Louisville, Ky. (WHAS11) - A Louisville man heads to trial next week for a double murder in a Smoketown neighborhood.
Ricardo Taylor, 27, is charged with two counts of murder, first degree assault, and three counts of kidnapping among other crimes.
His defense is expected to argue Taylor was not in the right state of mind when he allegedly kidnapped and gunned down three people on Aug. 2, 1012, killing two of them during a police standoff. He was previously involved in a SWAT standoff in 2006 after police say they caught him in a drug deal.
The prosecution says he's already shown his guilt through evidence they too are hoping to bring to trial.
"The issue is not who did it. The issue is his level of culpability," Elizabeth Jones Brown, with the Commonwealth Attorney's Office said.
An LMPD SWAT team circled around an apartment on the 1000 block of South Jackson St. that day. Taylor, barricaded inside, was accused of holding three people hostage after a domestic dispute with his girlfriend. It's then that police say he shot all three, killing 25-year-old Tela Harvey and 16-year-old Osman Omor and injuring Cheryl Bagwell. The standoff ended hours later, after tear gas filled the home.
"State of mind is always relevant," his attorney, Michael Ferraraccio said during his last pre-trial hearing Friday.
Taylor's defense asked for permission to call on one expert witness to talk about cases involving mental illnesses like PTSD and schizophrenia.
The prosecution fought to bring in two pieces of evidence, the first, testimony from Taylor's ex-girlfriend who ended their relationship the morning of the murders.
"They had a fight and she will testify that he smashed a container of soda in her face," Brown said.
The prosecutors claimed that was evidence of motive as to why he committed the crimes. Taylor reportedly came back later that day after his ex had left, taking two of her friends hostage as well as a teenage boy walking down the street.
A second piece of evidence is a letter, the prosecution says was sent from Taylor inside the jail to a third party asking they meet with the lone survivor from that day to change her story.
"We'd like to introduce that letter as evidence of guilt," Brown said.
The judge will make a decision on all three motions on Monday at which point jury selection will take place. The trial is expected to begin Tuesday morning.
The death penalty is off the table. At most, Taylor could receive life without parole, if convicted.
