Howell Clements

Rejon Taylor, a 24-year-old Atlanta man, has been found guilty today of first-degree murder and several other charges in federal court and could face the death penalty for the 2003 killing of a Georgia restaurant owner.

Staff Photo by Shane McMillan
Rejon Taylor is escorted into federal court in Chattanooga on this morning. Mr. Taylor was arriving for the jury selection in a trial in which he his facing the death penalty.

That decision came late Monday afternoon after four hours of jury deliberations. The penalty phase of the trial is set to begin on Sept. 16.

Mr. Taylor’s trial concluded Monday before noon after 10 days of testimony. The trial began Aug. 25.

He was convicted of first-degree murder by use of a firearm during and in relation to carjacking, carjacking resulting in death, kidnapping resulting in death, and murder by use of a firearm during and in relation to kidnapping.

Prosecutors alleged Mr. Taylor killed 51-year-old Guy Luck, a French national who had moved to Atlanta in the 1980s and owned a French restaurant. Federal prosecutors introduced evidence that showed Mr. Taylor, with the help of two friends, kidnapped Mr. Luck and then killed him in Collegedale in August 2003.

According to the prosecution, Mr. Taylor and two friends had targeted the businessman for about a year as part of their scheme to steal the identities of wealthy homeowners in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood.

Mr. Taylor’s accomplices, Sir Jack Matthews and Joey Marshall, plead guilty to the crimes in exchange for life in prison.

Mr. Matthews, however, told a different story while on the stand than he had told investigators over the last five years, suggesting Mr. Luck became violent and threatened to kill Mr. Taylor. The shooting was self-defense, he said.

For complete details, see tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press.