JEFFERSON COUNTY — A Jefferson County jury deliberated three hours Tuesday before returning a guilty verdict just before 1:30 p.m. against a 25-year-old Mt. Vernon man for the 2011 murder of a local cab driver.
(Source: JCSO)
Mark A. Taylor Jr., was found guilty of first-degree murder with the addition of a firearm enhancement, which can add an additional 15 years to the first-degree murder sentence.
Taylor is the last of four individuals charged and convicted in connection to the May 2011 botched robbery and shooting death of 75-year-old cab driver Charles Ellis as he was working on the streets of Mt. Vernon.
The three other defendants are Christopher Wells, who has pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced November 17; Damondros James, who entered an open plea of guilty and was sentenced to 50 years in prison; and Demandre Black who pleaded guilty to aggravated battery with a firearm and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The jury was polled in Tuesday’s verdict before being discharged. Taylor was returned to the Jefferson County Jail where he will remain pending a status hearing scheduled for January 12.