Guilty verdict in cult murder trial

Twenty-six year old Alex Taylor has been found guilty of first degree murder in the slaying of an older Napa man last spring.

Jurors reached a verdict late Wednesday morning, on the fourth day of deliberations after a five-week trial before Napa County Superior Court Judge Ray Guadagni.

Taylor was on trial for shooting George Davis, 62, last April in the bedroom of Davis’ Redwood Road apartment. Part of Taylor’s defense focused on Davis’ study of black magic and his efforts to bring young people, including Taylor, into a cult based on his teachings.

Taylor, who said he suffers from schizophrenia, twitched, drummed his fingers on his face, squirmed in his chair and very softly talked to himself as the court clerk read the verdict. The jury also found Taylor guilty of three special allegations.

However, the jury still has more work to do.

Defense attorney Jess Raphael has entered a motion to determine whether his client should be deemed not guilty by reason of insanity. The same jury will convene Monday morning to begin this phase of the trial.

If they find Taylor to be sane at the time he shot Davis five times in the head, he could be sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison. If they find he was insane, Taylor will be committed to a state mental hospital.

Several people on the jury, which included nine women and three men, cried as the clerk read the verdicts.

Raphael said he was “disappointed” in the verdict and that when he heard it read, “It was chilling.”

“Now we will go onto the insanity phase of the trial, which is what this has been about all along,” said Raphael.

Napa County Deputy District Attorney Gary Van Camp, who prosecuted the case, said he was “pleased the jury came up with that verdict. But we still have another phase to go and more decisions to make.”

During the trial, witnesses testified that Davis worshipped the devil and practiced black magic and witchcraft. Davis met Taylor when Taylor was 16, and was teaching him magic and how to cast spells.

Raphael argued self-defense for his client saying that Taylor believed Davis had special powers over him and the demons inside Taylor’s head had taken on the identity of Davis. He argued that Taylor was engaged in a mental and physical battle to rid his body of Davis’ spirit, which lead to the shooting.

If the jury would have agreed with that portrayal, they were instructed to find Taylor guilty of voluntary manslaughter.

The jury also had the option to find Taylor guilty of second-degree murder, which carries a punishment of 15 years to life in state prison.

Van Camp argued that the night of the murder, Taylor intentionally and with premeditation armed himself with a rifle, went to Davis’ apartment and talked him into going into the bedroom, where he shot him first in the back, then four more times in the head.

Van Camp said Taylor had several motives, including that he owed Davis $6,000 and believed Davis was the man who raped him when he was 4.

During the next phase of the trial, jurors will hear testimony from medical experts who will testify to Taylor’s state of mind when he pulled the trigger.

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