge Fuger. It a ruling two weeks ago, Fuger declared the men were innocent and had suffered “manifest injustice.”
O’Donnell got choked up after court Thursday. It’s hard to fathom the magnitude of “giving someone their life back,” he said.
After the hearing, Taylor and Gould’s supporters waited for them to change out of their jumpsuits, get GPS monitoring equipment, and officially check out.
Mary Taylor brought a red bag and a dark green shirt and a khaki jacket on hangers for her husband. She bought the clothes on Wednesday in New Haven with her 21-year-old daughter, she said. She handed the clothes to Taylor’s lawyer, Peter Tsimbidaros (at left in photo).
“I can’t wait to see him walk out the door and be a free man,” said Tsimbidaros. “This is why I went to law school and became a lawyer, for moments like this.”
“All Ron wants to do is see his daughter,” who was 5 when he got locked up, Mary Taylor said.
She said he had one request for their anniversary night: A spaghetti dinner.
Outside on the court steps after his release, Taylor confirmed it. “Some marinara sauce and some garlic bread and I’m good.”
Both Gould and Taylor, holding fresh cups of coffee, said they were not angry after their experience. Gould said he had some “bitterness” about the slowness of the process.
“But as far as life and happiness, and the pursuit of happiness, I’m going to take this day and run,” he said.
Not literally, he added. Gould and Taylor are subject to GPS monitoring and are not allowed to leave the state.
When the men were asked about potential legal action against the detectives involved in their arrest and conviction, Tsimbidaros interjected. He said they wouldn’t be answering questions about that. “What this moment belongs to, it belongs to Mr. Gould and Mr. Taylor and their release.”
The attorneys will speak about further legal action at another time, he said.
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Private investigator Gerry O’Donnell stepped in to stand between Taylor and Gould, who put his arm around the P.I.‘s shoulders. “The system worked,” O’Donnell said, as his eyes filled with tears. “God bless them.”
Gould’s daughter, April Henderson, and granddaughter, Skylet, stood by his side.
A short distance away, Gould’s mother, Martha Gould, sat in a wheelchair looking on. As the interview with her son ended, she found herself surrounded by reporters.
“Well I feel great to see my son walking on the street,” she said. Her son didn’t belong in jail, Martha said. “He’s the most politest person that you could meet. And I love my son.”
Martha said she never lost faith that her son would be freed.
Past stories on the Taylor/Gould case:
• State Won’t Block Prisoners’ Release
• Judge Orders Prisoners Freed
• Prosecutor Sticks To Guns
• Judge Delays Release In Wrongful Conviction Case
• Outraged Judge Reverses Murder Convictions