'Lifelong sociopath' sentenced for killing Rolling Meadows man

Convicted murderer Patrick Taylor insisted it couldn't have been him who killed fledgling rap producer Marquis Lovings during an August 2006 home invasion and robbery at Lovings' Rolling Meadows condominium.

“Had I killed him, I'd have killed everybody in the (expletive) house. That's how you know Black Pat didn't do it,” Taylor said, referring to himself by his nickname during his sentencing hearing Thursday before Cook County Judge Hyman Riebman.

The argument did not sway Riebman, who sentenced Taylor to natural life in prison following a two-hour hearing, which Taylor interrupted several times despite Cook County Assistant Public Defender Jim Mullenix's admonitions to calm down and remain quiet.

Calling Taylor “a lifelong sociopath,” Riebman said Taylor's criminal background and lack of remorse shows “he cannot be a useful member of the community.”

“This defendant is lacking in human decency and concern for human life,” said Riebman.

Citing “repeated outbursts and threats to personnel,” Riebman ordered Taylor to be handcuffed and remain seated during the hearing, which took place with eight Cook County sheriff's deputies stationed throughout the courtroom.

It began with prosecutors detailing Taylor's extensive criminal history, which includes convictions dating back to 1986 for burglary, aggravated battery, drug possession and delivery. He also was convicted of aggravated battery with a firearm stemming from a 1993 Markham home invasion and shooting strikingly similar to the 2006 home invasion and robbery that ended with Lovings' murder.

Prosecutors read a statement from Lovings' father Donald Watts, who described his son's positive attitude, “joyful disposition, strong mind and resourcefulness.”

“There is no way to measure the impact of losing Marquis,” wrote Watts. “We hope justice will help edge us a little closer to closure.”

Reached after the sentencing, Lovings' mother described the 1995 Barrington High School graduate a good-hearted comedian who always made people laugh.

She expressed relief, saying “he deserves life in prison.”

Prosecutors say the combination of drugs and money led Taylor to target Lovings, 30, who they say supplemented his music career by selling cannabis. Four eyewitnesses identified Taylor as the shooter during his July jury trial.

Taylor, who showed no emotion upon hearing the sentence, proclaimed his innocence and expressed his anger at Riebman, prosecutors, police and Lovings' family, who he says lied to get a conviction.

Taylor said no physical evidence links him to the murder, a composite sketch provided by a victim doesn't resemble him and the gun which a ballistics expert linked to the murder was recovered from another Chicago man charged with shooting a Chicago police officer.

“You cannot hold Black Pat in jail ... I'll be back on appeal. I'm gonna be back on the streets,” Taylor said.

Testifying for the prosecution, former Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Ken Goff recounted the 1993 case in which Taylor and three co-defendants entered a Markham home, demanded drugs and money, ransacked the residence and shot and wounded several people.

Rolling Meadows detective Dan Cook testified that in March 2008 at the Rolling Meadows courthouse, Taylor remarked, “I'm gonna beat this homicide like I beat the last homicide. I'll be running and gunning again.”

A member of a Chicago street gang who has been in and out of prison most of his life, Taylor's offenses have become “increasingly more violent,” said Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Mike Clarke, who described Taylor as “committed to a life of crime.”

Out of custody, he cannot conform to societal norms and doesn't fare better in jail, said Clarke, referencing Taylor's disciplinary record. The report detailed numerous incidents in which Clarke said Taylor threatened corrections officers and their families and on one occasion, an emergency room nurse, over his four-plus years in custody.

“By the defendant's own life of crime, he has earned a sentence of natural life in prison,” Clarke said.

Mullenix offered as mitigation a report placing Taylor's IQ at 79, the bottom 8 percent of the population. Taylor was “raised to show no fear” and subjected to sexual violence and parental abandonment, Mullenix said.

“I ask your honor to give him a term of years ... so he has an incentive to behave in custody for his benefit and for those responsible for guarding him,” said Mullenix, pointing out that even a minimum sentence of 45 years would keep Taylor in prison until age 88.

Riebman disagreed.

“There is no evidence that he (Taylor) needs to be anywhere but in the Illinois Department of Corrections to protect the citizens of this community.”