Ep 52 | Kent Taylor Transcript

Ep 52 | Kent Taylor Transcript

Before we begin this podcast, please be advised that the following episode contains language that some listeners may find offensive and inappropriate. The opinions expressed by the host and guests are their own and do not reflect the views of the podcast producers. Listener discretion is advised.

I feel I was likable. I was, you know, real likable. You know, I mean, I never had any problems with anybody. We all know that we have a very broken criminal justice system that is set up for profit. Did they ever recover a gun from anyone in that group or the victim that was shot? I fired one gun at the guy that was pulling the gun, and then I chased the other one away.

What is your response to that? That was all a lie. The thing is, that video was edited. Oh, edited. How does that feel knowing that you're probably gonna die in prison? I mean, I trust in God, so you know what? That's all I can do is just keep believing, you know? You are now listening to the podcast Voices of a Killer. I'm bringing you the stories from the perspective of the people that have taken the life of another human and their current situation thereafter in prison. You will see that although these are the folks that we have been programmed to hate, they all have something in common.

They are all humans like us that admit that they made a mistake. Will you forgive them or will you condemn them? They are currently serving time for their murders and they give us an inside glimpse of what took place when they killed and their feelings on the matter now. Here are the voices of those who have killed.

As citizens, we place our trust in the criminal justice system to carry out the law and bring about justice. But what happens if an agent of the law withholds key evidence and presents edited video footage to the jury to gain a wrongful conviction? Today, we talk to Kent Taylor, who makes allegations such as these, claiming that the course of justice was perverted when he was convicted of first-degree murder back in 2011.

To this day, Kent, with the support of many on the outside, has fought to overturn his conviction and fought for his voice to be heard. This episode gives Kent the platform to recount the events of his case from his own point of view. We'll hear about Kent's reputation in his tight-knit community and the events that led him to fire a gun in a local Wellston market.

Kent also details his concerns with the trial that convicted him in the first place. Just as Kent's defense team is gearing up for his final appeal, we'll revisit the evidence that landed him behind bars and hear Kent's side of the story. So sit back and listen closely as Kent seeks to right the wrongs of the past on this episode of Voices of a Killer.

Hello. Hey, what's up? So I've actually done some reading on you. You got quite the backing. I'll tell you right now, the way everything's written, it's, you know, they have video, they got witnesses that are against you. That's pretty big. So here's what I want to do before I get into all that. And if there's anything you don't want to talk about, you just say, you know, I'd rather not answer that.

You can completely do that. It's your voice. So, Kent, are you from the St. Louis area? Yes, I am. Born and raised? St. Louis, Missouri. Yeah. The city called Wellston. Were you in like the inner city? Yeah, it was county Wellston. Yeah. Do you feel like you grew up in a rough neighborhood? Yeah, it was rough. How did you take, I mean, a lot of people that grew up in scenarios like that, they take a route that's, you know, criminal, you know, all that stuff.

Did you take that route? No, actually, I didn't. How was family life growing up? It wasn't bad. You know, we didn't have a lot, though. But we did have a mom, you know, and no dad in the house. Yeah. No relationship with your dad? No, he died. Yeah. How old were you? I was probably like 13. Yeah. How'd you do in school growing up?

12th grade. Not too bad. I didn't get in a lot of trouble. Yeah. What'd you end up doing out of high school? I ended up doing concrete. So, you know, I went to the Union Hall and started doing concrete work, flat work. That's pretty tough work. It is, but you know, coming from where I come from, eating sugar sandwiches and stuff

like that,

once you start making it, you got to keep it, keep at it, you know? Well, it's certainly better than the alternative, which is, you know, a criminal life with criminal activity. So that's actually good. Did you ever get into criminal activity growing up? No, I didn't. Yeah. How about drugs and alcohol?

No, this is my first time being in anything. Wow. So you're a pretty much hardworking guy, definitely a hardworking position. Concrete. I know it's tough. I just pour a little bit around the yard and it's hard work. So how long did you do the concrete work for? Man, I've probably done concrete work, probably like 20, maybe 30 years.

