New Trial Ordered for Man Convicted of Killing Rap Artist in Rolling Meadows

A state appellate court has granted a new trial for a Chicago man sentenced to life after being convicted of killing a rapper in Rolling Meadows in 2006, according to the Chicago Tribune.

In its ruling, the First District Appellate Court said Patrick Taylor should receive a new trial because his lawyers were unable to call experts to give testinomy concerning the unreliability of eyewitness testimony during the 2011 trial, the report stated. The court's decision is in line with an Illinois Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that stipulates that those types of experts should be allowed in cases that hinge mostly on eyewitnesses instead of forensic evidence, the report added.

Taylor was convicted of being one of two armed men who broke into the Rolling Meadows' home of Marquis Lovings, 30 years old at the time, and robbing the rap artist who went by the name Keyz and four of his friends, the report stated. During the robbery, Lovings was shot and killed by one of the men after the performer said he didn't know how to open an apartment safe, the report added.

Prosecutors relied on eyewitness testimony that identified Taylor as one of the robbers, according to the Tribune. Although a murder weapon — a Glock handgun — was introduced during the trial, it wasn't linked to Taylor, the report stated. Nor did investigators find any fingerprints, blood or other physical evidence connecting Taylor to the crime, the report added.

More via the Chicago Tribune

photo via Shutterstock

Like What You're Reading? Stay Patched In!

• Like our Crime page on Facebook
  
• Live Traffic and Transit Updates