The Chattanooga jurors preparing to decide whether to sentence a convicted killer to death will hear portions of phones calls he made after the guilty verdict, although they will not hear remarks in which he calls them “racist” and “little redneck-looking folks,” a federal judge has ruled.

Rejon Taylor, 22, is fighting for his life after being convicted earlier this month in federal court of murder, kidnapping and carjacking following the 2003 shooting death of an Atlanta restaurant owner on the side of a road in Collegedale.

Mr. Taylor’s trial, which began Aug. 25 and lasted three weeks, was the first-ever death penalty trial in Eastern Tennessee’s federal courts district.

The two young men who carried out the kidnapping and subsequent killing of French national Guy Luck with Mr. Taylor pleaded guilty in 2006 to the same charges, and they are expected to receive life prison terms when they are sentenced in coming months.

The sentencing phase of Mr. Taylor’s trial is scheduled to begin this morning and is expected to last for several days as the people in his life come forth to tell jurors why they should spare him.

The prosecution and defense argued during a hearing Monday about the relevance of the 10 hours’ worth of recorded phone calls Mr. Taylor made to his family and friends, during which the government says he demonstrates a complete “lack of remorse” for his crimes.

The nature of the calls was revealed in court last week, prompting U.S. District Judge Curtis L. Collier to postpone the sentencing hearing so both sides could prepare their arguments on why the calls should or shouldn’t be used.

Defense attorney Leslie Cory said Monday the calls don’t show Mr. Taylor’s lack of remorse, but serve simply to prove that the “government doesn’t think Mr. Taylor’s a very nice guy.”

“Most of these calls are 15-minute calls, and the government is taking snippets from these calls,” Ms. Cory said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Poole confirmed that “yes, we don’t think Mr. Taylor’s a nice guy.”

Mr. Taylor’s constitutional rights also were suppressed because his lawyers didn’t receive notice until the last minute that the government intended to use the calls against him, she added.

“It’s highly prejudicial, and it’s certainly going to mislead the jury,” Ms. Cory said of the calls.

Mr. Poole said Mr. Taylor does not have a constitutional right to receive notice about the calls being used against him.

“He even says in one of the calls, ‘I’m not going to apologize,’” Mr. Poole said. “The conspiracy to get away with these crimes still continues.”

The defense team also filed a motion for a mistrial late last week based on the “reckless statement” made by the government in open court that Mr. Taylor had called the jurors “racist rednecks.”

The defense team expressed concern that jurors very well could have read or heard the comment because it was so widely reported in the news media.

Judge Collier did not address the motion for a mistrial Monday, but he did deny the defense’s request to exclude evidence of the phone calls. Judge Collier said certain inflammatory comments such as the “racist” remarks should not be used, however.

According to some transcripts of the calls filed with the court, Mr. Taylor said he isn’t angry and that he is going to “beat the case” on appeal. He also expressed disappointment that the jury did not acquit him, transcripts show.

“I say if they do say the death penalty,” Mr. Taylor is quoted in the transcripts, “I say that’ll be good. I will just sit back and wait on Death Row until my appeal (goes) through.”

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