Oh, wow. So did you get to a point where you owned your own business or what? Yes, I did. Really? So you owned a concrete business and everything? Yeah, it was, I only did like driveways and stuff like that, yeah, but it was called Taylor Concrete and Construction. Okay. How did that pan out for you?

Were you making money? Was it thriving or what? Yeah, I was doing pretty good. Yeah. You know. Yeah. During your time of owning a concrete business and living life, did you ever have any people that you didn't get along with? No, I didn't. As a matter of fact, I used to go and get a bunch of the guys from that neighborhood and take them to work with me.

I used to give them like a hundred bucks a day. Oh, you'd like recruit people to go work with you and give them jobs? Yeah. As best we can tell, Kent Taylor was an upright and hardworking citizen before his crime took place. Kent was born and raised in the inner city of Wellston at the northwest limits of St. Louis. In its heyday, Wellston was a thriving industrial hub, but today it sits in a sad state of decay with derelict buildings and gang violence plaguing its streets. As a kid growing up here in a single parent home, Kent was no stranger to poverty. Statistically, kids who grow up in neglectful environments are more likely to turn to drugs or crime to survive.

When Kent left home, however, he rejected this and chose to carve out an honest living for himself in the concrete industry. With 20 years of experience at his back, Kent started Taylor Concrete and Construction, a concrete work business that poured driveways and sidewalks. Over time, business picked up, and Kent secured a steady income for himself, which also gave him the financial power to employ others in the Wellston neighborhood.

This view of Kent's character is backed up by the people who knew him. Online, a quick search of Kent's name will pull up an online petition that's titled, Freedom for Kent Taylor. After Kent's guilty conviction in 2011, several efforts were launched by members of the public to challenge Kent's charges and effectively free him from prison. This is one of them. If you scroll through some of the comments left by signatories, a picture starts to form of who Kent was from the people who knew him firsthand. Many attest to the fact that Kent was well-respected in the community, known as a good man and father who had made a positive impact on Wellston, and does not deserve to be in prison today.

How do you feel like other people liked you around? I feel I was likeable, I was, you know what I'm saying, real likeable. You know, I mean, I never had any problems with anybody, so, until this event though. Sure. And I see a lot of stuff online. You do have people that support you for sure.

I looked you up. On Instagram, there's a page. There's also a page called Freedom for Kent Taylor, Family Man slash Business Owner. It was started by Sharay Williams. And it's, some of the stuff in there, I can kind of align with, the focus on what they're talking about. Not necessarily you, but some of the stuff they say, and one of the things, and I'll actually read it here if I can find it here, just give me a second.

So it says, "We all know that we have a very broken criminal justice system that is set up for profit. Understand that the issue can't be fixed overnight, but in order to expect change, we must start the conversation as well as do the work required to see change." And I do think that the criminal justice system is broken.

I agree with that. And further, it says, "It is important that we protect everyone, no matter the race, color, gender, or nationality. If your loved one was faced with fighting for his or her life, what side of the issue would you stand your ground on?" So they're basically supporting you and they're saying that in this situation that the reason you're in prison is you were actually standing your ground and defending yourself, your life.

It was either stand your ground or die. Is that the, the short version of what happened for you? Yes, that is. So I also pulled up another article, but this one is more legal. It's not family's opinions and let me go back and make sure we understand that I do know that the criminal justice system can be difficult sometimes and I do believe people out there are innocent and, you know, they're incarcerated, they're completely innocent.

But, here's the thing, it's basically Taylor versus Griffith. A legal document? Are you familiar with that one? Mmm-hmm, Cindy Griffith. Yeah, yeah, and one of the paragraphs, the way it's written is very powerful and almost, you know, because it's selling the facts in the case that what they have. And what I want to do is, I want to read that to you and you tell me your reaction to this paragraph in this legal document.

It says, "On September 22, 2009, petitioner Kent Taylor" – you're the petitioner – "went to the Wellston Market located in the city of St. Louis after hearing a rumor that Byron Robinson, the victim, his cousin, Keith Adams, and then, which is going to be referred to as Adams, and a woman planned to kill Petitioner that day." Which is you.

