Beware how you handle guns. KY Supreme Court backs conviction in Trinity Gay’s death
The Kentucky Supreme Court has upheld a Fayette County Circuit Court judge’s refusal to acquit one of the men convicted in the shooting death of 15-year-old Trinity Gay.
A jury found Chazerae Taylor, 42, guilty of wanton murder and four counts of wanton endangerment in 2018. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Taylor appealed, arguing that the Fayette County court was wrong to deny his request for a direct acquittal in the case. In an opinion released Thursday, the Kentucky Supreme Court disagreed with Taylor’s attorney who said Taylor’s actions had not been the “proximate cause” of Trinity’s death.
The bullet that killed Trinity was from a .45 caliber gun, and the weapon that fired it was never found. However, prosecutors argued that Taylor’s actions sparked the events that led to the death of the Lafayette High School sophomore who was the daughter of Olympian Tyson Gay. The Supreme Court ruling sets an important precedent that could affect others who improperly use guns, the prosecutor said.
“Everyone needs to know to be careful with a gun. If a person improperly uses their firearm and it leads to someone else being injured or property being damaged, the person responsible for making this happen will be held accountable,” Fayette County Commonwealth’s Attorney Lou Anna Red Corn said. “Kentucky’s Supreme Court has clarified in this case that a person is responsible for their actions and what those actions foreseeably lead others to do.”
Witnesses reported that Taylor fired the first shot in the early morning hours of Oct. 16, 2016, causing an exchange of gunfire that resulted in Trinity’s death. Trinity had been in the parking lot of the Cook Out restaurant on South Broadway, where several people had gathered to hang out when Taylor fired multiple shots into the air to clear the crowd, Taylor’s attorneys said at trial. After he fired, multiple people started shooting back, according to the Supreme Court’s opinion.
Taylor’s son had been robbed of a gun earlier that day, and he’d arrived at the area of the Waffle House and Cook Out to get the gun back, prosecutors said.
“Evidence showed that Taylor went to the Cook Out looking for a fight: he armed himself with a handgun in preparation for confronting the man who had robbed his son earlier that day,” the Supreme Court opinion read. “Taylor was aware that the perpetrator had also taken a gun from another young man ... When bullets start flying in a crowd of people, no one should be surprised when someone gets shot.”
At the center of the Supreme Court’s opinion were the definitions of “wanton” and “causation.” Ultimately, the court determined that a reasonable jury could have determined that Taylor’s actions directly set into motion the events that led to Trinity’s death and that his actions disregarded risk and were indifferent to human life. As such, it would have been inappropriate for the judge in the case, Fayette County Circuit Court Judge Ernesto Scorsone, to directly acquit Taylor of his charges.
“At least 20 bullets were fired from six different persons, but it was Taylor who set this barrage in motion by indiscriminately firing multiple rounds in the air,” Red Corn said Thursday. “Taylor created the environment that endangered the lives of dozens of persons in that parking lot, and which led to the killing a young woman who was loved by her parents, family and friends. We may never know who shot the bullet that killed Trinity, but the Supreme Court has affirmed the decision of the Fayette County jury to hold Taylor responsible for his actions in creating this circumstance.”
This story was originally published October 29, 2020 at 3:05 PM.
