TEXARKANA -- A man accused of killing his girlfriend in a Texarkana apartment and burying her body on a hunting lease in Ogden in 2017 is scheduled to face a jury later this month.
Tony Earl Taylor, 61, appeared Monday for a pretrial hearing before Circuit Judge Carlton Jones on charges of murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. Questions surrounding Taylor's competency and covid-19 pandemic precautions have led to delays in the case.
Taylor is accused of killing 35-year-old Crystal Reed in an apartment March 6, 2017. Taylor concealed evidence in a backyard in Texarkana, Texas, and buried Reed's body in a shallow grave on a hunting lease in Ogden in Little River County in southwest Arkansas, authorities said
Taylor was deemed incompetent because of intellectual deficiency by an expert at the Arkansas State Hospital in 2019 but found competent by an expert who conducted a subsequent evaluation of him later that year. After a hearing in July 2020, Jones ruled that Taylor is legally competent to stand trial.
At Monday's hearing, Jones denied a defense motion to suppress a statement Taylor gave to law enforcement in 2017. The defense argued Taylor didn't understand his right to remain silent because of an allegedly diminished intellect. Jones noted that while Taylor appears to have some intellectual limitations, he is capable of holding down a job and driving a car.
Jones said that he reviewed a video recording of Taylor's interrogation by law enforcement and considered the opinions of mental health experts before ruling that the motion should be denied.
The trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 11. Another pretrial hearing is set for Aug. 10, according to court documents.
Taylor faces 10 to 40 years or life in prison if convicted of murder. If found guilty of abuse of a corpse, he faces three to 10 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000. If convicted of tampering with physical evidence, Taylor faces up to six years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.
Taylor is currently being held in the Miller County jail with bail set at $750,000.