Death penalty hearing next week in 2006 Rolling Meadows murder

By next week, Patrick Taylor will know the sentence he'll face if a jury finds him guilty of the 2006 murder of musician Marquis Lovings.

At a hearing Wednesday before Cook County Judge Joseph Scotillo, prosecutor Karen Crothers said the state's attorney's office will announce next week whether it intends to seek the death penalty for the 40-year-old Taylor.

Police say Taylor entered Lovings' Rolling Meadows condominium with another offender at about 9 p.m. on Aug. 19, 2006, and demanded money and jewelry from Lovings and several friends. Authorities say Taylor, whose last address was the 7500 block of Vernon in Chicago, struck the 30 year-old Lovings with a pistol and ordered him to open a safe. When Lovings was unable to do so, Taylor shot Lovings repeatedly in the neck and torso, authorities say.

Taylor's criminal background includes arrests for delivery of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana and aggravated assault for which he spent a year in prison. In the nearly 18 months since Taylor's arrest, Scotillo has proceeded as if it was a capital case "to ensure Mr. Taylor the safeguards provided by the statutes."

Assistant public defender Jim Mullenix also requested that his client be moved to a special unit at the Cook County Jail so that his medical needs can be met. Taylor, who uses a wheelchair and crutches, has been shot more than 20 times in unrelated crimes. He said that sheriff's deputies have provided him with neither his medication nor his crutches, leaving him effectively bed-bound.

Scotillo said he had no objection to the transfer to a medical unit and would recommend it, but allowed that the final decision rests with Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart.

Taylor next appears in court Feb. 6.