Freed after serving 16 years for Rolling Meadows murder, he now seeks accountability for 'miscarriage of justice'
Nearly 12 years ago, after a Cook County judge sentenced him to life in prison for the 2006 murder of aspiring Rolling Meadows rapper Marquis Lovings, Patrick Taylor insisted he would be back.
“I'll be back on appeal," Taylor said during his November 2011 sentencing hearing. "I'm gonna be back on the streets."
A 2016 appellate court decision overturning Taylor's conviction and granting him a new trial put him one step closer. And on Wednesday, after Cook County prosecutors dismissed the charges against him, Taylor exited Cook County jail, his pledge fulfilled.
“Patrick is really grateful to be back home with his family and loved ones,” defense attorney Elliot Slosar said of Taylor, who has been incarcerated since his 2007 arrest. “He's trying to take the small steps to rebuild his life.
“We're grateful that Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx did the right thing and gave him justice,” added Slosar, who has long claimed Rolling Meadows police and prosecutors withheld evidence that would have exonerated his client.
Foxx released a statement on the decision to drop the charges, citing “missing or lost evidence … that had not been turned over to our office or to the defense attorneys by the assigned detective or police department.”
Upon reviewing the previously unaccounted for documents, prosecutors “determined that we would be unable to meet our burden of proof if the case was retried” and asked the court to dismiss the charges against Taylor, according to the statement.
Rolling Meadows police did not respond to a request for comment.
“If the system truly worked, we should have never had to represent Pat,” said Slosar, who claims authorities framed his client. “It's a blessing he's home. But that's not a sign of system working. That's a sign of the failures that led us here.”
During Taylor's 2011 trial, prosecutors told jurors that drugs and money led the Chicago man to target the 30-year-old Lovings, a Barrington High School graduate who they say supplemented his music career by selling marijuana.
According to authorities, Taylor armed himself with a .40-caliber handgun and then he another man entered Lovings' condominium, threatened him and several of his friends, and demanded money from a safe. When Lovings was unable to open the safe, prosecutors said Taylor shot him.
Taylor's trial attorney, former Assistant Cook County Public Defender Jim Mullenix, said no physical evidence linked his client to the murder, a composite sketch that a victim provided did not resemble him, and the gun a ballistics expert linked to Lovings' murder was later recovered from a man charged with shooting a Chicago police officer.
Mullenix expects Taylor's attorneys will file a civil lawsuit.
“Dropping the case only delays the uncovering of the truth it,” he opined. “You've not heard the last of this.”
“Is Patrick going to seek to hold people accountable? Of course,” said Slosar, adding accountability “for this miscarriage of justice” may come in the form of a civil lawsuit or a criminal prosecution.