Derrick Taylor put his head down and stared at a table as he listened to a Baltimore City Circuit Court jury read the word he dreaded over and over again: Guilty.
Taylor, 27, was convicted Tuesday of felony murder in the triple murder of Nathan Gulliver, 49, Antwon Arthur, 38, and Steven Matthews, 36, at a drug and alcohol recovery house in the Remington area of Baltimore on Jan. 10, 2005.
Taylor now faces a life sentence.
As he left the courtroom, Taylor turned to Det. Charles Bealefeld, who worked the case, and cursed at him.
Bealefeld called the killing one of the most “senseless” he?s ever seen. The detective said Gulliver and Matthews should be praised for how they behaved in the last moments of their lives.
Police say Gulliver emptied his bank account in order to pay a debt Arthur owed Taylor, but was killed anyway.
“They should be labeled as heroes,” Bealefeld said.
Prosecutors told the jury that Taylor was angry at Arthur because of money owed to him and his girlfriend, Lisa Owens.
When Taylor and co-defendant Corey McMillon, 29, went to the recovery house in search of about $125 Arthur owed Taylor, Gulliver offered to help out his friend by going to an ATM and withdrawing the money, prosecutors said.
But even after Gulliver gave Taylor the very last dollars in his account, Taylor and McMillon still decided to kill the men, shooting them at point-blank range, prosecutors said.
McMillon is already serving a life sentence for a previous murder conviction.
Another man at the recovery house, Shawn Brown, was able to flee the killing scene by jumping from a second-story window despite being shot three times, according to police.
Juror Kim Burke said she was impressed by Gulliver?s selfless actions.
“It was a tragic situation,” she said of the killing. “We did the best we could.”
Prosecutor Donald Giblin called Gulliver a “good Samaritan” and said the three men were trying to pull their lives back together from addictions to drugs and alcohol.
“They were doing the right thing,” he said. “They were recovering. They were succeeding.”
Anita Blue-Chester, Taylor?s cousin, said her family is distraught because they believe Taylor is innocent. She vowed to appeal the jury?s verdict.
“We cried all day. I truly feel he is innocent in my heart,” she said. “We?re going to fight it to the end.”
Taylor?s sentencing is scheduled for April 10.
