Woman Convicted Twice For Riverhead Murder Sentenced Thursday

Kalila Taylor, who was convicted in July for the second time of murdering a Riverhead high school homecoming queen, will be sentenced in Suffolk County criminal court on Thursday.

Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said Kalila Taylor faces a sentence of 25 years to life.

Taylor was convicted of stabbing then-classmate Curtisha Morning, 17, more than 90 times in a jealous rage in 1996. The attack was provoked by Taylor’s belief that her boyfriend, the father of her child, showed a romantic interest in Morning.

The guilty verdict on July 2 was the second time Taylor was convicted of the homicide. State Supreme Court Justice William Condon will sentence the defendant. 

 In 2004, an appellate court overturned her first conviction, ruling the judge in the 1999 trial incorrectly instructed the jury to treat DNA evidence as direct evidence instead of circumstantial evidence.

“It is our hope this second conviction will provide the Morning family with some measure of peace and closure,” Spota said.

Hours after a Suffolk County of killing Curtisha Morning 16 years ago, the weeks preceding the verdict were filled with the pain of having to relive her daughter's horrific last moments.

Taylor stabbed Morning, who was 17 and Riverhead High School's homecoming queen, over 90 times in a jealous rage over a boy.

After she was originally found guilty in 1999, the case was thrown out in 2004 after an appellate court determined that a judge gave incorrect instructions to the convicting jury.

Rehashing the details of the tragedy have made the pain fresh, Morning said. "I am in emotional turmoil right now," she said Monday evening. 

But the verdict brought some measure of closure. "My daughter's spirit can rest," Morning said.

During the past weeks, Morning, who now lives in North Carolina but  for the retrial with her daughter Trina Morning, likened the experience to "being on a tremendous roller coaster."

Despite the grief, during the past 16 years, Morning has tried to, somehow, "get on with my life." The retrial, she said, forced her to "relive what happened," disrupting her life and making the wounds of loss raw once again.

After the verdict, Morning was filled with gratitude. She thanked Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Janet Albertson. "She did well by me, and by my family," Morning said. "She took all that she had inside of her and she did it, for me."

And, added Morning, "I thank God -- that He let there be justice."

Tyisha Brandon, Taylor's cousin, has said her cousin was a victim. "I know my cousin and she is innocent," she said.