State Supreme Court judges have denied a death-row inmate’s assertion that he did not have adequate representation at his trial. In a unanimous ruling, the court said Leon Taylor did receive adequate legal counsel during his trial for the April, 1994, murder of a gas station attendant in Jackson County. Taylor was robbing the gas station at the time and murdered the attendant in front of the attendant’s step-daughter. When he tried to kill the girl, he went to go get another gun, but two accomplices convinced him to leave. Taylor had tried to argue that he was mentally retarded at the time, but the justices said he did not present that evidence when he had the chance during the trial.