They planned, those people planned to kill you that day. "Adams had previously hung out with Petitioner's nephew, who had recently been killed. Upon seeing Adams at the market, Petitioner, you, decided to talk to Adams. Adams told Petitioner" – which is you – "That he had no problem with petitioner, but then a loud argument ensued as petitioner began walking away."

– that's you, you're walking away – "he turned and pulled out two guns, pulled out two guns. Adams told defendant, 'I ain't running. I ain't going nowhere. If that's what you came to, do it.' Defendant, which is you responded, 'Take this' and shot the victim who was standing nearby. Neither Adams nor the victim was carrying a weapon.

Adams ran away and defendant chased him to a car wash, continuing to fire one of the guns at Adams. Defendant eventually stopped chasing Adams and returned to the market, got in his pickup truck and drove away." That's the paragraph. What is your response to that? Okay, that was all a lie. Well, the majority of it was.

And if I'm allowed to ? . Yes, go ahead, I want you to explain. Okay, Adams, actually, when I pulled my guns... I only pulled my gun, I was trying to leave. I had the license to carry and conceal, so I was trying to leave. Adams walked up to me and said, "Bitch ass n****." Well, one guy said, "Kill this n****." Adams said, "Bitch ass n****. I'll kill you now."

So when he said this, then I turned back around. So when I turned back around, then, I see the guy pulling the gun, which was the guy I shot, Robinson. I saw him pulling the gun, so I shot him, and I chased Keith Adams away. I had said all of this during trial, and they didn't give me this video, so now I have it.

And it's showing my version of the event. Not only that, this is something that the prosecutor had him to say because she kept asking him, "So then what did he say? So then what did he say?" Every time she asked him something, she'd go right back, "So then what did he say?" And he said, "Oh, he said, 'Take this'."

My attorney asked, "Did you tell the police that he said this?" He said, "In fact, I did." So we go back and he tell him to read it and he don't find it in there. So it was a lie. In 2011, Kent was convicted of the premeditated murder of 23-year-old Byron Robinson. The official version of events, recorded in the court documents which I read out to Kent, goes something like this.

On September 22, 2009, Kent actively sought out Byron and his cousin at the local Wellston Market. Wielding two guns, Kent shot and killed Byron after which he chased the cousin out to his car. This sequence of events was corroborated by substantial evidence from eyewitnesses at the scene and surveillance footage.

Ultimately, the jury found the argument compelling enough to warrant a first-degree murder charge, which Kent has been serving for the past 13 years. But let's wind back. From the day of this crime, Kent has disputed this narrative and upholds a different version of events. Although he admits to shooting Byron at the Wellston market, Kent insists that he was acting in defense of his life.

What the court documents omit, Kent claims, is that Byron Robinson was armed and he was the one to initiate the provocation. Kent shot out of fear for his life, acting on his constitutional right to defend himself when his life was under threat. But since then, Kent alleges that the criminal justice system has repeatedly misrepresented the facts of his case to hide his motive of self-defense.

Kent claims that the prosecution deliberately suppressed a critical piece of video evidence that proved that Byron was armed, and therefore, Kent's life was in jeopardy. So what's the truth here? Was Kent Taylor a man with a vendetta who deliberately hunted down and shot Byron Robinson in a fit of rage?

Or did Kent react justifiably when Byron pulled a gun on him, putting his life in immediate danger? Let's revisit the details of that day to get to the bottom of Kent's case. Let's go back now. How do you know these people previously? The victim, Adams, the woman. What was your relationship with them? The guy? The guy that was shot, I didn't know him at all.

Okay. And it was said that I didn't know. Keith Adams, I grew up with. Okay. That was the reason when I was... That day, I was supposed to go to St. Louis. I was on the way to St. Louis County to talk to the police about these guys taking my life or doing a hit on me. How did you get wind of this? I was at work in the airport, and my phone rang.

