Defendant in Slaying Says He Has Alibi

A 26-year-old Pacoima man accused of kidnapping and murdering a Woodland Hills businessman told jurors Thursday that police officers framed him.

Kirell Taylor, who is representing himself, also said he has a witness who will testify that he was elsewhere on the night that two masked men abducted, robbed and killed Christopher Rawlings, 30.

“I intend to show you how I became the target of [this] case,” Taylor said during his opening statement at Van Nuys Superior Court.

Before Taylor’s statement, prosecution witnesses testified that his DNA matched a sample taken from a ski mask left at the crime scene. Earlier, Deputy Dist. Atty. Shellie Samuels said police officers found jewelry taken from Rawlings’ home in Taylor’s bedroom after his arrest.

On Thursday, Taylor told jurors he believed the DNA evidence had been planted. He did not elaborate.

If convicted, Taylor will face life in prison without possibility of parole. A second suspect--Boris Graham--in the attack on Feb. 8, 1999, is also charged with kidnapping, robbery and murder, but he remains at large.

The two assailants forced Rawlings into the trunk of his Bentley, then drove away, authorities said. After a high-speed police chase, the car crashed into a tree and Rawlings was thrown 30 feet from the trunk, his head striking a brick wall. He died two days later.

Taylor played jurors the tape of a detective’s voice mail in which an unidentified man gave police the defendant’s Pacoima address and said the man who lived there kidnapped Rawlings and stole the Bentley.

“His name is ‘Key-Rail,’ ” said the man on the tape, whose anonymous tip eventually led to Taylor’s arrest.

“Is that one of your police friends?” Taylor asked LAPD Det. Andrew Purdy, whom he called as his first witness. “Do you know who’s on the tape?”

Purdy, the lead investigator in the case, replied that he did not. “I wish I did,” he said.

He added that detectives eventually identified “Key-Rail” as Taylor--then on parole for robbery--when they found him living at the Pacoima address. He also said two witnesses identified Taylor out of a photo lineup as the man they saw near the crime scene.

Taylor said he plans to call a DNA expert and take the stand himself.

Superior Court Judge Michael Hoff has barred Taylor from telling the jury he believes organized crime figures killed Rawlings. “The Mafia orchestrated a hit on this victim,” Taylor said Thursday, outside the jury’s presence.

Samuels said there is no evidence of Mafia involvement in the crime.

During Taylor’s opening remarks and questioning of witnesses, Samuels frequently interrupted with objections that his comments were improper or nonsensical. At one point, Samuels told Hoff she thought Taylor was “incomprehensible.”