justin elliot taylor › deadmonton 2005 › deadmonton › edmonton

WARNING

Justin Elliot Taylor, 21, was shot to death December 27th, 2005.

Taylor was Edmonton's 39th and last homicide victim of the year, Edmonton's bloodiest.

Richard Merrick Gordon, 24, was charged with second-degree murder, possession of a firearm and offering an indignity to human remains. Jamaine Anthony Thompson, 26, was charged with accessory after the fact and possession of a firearm.

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At around 2:00 p.m. on January 9th, 2006 the Stony Plain RCMP detachment received notification that a body had been found on the Enoch Cree Nation Reserve just west of Edmonton.

The body was found lying in a ditch beside an oil well site service road near 231 Street and south of Township Road 524. The oil well site belonged to Acclaim Energy and was located 500 metres east of the street. The service road was not on the company's property.

At the time, an RCMP spokesman indicated the body was that of a male in his early to mid-twenties and they were fairly certain of his identity. They also believed the man was not from the reserve and was killed somewhere else and dumped there recently.

Not waiting for autopsy results, RCMP said they were conducting a murder investigation and members of the Edmonton Police Service were assisting.

On January 11th, 2006 details released by police revised Edmonton's 2005 murder total upwards to 39. It was determined the 21-year-old male was shot dead in late December in Edmonton and his body was dumped near the oil well site the same day.

Police issued Canada-wide warrants on January 11th for two Edmonton men wanted in connection with the case.

Facing charges of second-degree murder and possession of a firearm was Richard Merrick Gordon, 24 (left) while accessory after the fact and possession of a firearm charges awaited Jamaine Anthony Thompson, 26. Both men are black and were considered armed and dangerous.

On January 12th, 2006 Gordon turned himself in to police at RCMP's K Division in Edmonton. Police also identified the man found as Justin Elliot Taylor. His death was the 39th murder in Edmonton in 2005.

On February 10th, 2006 Jamaine Anthony Thompson turned himself in to Halifax police. Local police weren't sure of Thompson's connection to the eastern city.

An anonymous source told a local newspaper that Taylor was one of five people travelling in a car in Edmonton's west end when an argument broke out.

Apparently it was thought that Taylor was going to police with information about a serious crime when he was shot in the head as the group was making their way on Whitemud Drive. The source suggested that Taylor's shooter then ordered the other man and two women in the car to help him dispose of the body on the Enoch lands.

Eighteen months previously the area was witness to the discovery of another body. On September 24th, 2004 Patrick Ouderkirk's body was found near 79 Avenue and 215 Street. No arrests were ever made in Ouderkirk's death.

The areas surrounding Edmonton have long been a dumping ground for murders associated with the city's sex trade industry.

The joint-jurisdiction Project KARE task force is investigating nearly 80 deaths and disappearances dating back to 1932. The bodies of 12 women have been found in remote areas around the city in the past 16 years.

On April 30th, 2007 Richard Merrick Gordon's second-degree murder trial began before Justice Sheila Greckol and a seven-man five-woman jury.

Crown prosecutor Avril Herron told Gordon's twelve peers they would hear evidence during the trial from the woman who was driving the car on Whitemud Drive the day Justin “Dutch” Elliot Taylor was murdered.

Herron said Sandy Alexander was expected to testify she was told to drive to the Enoch Cree Nation reserve.

There she saw Gordon (left), who also goes by the nicknames “C” and “Christian,” direct Jamaine “Money” Thompson to help him take Taylor's body and dump it in a ditch.

Nine days later, Alexander – Taylor's girlfriend – took police to the area near an oil well site service road on Edmonton's western edge where his body was found.

The jury was told they will also hear evidence from a farmer who was expected to offer testimony about the group twice coming to his farm and his finding a gun there in September 2006.

The trial began with Candice Houlahan taking the stand. The then pregnant 20-year-old was Gordon's girlfriend at the time of Taylor's murder in late 2005.

Houlahan testified she and Gordon were in the back seat of a car motoring down Whitemud Drive following a party. She described the mood in the car as tense, and she tried to calm Gordon down by whispering in his ear.

Suddenly, Gordon pulled out a Saturday Night Special handgun and shot Taylor, who was sitting directly in front of him.

“He lined [the gun] up with the back of Dutch's head and shot it. It happened so quick.”