My sister and a detective by the name of Walsh was on the phone. So he told me that he needed me to come to St. Louis County. I said I couldn't leave until 12 o'clock. So I left to go to St. Louis County, but on my way... Like the police station? Yes. On my way, he canceled. Okay, so, what was the... why did he want you to come see him?

About the alleged hit. About them supposed to be killing me. Did y'all call and report that or did he call y'all and warn you about it? Well, my, I think my sister and my nephew end up calling him or something. I didn't even know anything about it until they called me. And why would these people want to have a hit out on you? I'm not sure. I know that it was, everything was really based over my nephew, off of my nephew.

They said, well, when the guy is supposed to kill my nephew or something, or he was in the car with this girl and the girl overheard them saying that, "Well, you know, that's Redman's nephew." Redman is my skin tone, so this is why they call me Redman. So he said that, "Well that's Redman's nephew", so and they said, "Redman can get it too."

So when they start discussing on, you know, just start discussing this and she come back and told them what happened. And if you think about it, listen, these guys are called Six Four Bloods. Yeah, they're thugs. Yeah, so I'm not in a gang. They are. The inciting incident in Kent's case actually took place about a month before the Wellston market shooting.

That August, a nephew of Kent's had been shot to death in the east St. Louis area. Now, Kent doesn't talk too much about the incident in our conversation, but one of the signatories in that online petition does. They describe the nephew as Kent's "favorite nephew" and suggest that Kent was deeply affected by his death.

No conviction was made on the murder. But Kent believed the man responsible to be Keith Adams. Adams was somebody who Kent knew well. They'd grown up together and Keith regularly hung out with Kent's nephew. But in contrast to the clean image Kent had cultivated, Keith and his 20-something cousin Byron were gang-affiliated and dangerous.

Shortly before the shooting, Kent had gotten word that Keith was gearing up to kill Kent too. What motive Keith would have to kill Kent is not clear. Kent isn't too sure either, but he guesses that Keith saw him as an extension of his nephew in some way, and therefore should be taken out too. When Keith's threats made their way to Kent, he and his sister arranged a meeting with a detective in St. Louis to discuss what could be done to preempt a hit. However, the detective canceled at the last minute, leaving Kent in the lurch with no way to resolve the issue. Kent was on edge. He knew that if he came into contact with Keith or one of his associates, he would be in imminent danger More on that after the break.

So I wanna walk through this. When you get this and you're on your way to the police station, they canceled the meeting with you? The police. Mm-hmm. And how did you know these people are at this market? I didn't. Yes. My office is right there on the corner of Page and Sutter. And this is right before I get to there.

So what are you going to the market for? I go in there to get something to drink. But I look over to the, as I'm going into the store, I look to the left and I see the guy, Keith Adams. We grew up together. It's like I was always able to talk to him because we never had any problems.

Let me ask you this. Is Keith Adams one of the ones that's rumored to want to kill you? Yeah. So, this guy you grew up with, and why would he, you couldn't just call him up? You didn't have his number or nothing? I tried, I mean, you know, but I didn't have his number, no. Okay, so. But I did try to. I understand. So, I want to walk through this a little bit.

So, you're going to the market to get something to drink. You notice Keith Adams. How far is Keith Adams from you when you actually first notice him? Probably, like, maybe, I'd say about 10, 15 feet. What's his reaction when he sees you? Is he kind of nervous or is he like, "Hey man, how's it going?" Nothing's wrong? Nah, he immediately started going off. He immediately started cussing at you? Yeah. And then the victim, Byron Robinson, how far is he from you guys? All of them, it was like six of them, and all of them was like gathered around, so and he was like right there, all of them was around me, you know.

It almost sounds, you know, this is this big city of St. Louis, and it's like you happen to be right at the place that these people want to kill you in. Well, Wellston is small. Yeah. And if you think about it, you know, I got kids there. Wellston's population is probably like, maybe, I don't even think it's 2, 500.

