Taylor J. Marquez admitted Monday morning that he and his best friend planned the stabbing death of his mother and a failed attempt to kill his father in July 2006.
Taylor, scheduled to go on trial Aug. 4, appeared to catch his breath each time the felony counts were read by Jackson County Circuit Judge W. Stephen Nixon. The counts include murder in the second degree, for which Marquez will serve a life sentence in prison, assault and two counts of armed criminal action, each of which carried sentences of 15 years. All sentences will run concurrently, and Taylor is eligible for parole after serving 25 years.
Tim Dollar, prosecutor in the case, said the voluntary confession from Marquez concludes a terrible tragedy that happened one summer night in Grain Valley a little over two years ago.
“It’s a conclusion to a very tragic case,” Dollar said after the sentencing. “Two 18-year old boys, one of whom will serve life in prison without a chance of parole and another who will serve all or most of his life in prison. (Taylor) acknowledges that he entered into a plan to commit both of these crimes.”
A jury last month sentenced Taylor’s best friend, Eddie George, to life in prison with no chance of parole for stabbing Pamela Marquez multiple times and cutting the throat of Joe Marquez, who survived. Marquez, Taylor’s adoptive father, is an assistant attorney for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Kansas City.
Both boys escaped the house and stole Taylor’s father’s car, driving to Colorado before they were apprehended by police. A charge of auto theft was dropped in both cases.
Dollar said Monday that the prosecution and Taylor’s defense attorney, Ruth Petsch, had been in active dialogue concerning a possible plea agreement for the past 10 days. Dollar agreed when asked if George’s guilty verdict led to the agreement.
“A verdict of guilty in the Eddie George trial had to weigh heavily on their heads,” Dollar said.
Both Petsch and Joe Marquez declined commentafter the hearing.
Dollar said the crime, as unexplainable Monday morning as it was following the George verdict, is hard to imagine.
“It’s a tragedy of unimaginable proportions,” he said, adding that a young woman was stabbed seven times and that one of the perpetrators “turned out to be her son.”
Following the sentencing, Taylor asked that he be allowed to visit with some family members before his transfer to the Jackson County Jail and finally to the Missouri Department of Corrections. Joe Marquez was not among those who visited.
