Department of Corrections Photos
Gould (left) and Taylor.
(Updated) Sixteen months after a judge set him free from prison after exonerating him of a murder charge, George Gould was sent back behind bars Monday. His co-defendant, Ronald Taylor, who is battling late-stage cancer, was allowed to stay on the outside.
Judge Elliot Solomon made those decisions in a hearing Monday morning in Rockville state Superior Court, where the latest proceedings are being held in a long-running fight for two New Haven men’s freedom.
Gould and Taylor served 16 years of 80-year sentences for the murder of a Fair Haven bodega owner in 1993. They were freed in April 2010 after a judge ruled in response to a habeas petition that they did not commit the murder.
After the state Supreme Court reversed that decision, the two men are now preparing for a second habeas trial due to begin in November in Rockville Superior Court.
Judge Solomon ordered to revoke Gould’s bond as they await trial, sending him to prison immediately. Solomon ruled that Taylor, who is suffering from cancer that has metastasized throughout his body, was less of a flight risk and need not be incarcerated.
Taylor can no longer walk unaided, said his lawyer, Peter Tsimbidaros. “It took a lot of effort to get him up there this morning.”
Taylor was “thankful that the judge allowed him to remain out,” Tsimbidaros said.
The Supreme Court ruled that defendants must prove their actual innocence in cases where new evidence emerges casting their convictions in doubt. (In this case the state’s main witness recanted.) At an original trial, defendants are considered innocent until proven guilty by the state.
Tsimbidaros said when the justices reversed Taylor’s fate, he told his attorney, “my last wish is to see my name cleared while I’m still alive.”
“We are not going to stop until his name is cleared,” Tsimbidaros said.
Previous coverage of this case:
• Gould, Taylor Ask Supreme Court To Reconsider
• Justices Decree: Guilty Until Proven Innocent
• Chief Justice: Prove You Didn’t Do It
• Exonerated Prisoner Fights For His Life
• Exonerated Prisoners Walk Free
• 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