Yeah. And so whenever they start, whenever the Keith Adams starts popping off at you, was the victim Byron Robinson, was he also mouthing to you? Yeah, he was just waving his hand, telling on foes, you know, saying like that, you know, basically, you know, saying, he said once, "Kill this n****", you know, saying stuff like that, so, you know, but, that's how I knew that all of them was together.

So, in the court documents where it says Adams told Petitioner that he had no problem with Petitioner, that's not true? That's not true. And then it says Petitioner, which as you began walking away, you did try to walk away and then you turned and pulled out two guns or one gun? Two. You had two, both hands had a pistol?

Yes, I always carried two guns. I had one in my back pocket and one on my side, but I had a license to carry and conceal. I mean that just, wow. And did they ever recover a gun from anyone in that group or the victim that was shot? Well, this was the deal. They argued the whole time, through the opening arguments and everything.

They argued that no one had a gun. But come to find out, my family members have been out looking to see, you know, see if anybody else saw it or whatever. So they ended up seeing a thing. Like a story on the news and it showed a guy going up to the body taking the gun off of him. Oh, really? It shows... This is the video that... I can find that out there where somebody's taking, removing a gun off of somebody?

This is the video I just got from St. Louis County. Wow. Well, so my next thing was to tell you that they, you know, you have a lot of support, but also these allegations are really strong, but also they have video evidence of you doing all the... it's not self defense. At least that's what they're saying. Yeah, but the thing is, that video is edited.

Oh, edited? Yes, that was why I was saying that I found the other video that showed my version of the event that they didn't give the jury. If the jury don't get it, then, you know, it's a Brady violation. If they edited a video, that's pretty big. Let me ask you this. So, after you turned around, you pulled out two guns.

When you showed them those two guns, how long did you pause and maybe talk s*** or anything like that before you actually fired? I never talked s*** or said anything smart. I just looked and, you know what I'm saying, when I looked he was pulling the gun. Right. Did you hold him up chest level or at your hips and shoot?

So I raised him and then I kind of put him back down. I was going to try to leave and that's when the guy came and said, he walked toward me. He said, "Bitch ass n****, I'll kill you now." And you fired both the guns in both hands? I fired one gun at the guy that was pulling the gun, and then I chased the other one away.

So why did they find one guy dead underneath the vehicle? Like as if you chased him down and he got under a vehicle or something? No, that's where he ran to. Oh, so the first guy you shot, ran and got underneath the vehicle? Yeah. That sounds like it's almost like he's running for his life or something.

Kent's account of the events of September 22nd differs significantly from the official timeline we find in the court documents. There was a confrontation at the Wellston market and Kent did shoot Brian Robinson, but Kent mentioned some critical details in our conversation that may reinterpret what happened that day.

Here's a rehash of how the day played out according to Kent. After the detective cancelled the meeting, Kent stopped at the Wellston market on the corner of Page and Sutter to buy a drink. Contrary to the prosecutor's argument, Kent did not seek out Keith or Byron. Wellston is a small neighborhood and their presence inside was a complete coincidence. Therefore, Kent unexpectedly found himself in direct contact with the men he knew were threatening to take his life. Keith and Byron, Kent goes on to say, were immediately aggressive. Even though Kent hadn't met Byron prior to this day, the young man started cussing and shouting at him.

Kent was acutely aware of the danger he was in and of what the pair were capable of when Byron raised a gun and said, "I'll kill you now." Kent, who was licensed to carry a weapon, always kept two guns on him at all times in case of emergencies. Before Byron had a chance to shoot, Kent shot first.

He then chased Keith outside to a car wash, got in his pickup truck and left. Later on, Byron was found lying under an SUV where he had crawled to safety and lay dying. The entirety of the incident was well documented. All this took place at a busy time of day in broad daylight when the market and parking lot were crowded with customers who could give eyewitness testimony.

The shooting was also captured on video surveillance from inside the Wellston Market. It's this video footage that has become a major point of contention in Kent's case. Investigators never found Byron's gun and officially determined that he was unarmed. However, Kent claims that the full video footage shows a friend taking the gun away from his body before police arrived on the scene, proving that Byron was armed.

