Accused gunman on trial for 2012 homicide
JACKSON, Tenn. — A Jackson man charged with three murders in the Hub City faced a judge and jury for one of them Monday.
Prosecutors say Craig Taylor was the masked robber who gunned down Devon Staten as he defended his girlfriend outside their east Jackson home back in 2012.
Investigators say the mask worn by the gunman was recovered at the scene, and that’s what they say links Taylor to the murder.
The case went cold for more than a year until a DNA hit after Taylor was arrested in connection with a double murder in north Jackson.
Investigators say Staten and his girlfriend were home on Nov. 15, 2012, unloading groceries.
That’s when police say Staten was shot by a masked gunman after running outside to protect his girlfriend during an attempted armed robbery.
“From the left side of the house she was approached by a black male with a camouflaged mask who she said was pointing a gun telling her ‘shh, be quiet, let’s go in the house,'” Jackson Police Department Sgt. Isaiah Thompson said.
Witnesses from the scene claim they saw Taylor before and after the crime.
Taylor’s attorney Joseph Taggart says Taylor’s family owns property in the neighborhood and that he was in the area frequently.
“And that’s why Craig happened to be there that day. He was assisting in the renovation. He wasn’t with them every minute that day,” Taggart said. “He said they routinely rode four-wheelers over there and he admits, ‘Yeah, I had a camouflage mask that I wore all the time.'”
Taylor is being tried for first-degree murder, felony murder and attempted aggravated robbery.
Taylor also is charged in the January 2014 shooting deaths of Arkansas State football standout Markel Owens and his stepfather, Johnny Shivers. Police say Taylor drove the getaway car.
Court will resume in this case Wednesday.
