[chris]

Kevin Taylor B52807
Menard Correctional Center
711 Kaskaskia Street
P.O. Box 711
Menard, Il 62259

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[chris]

A Cook County judge sentenced an alleged serial killer to 50 years in prison for the 2001 killing of a woman whose partially clothed body was found in a garbage can on the North Side.

Circuit Judge Fred G. Suria Jr. spared Kevin Taylor, 32, of the 10700 block of South Eberhart Avenue, the 60-year maximum sentence after reading a report by Taylor's defense lawyers detailing Taylor's childhood in foster homes because he had a drug addicted mother and a convict for a father.

In January a jury convicted Taylor of first-degree murder in the July 27, 2001, strangling of Cynthia Halk, 38. He is awaiting trial for the killings of three other women in 2001.

"It goes without saying that this crime should never have happened, it also goes without saying that the life you led I would not impose on our worst enemy ... [but] in no way does it justify what occurred in this case," said Suria.

"Cynthia Halk was an unfortunate person. Fifty years ... is the only sentence I can impose that would protect the public."

Assistant State's Atty. Carmen Aguilar read a victim impact statement prepared by Halk's daughter, Aisha, detailing how the woman's family had dropped her off at Provident Hospital on the South Side for treatment for her epilepsy. Her body was found three days later in the garbage.

"I still have a hard time believing that my mother was found naked and dead in a garbage can. She had no dignity in death, but she did have dignity in life," Aisha Halk's statement said.

She said in the statement that because of the epilepsy, her mother could not hold a paying job but was able to take care of her three grandchildren. Halk said the family had told Provident Hospital to call them to pick her up after her treatment. But the call never came. "This time, they [the hospital] did not call. My mother wound up on the North Side in a garbage can three days later. My children loved their grandmother and miss her very much. We all do. Our lives will never be the same without her," Halk wrote.

Assistant State's Atty. Angela Petrone asked for the 60-year maximum sentence. She said Taylor, in a videotaped statement, told police he ran into the woman while looking for a prostitute after his shift as a cook at the Cheesecake Factory on Michigan Avenue. Halk agreed to have sex with him for $10, Petrone said. Halk tried to get up to leave as the two were having sex, and Taylor strangled her, Petrone said.

Halk's body was found in an alley near Clark and Division Streets, Petrone said.

"We do know that Cynthia Halk desperately wanted to go home and at one point she got up and said she wanted to leave, but Kevin Taylor wasn't ready. While she was having an epileptic seizure, Kevin Taylor was squeezing the life out of her," Petrone said. "When she died, he picked up the $10 bill and tossed her in the garbage like she was a piece of trash."

Petrone said prosecutors now plan to try Taylor on the 2001 killing of Ola Mae Wallace, 39, of the 4100 block of North Sheridan Road. Wallace's body was found in an alley in the 5200 block of North Broadway. Petrone said prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in that case. Suria set a June 27 court date in the case.

Taylor also is facing trial for the 2001 killings of Diane Jordan, 42, whose body was found in an alley in the 1400 block of North Mohawk Street; and Bernadine Blunt of the 200 block of East 115th Street, whose body was found in an abandoned building.

[annmarie]

horrible horrible person