We'll get back to the video dispute later. But it does seem plausible that, in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, kent didn't feel that he had any reason to hide. Later that day, he turned himself into the police, along with the semi-automatic pistol he had used to shoot Byron. This aligns with Kent's version of events.

If he really believed that his actions were justified by the laws of self-defense in this country, he would have full confidence in the evidence to prove his innocence. So here's the thing, man, it's probably a hundred percent sure and true that these people probably threatened you. I can see that somebody gets angry enough to say, "I'll, you know, I'll f***ing kill you."

So with that being said, and that's in your head, and you know that these people are capable of killing you, sometimes our justification of self-defense does not meet the criteria of the words of the law in self-defense. So for us, it's, you know, we do something that we justify and then maybe not in the way the law is written.

Do you agree with that? Yes. Yes. But, can I say, can I explain this? Yeah, go ahead. Absolutely, go ahead. Let me say this first. I didn't know the law on self-defense until I came to prison. Right. And once I came to prison, I was like, "Dang, you know, this is it all the way." The law say that on self-defense that if you're threatened or harmed, it's your right, or you know, for the mere threat alone, that it's your right to use self-defense.

Just as long as it's not, you know, a successive amount of force used. So it's basically like they say, if you believe your life is at danger, you know, it's your right. Yeah, and then prosecutors have an opportunity to go and kind of pick that apart by maybe showing the jury that you showed up at a place that you didn't have to.

I mean, not that you did that on purpose, but they can start doing little things to cut that down and slice that argument up. Yeah, but if you look at it, I'm at a place that I'm legally allowed to be. Also, I'll say this, if they edited the video, that's another way they can kind of slice up your argument, but in an unfairly way.

So I think that's pretty big. I'd love to see the two versions of the video you're talking about. I'd love to put that on YouTube. If you can tell me where I can get those videos. Can you call the guy from Real STL News? You can call the guy from Real STL News if you like. I'll try to do that and see if I can't find the two.

If there's a comparison and put them side by side, that would be huge. I'd like to see if there is, you know, a really big comparison, but whenever you went to court and they sentenced you to first degree murder, did you plead not guilty? Yes, I told them that I did it, but I told them why I did it. Sure, this is one of the points of contention that I have with the justice system is that sometimes we get overly charged with things even though we might be guilty of, you know, manslaughter or whatever it is and it gets to second degree or even first degree murder.

You know, a lot of people are guilty. They're just not guilty of the charges they were found of. So first degree does sound pretty... even with the evidence they have, sounds kind of tough, but again, I'm not an attorney. But you've been in there since 2009. What were you sentenced to. First, I was actually sentenced to first degree murder. That's life without no chance for parole. Okay. But when I got convicted, they convicted me of second degree and then they went up to first degree murder with no evidence. No new evidence. The video, were y'all able to prove, because I don't see anything in your arguments about a video being edited, or is there something in there?

Yes it is. It is? It's in my 2254, it's in there. It's in the, we kept asking for the discovery, they wouldn't give us the discovery or anything. Yeah. Do you have any more appeals left? I'm on my last one now. I'm in the Supreme Court now. So, they just did a show cause order yesterday.

It went in. So, I'm waiting. But if you like, you are more than welcome to call my attorney as well. Sure. So, you understand that, you know, you know by asking around and hearing stories in there about people going through their appeals process, and you know that that is a very slim chance. You're on your...

Yeah, I know. So, have you probably, do you have hope or did you resolve yourself to probably being defeated? I don't feel anything, you know, anything will be done, but one thing that I do know, I know Missouri, just from me being here this 14 years, I see nobody get any play unless you're on death row.

So, you know, but I mean, I trust in God. So, you know, that's all I can do is just keep believing, you know. Did you get any kind of hate mail from the family or people trying to hurt you in prison or anything like that because of this? No, I didn't. Since I've been in prison, I've never had any CDDs or anything, so.

Yeah. Never got any hate mail or anything. Well, these, I mean, the guys were like, you know, related to gangs you said, so I didn't know if that kind of bled into the prison system a little bit. Yeah. No? No. Under US law, every citizen has the right to defend their life from harm, even if that means killing out of self-defense.