“His body just went limp,” Houlahan said. “I knew right there he was gone.”

Houlahan told the court Gordon was mad at Taylor because he had supposedly had sex with a woman who wasn't his girlfriend in the bathroom of someone's home.

While Houlahan was crying and screaming, Gordon turned to her and said, “It's OK. Everything will be OK. I will take care of everything.”

Driving the car, Sandy Alexander screamed when the gun went off. As Taylor's body started to slump over toward her, Gordon pushed it back the other way.

Houlahan told the jury she confronted Gordon about the killing later that night and asked him if he believed in God. Gordon replied that he did.

“And I said 'apparently not, 'cause you're going to hell.' ”

The whole scenario recalled a scene from Quentin Tarantino's film Pulp Fiction – but for Gordon, "The Wolf" wasn't nearby to help clean up the mess.

Houlahan said the next day Gordon took the bloodied automobile to a car wash. An attendant noted Gordon spent a long time cleaning the vehicle. The woman said her old boyfriend didn't seem grumpy or sad at the time.

“He wasn't really showing too much emotion,” she said.

Houlahan also described to the jury about the second visit to the farm. She said she saw Gordon take Taylor's clothes and shoes and burn them in a discarded oil barrel.

As a result of the ordeal of the murder, Candice Houlahan lost the child she was carrying.

On May 9th, 2007 closing arguments were heard. Gordon did not take the stand in his own defence, but defence lawyer Walter Raponi suggested to jurors that Jamaine Thompson was the actual killer.

Thompson, charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder, had testified against Gordon. A trial date for his case was set for February 19th, 2008.

The jury was charged and after deliberating overnight, they returned on the morning of May 10th and announced they found Richard Merrick Gordon guilty as charged.

Second-degree murder convictions carry an an automatic life sentence without the possibility of parole for 10 to 25 years. Gordon was also convicted of offering an indignity to human remains and possessing a a firearm.

Seven of the 12 jurors recommended Gordon's parole ineligibility be set at the maximum, two recommended twenty years and three had no recommendation.

The gum-chewing convicted man sitting in the prisoner's box not only heard from the jury – he also heard from the victim's father.

Paul Taylor, Justin's father, shouted “Shotta – them catch you” in Jamaican patois, with shotta a slang term for gangster or gunman.

Gordon showed no emotion as he was led out of the courtroom by sheriffs.

Taylor and his wife Lorraine declined to comment outside court, having apparently made their point from the gallery.

On May 15th, 2007 Justice Sheila Greckol set Richard Merrick Gordon's parole ineligibility at seventeen years.

During sentencing submissions, Crown prosecutor Avril Herron asked Gordon serve 20 to 25 years before being able to seek early release.

Defence lawyer Walter Raponi agreed that parole ineligibility be raised from the minimum of 10 years, but suggested it should fall between 12 and 15 years.

Justice Greckol said she considered the growing violence on Edmonton streets in determining the date before Gordon can seek parole.

"What we are dealing with here in this community is 2007 is highly relevant to my view," Greckol said.

"Violence is on the rise and it is of huge concern to the community."

"A message must be sent that playing gangsters with guns means someone will get hurt," Greckol added, pointing to the "rash of brutal killings" in Edmonton.

Greckol told Gordon he had committed a “calculated, cold-blooded act” which was “completely unprovoked.”

She further criticised Gordon for dumping Taylor's body in a ditch on the side of the road in a “callous fashion” to protect himself. The justice went on to call it a “chilling” crime involving guns, drugs, prostitution and other criminal activities.

“You are a danger to our community,” Greckol said.

Greckol punctuated her remarks by quoting from the victim impact statement written by Justin Taylor's grandmother.

“When will this insanity end?”

Court earlier heard Gordon, a cook and a baker, was born in Jamaica and had come to Canada when he was five. He was raised by his single mother and had ten brothers and sisters.

Gordon smiled at his suppporters in the gallery before being led away by a sheriff. He will be eligible for parole in the year 2025 at age 43.

Outside court, Paul Taylor told media he felt neither pleasure nor satisfaction now that his son's killer had been sent to jail.

“To me it is a sense of tragedy. His imprisonment will never bring my son back,” said Taylor.

“I hope I can truly forgive him and I will continue to pray for him and hope he will finally get redemption and salvation.”

deadmonton 2005 - justin elliot taylor