Death Penalty Delay a Trying Time for Two Families

A murder in Kansas City 17 years ago continues to bring agony to two families, bound together by the crime, separated by different kinds of loss. Michael Taylor’s family accepts that he did a terrible, horrible thing – beyond understanding – when he kidnapped, raped, and murdered 15-year-old Ann Harrison in Kansas City. Taylor’s family spent most of this week in Bonne Terre, thinking they were seeing their son for the last time. But an appeals court has blocked his execution. The Taylors, of course, are grateful. But mother Linda and father George say they understand the suffering of the other family just continues. Now, they say, both families are left to wait. The best the Taylors can hope for, they say, is a commutation of life without parole so they can continue to see their son – an opportunity he denied the Harris family 17 years ago.