If you have good reason to believe your life is in imminent danger, you are legally permitted to use a reasonable amount of force to save it. The legal definition of self-defense might sound simple, but the reality is often more complicated. And in a court of law, prosecutors regularly present the evidence in a way that invalidates the claim of self defense.

That's what happened to Kent Taylor in his 2011 trial. The prosecution argued that Byron's murder was not self-defense, but the result of cool headed deliberation. They claimed that Kent actively sought out Byron and Keith to exact revenge on them for killing his nephew, painting Kent as the aggressor and his victims as unarmed.

Kent was the one to provoke a confrontation, therefore he was ineligible to claim self-defense. This argument won over the jurors, and in March 2011, Kent was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Effectively, this means that unless Kent can successfully appeal his case, he will spend the rest of his life in prison without any hope of being released.

However, Kent and his supporters contend that, if the jury had been given access to all of the evidence, they would have reached a different verdict. Kent alleges that the prosecution mishandled certain evidence to manufacture a narrative that would elicit his conviction. Most critically, Kent maintains that the full surveillance footage of the event exonerates him, but was never shown to the jury in court.

In the discovery phase before a trial begins, prosecutors are obliged to turn over all their evidence to the defense team. However, they withheld this video footage until recently. One of the prosecuting team, April Porter, was dismissed shortly thereafter, which Kent's defense team says could suggest negligence.

Now down to Kent's last legal appeal, his defense team is bringing his case forward to be reviewed one last time, giving him a final chance at having his conviction overturned. But if this final avenue is closed, Ken will have to face the harsh reality that his chances of being freed from prison are incredibly slim.

How does that feel, knowing that you're probably going to die in prison? Yeah, it's a bad feeling. I just, you know, saying... I know that what I did was, you know, I destroyed a family. Not only did I destroy their family, I destroyed mine, so it's a lot of people, it's like a chain link effect. And I can tell a lot of people care about you. Yeah, I mean, but I got kids, my son was one when I came to prison, so it's basically like he don't even know me, so. Yeah.

And this is, from what I see now, is the reason why kids are running rampant is because there's no father in their life. It's unfortunate for everybody involved, man. Like I said, I can tell you have a big support system. I'm sure these people that, you know, the victims of these crimes have people that love them as well.

It just sucks for everybody, man. It's unfortunate that the police didn't set up the meeting. You would have went over there and possibly never went there. You know, that wouldn't have happened. Right, right, that's right. That was a big turning point. But unfortunately, man... I always say, man, God is in control of everything, man, you know?

So, I mean, he knew what was going to happen before it happened. So, I mean, the only thing I can do is what I'm doing.

Well Taylor, I'm going to try to get those videos and give them to my producer. If I have any more questions, I'll call you, but I appreciate you opening up to me today. And whatever's the right thing, I hope it happens in this situation. So I know you got a big support out there and I wish the best for you, alright? Okay. Thanks, man.

AAlright man. Take it easy. Bye bye.

On the next episode of Voices of a Killer. That's a hard day for me to recollect, man. You told Alexandria that "you were going to be on the six o'clock news." The drugs had complete control of me, bro. Even if I didn't have my... everything, I had to shoot everything. The needle itself is just a whole other world, you know.

See, and this is where it goes blank, because they said I stabbed him a lot, and I don't remember stabbing him all those times. Dude, you must have been, are you high as a kite right now? I'm definitely not in my right state of mind. I'm not putting you on trial at all. As a matter of fact, I'm letting you show everybody that you're just a normal guy, that the drugs f***ed you up.

I think that society thinks that people like you out there are just a demon and a hell child waiting to kill people. I learned my lesson, but I didn't get sober until all this happened. This whole event got me sober. That's a wrap on this episode of Voices of a Killer. I want to thank Kent for sharing his story with us today. His ability to be open and honest is what makes this podcast so special.

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Thank you for tuning in. I'm your host, Toby, and we'll see you next time on Voices of a Killer.