Thomas MacMillan File Photo
Taylor (left) and co-defendant George Gould (right) walk free from prison in April 2010.
Ron Taylor died at home before prosecutors could throw him back in jail for a murder that one judge concluded he did not commit.
Taylor and George Gould, both of New Haven, were freed from prison in April 2010 after serving over 16 years of 80-year sentences for a murder at a Fair Haven bodega. Their dramatic release came after a star witness recanted testimony, leading Superior Court Judge Stanley Fuger to overturn their murder convictions, ruling they had suffered “manifest injustice” at the hands of the law.
Gould was sent back to prison in August after the state Supreme Court overturned Fuger’s decision. Taylor, who was suffering from cancer that had metastasized throughout his body, was allowed to remain at home pending the results of a retrial.
Taylor lost a two-year battle to cancer this week, according to his lawyer, Peter Tsimbidaros. He died Tuesday at home in Cheshire.
“Ron was an inspiration to his family, to his friends, to his fellow cancer patients, to everyone who knew him, and to everyone who believed in social justice,” Tsimbidaros wrote in a statement Wednesday. “He truly was a gentle soul who cared deeply.”