Judge Sentences Killer of Radio Show Host to Death

Andrew Lancaster was sentenced to death Wednesday for the murder of radio personality Michael Taylor, a host of KPFK’s “Community Forum,” who had spoken on the air of his opposition to the death penalty.

The sentencing by Superior Court Judge William Pounders followed a dramatic admission by Lancaster, who had pleaded not guilty during his recent trial.

“Yeah, I brought him down,” he told the judge, looking at him straight in the face: “Do I feel remorse? Yes, I feel remorse . . . but Michael Taylor was no saint, nobody’s a saint.”

Lancaster, 26, told the court that his repentance had come not out of fear of the death penalty, but due to a conversion to Islam. Waving with his handcuffed hands a green, hardcover edition of the Koran, Lancaster said: “I’ve come a long way.”

Pounder said the evidence against Lancaster outweighed last-minute arguments presented Wednesday by his attorney. Nevertheless the judge praised Lancaster for conducting himself in a courteous manner during the sentencing.

“I commend you,” said Pounder, after telling him that he was to be transported to San Quentin state prison in 10 days. His case will be appealed, as is normal procedure in death sentences.

Prosecutor Eleanor Hunter had said earlier in the hearing that in spite of having a religious upbringing, Lancaster had shown no remorse and had acted in an arrogant manner toward the jury.

Friends of Taylor, 45, say that the radio reporter had befriended Lancaster, Shawn Alexander and Jornay Rodriguez, the three defendants in the case, at a homeless shelter where he had been working as a guidance counselor.

Taylor had been homeless before embarking on a career in broadcasting, his friends say. He started working at KPFK in 1992.

According to prosecutors, Taylor had a falling out with the trio over radio equipment a few days before he was killed.

On April 23, 1996, Alexander and Rodriguez kidnapped the radio host at his Crenshaw district home and took him at gunpoint to a lot in Compton. There, authorities said, the three men tied Taylor up before shooting him six times in the head and chest.

Rodriguez and Alexander pleaded no contest to kidnapping and holding Taylor at gunpoint. Rodriguez was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, while Alexander was sentenced to 15 years.

In an attempt for leniency, defense attorney Ron Rothman subpoenaed Miguel Sanchez, who had been a friend of Taylor. Sanchez testified Wednesday that he told Det. Stephen Watson and prosecutor Anne Ingalls that Tyrone Floyd, the prosecution’s main witness, had shown him some radio equipment after the murder.

Sanchez said Watson and Ingalls had told him not to mention that incident because it would complicate their case for a death penalty conviction.

“Mr. Sanchez has no reason to lie under oath nor to perjure himself . . . he was Michael Taylor’s friend,” Rothman said.

Rothman asked for a new trial Wednesday because he said he had not been provided timely information by the prosecution about Sanchez’s information regarding Floyd.

Under oath, Ingalls and Watson denied telling Sanchez not to mention the incident.

Pounder said he felt inclined to believe the investigator and prosecutor due to their credibility.

Sanchez said he didn’t agree with the death sentence Taylor received, in spite of having been a close friend of the radio host.

He said: “It’s just one more senseless murder after a senseless murder.”