A Hopkinsville woman was found guilty of a wanton murder charge Thursday following a four-day trial in Christian County Circuit Court.
The jury needed just over two hours to find Larayna Manning guilty on charges of wanton murder and complicity to first-degree robbery concerning the October 2020 death of Calvin Taylor, who was found shot to death in his North Kentucky Avenue home.
Testimony in the trial began Tuesday with closing arguments presented Thursday afternoon.
State Medical Examiner Dr. Christopher Kiefer testified that Taylor was shot three times with a handgun.
Manning’s attorney Jason Pfeil tried to debunk a motive of robbery as a contributing factor in Taylor’s death.
click to download audioPfeil asked the panel to carefully read the jury instructions because of the reasonable doubt he felt like he was able to show
click to download audioPolice said Larayna’s son Anthony drove his mother both to and away from the scene. He entered an Alford plea to facilitation to complicity to commit murder and first-degree facilitation to complicity to commit robbery. An Alford plea means the younger Manning did not admit guilt but did recognize there was enough evidence to convict him. He was sentenced to five years in prison in November in exchange for his testimony.
On the stand, Anthony’s story wavered a bit from the original statement he gave police. Commonwealth’s Attorney Rick Boling told the jury to put more weight into Anthony’s original statement to the police and not his attempt to protect his mother on the stand.
click to download audioBoling said there was no evidence that Manning was involved in the planning of the murder and robbery or had any involvement in connection to the actual crime.
Boling requested a conviction for wanton murder, of which the jury after deliberations obliged.
After the guilty verdicts, the jury moved into the sentencing phase of the trial where a recommended sentence of life in prison was suggested for the murder charge and 20 years was recommended for the robbery charge.
Manning will be sentenced by Judge Andrew Self on March 22.
