Finally After 25 Years, Michael Taylor Executed in Missouri for the 1989 Kidnap, Rape & Murder of 15 Year Old Ann Harrison in Kansas City

IT’S ABOUT TIME … GOOD RIDDANCE TO BAD RUBBISH!

47 year old Michael Taylor was finally put to death and pronounced dead Wednesday, February 26, 2014 at 12: 10 a.m. at the state prison in Bonne Terre, Missouri. Taylor was executed for the 1989 rape and murder of 15 year old Ann Harrison, as the Kansas City teen waited for the school bus. 1989!!! Are you kidding that it took 25 years for the appeals process to run their course before this rapist/murder was given the death penalty? UNREAL! There is some thing serious wrong with a legal system that takes a quarter of a century to provide justice. Isn’t it amazing, sickening, that we have a system that is more concerned with how the convicted murderers die than the victim?

Om March 22, 1989 Michael Taylor and Roderick Nunley abducted Ann Harrison as she waited for the school bus in her driveway, pulled her into a stolen car, took her to a home, raped her and then fatally stabbed Harrison as she pleaded for her life. Roderick Nunley has also been sentenced to death.

A Missouri inmate was executed early Wednesday for abducting, raping and killing a Kansas City teenager as she waited for her school bus in 1989, marking the state’s fourth lethal injection in as many months.

Michael Taylor, 47, was pronounced dead at 12: 10 a.m. at the state prison in Bonne Terre. Federal courts and the governor had refused last-minute appeals from his attorneys, who argued that the execution drug purchased from a compounding pharmacy could have caused Taylor inhuman pain and suffering.

Taylor offered no final statement, though he mouthed silent words to his parents, clergymen and other relatives who witnessed his death. As the process began, he took two deep breaths before closing his eyes for the last time. There were no obvious signs of distress.

Michael Taylor

Family still struggling with Ann Harrison’s murder.

“Ann was a very loving, caring, innocent young girl. She loved her sports, she loved her music, most of all she loved her family,” her uncle Paul Harrison said.

With the killers still making headlines, the hurt is still there for the family.

“It just brings back a lot of bad memories. It’s also justice being served,” Paul said.

Of course Michael Taylor’s defense attorneys questioned the execution drug purchased from a compounding pharmacy that could have caused Taylor inhuman pain and suffering and looked for a stay. Thankfully, U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips and the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied several petitions on Tuesday night for a last minute stay or further judicial review and fustice was finally served after 25 years. However, the best rebuttal to that ridiculous comment came from Pete Edlund, the retired Kansas City police detective who led the investigation into the teenager’s death who said, “Cruel and unusual punishment would be if we killed them the same way they killed Annie Harrison. Get a damn rope, string them up, put them in the gas chamber. Whatever it takes.”

 UPDATE I: Almost 25 years later, murder victim Ann Harrison is a lasting memory.

The rest of the city may remember her as the girl kidnapped from in front of her house while waiting for the school bus.

But to her friends, who have grown into women with careers and children of their own, she is forever in their thoughts as that smiling, pretty, brown-haired girl who loved softball and music.

“Ann deserves to be remembered for the wonderful spirit that she was, and continues to be, for her family, friends and community,” said Tina Thomasee.

Next month, on the anniversary of her death, friends are planning a ceremony to commemorate her life.

Barrett and Ann shared classes. They played on the same softball team, coached by Ann’s father, and they were bandmates. Ann played the flute, and Barrett wonders if Ann would have pursued a career in music.

“She loved playing the flute,” Barrett said. “She was really good.”

Ann’s death was a life-altering event for Barrett and other children who knew her.

“It just wasn’t in my realm of possibility at that age,” she said.

Previously, they rode their bikes around the neighborhood and walked everywhere without worry.

“After that, no more,” she said. “It changed the way I think of the world.”