Judge gives juvenile convicted in 2010 fatal robbery a chance for parole  

Gabriel Taylor told a judge Friday he was an 'easily influenced dumb kid” in 2010 when he participated in a robbery that ended in the death of 25-year-old Kevin Bell.

Taylor, now 22, said he wanted to 'express his sorrow and remorse” for his involvement and for Bell's death. He realizes that he can't erase the pain and void he created in Bell's family but 'I deal with it every day and can't forget.”

'I want to be a successful man in society,” Taylor said. 'Hopefully, one day you (Bell's family) will be able to forgive me. I am hoping for a chance to prove myself.”

Taylor may have that chance. Sixth Judicial District Judge Ian Thornhill resentenced him to up to 25 years for first-degree robbery. In the original sentence, he was required to serve the mandatory minimum of 17 and a half years before being eligible for parole, but Thornhill eliminated the mandatory minimum which makes Taylor immediately eligible for rehabilitation treatment and parole.

Last year, the Iowa Supreme Court overturned a court of appeals decision for Taylor, which affirmed the had original sentence and mandatory minimum.

William Gyauch, attorney working with the Johnson County Public Defender's office, asked the judge to follow the joint sentencing agreement with Assistant Linn County Attorney Jason Burns for up to 25 years without a mandatory minimum. He also asked the judge to consider the factors laid out in a recent case, Damion Seats, who was convicted at 17 in Cerro Gordo County and his life without parole sentence was overturned last month by the Iowa Supreme Court.

Gyauch said the factors included age, maturity of juvenile and how their brains are not fully developed, home environment and nature and circumstances of the crime. He also asked the judge to consider that Taylor didn't provide the gun in this crime or fire the weapon.

Thornhill said he considered the 2012 Miller factors, which bans mandatory sentences without parole, such as his age, home environment, circumstances of the crime, his participation in the crime and his potential for rehabilitation. Thornhill said Taylor's parole will be left up to the parole board.

Thornhill also left the restitution order in place. Taylor was ordered to pay over $10,000.

Taylor was convicted, along with Johven Lee, 21 at the time, and Denum Null, 16 at the time, of robbing Bell in January 2010. Taylor and Lee, originally charged with first-degree murder, pleaded to the lesser charge of first-degree robbery because they went with Null to rob Bell. Null was the one who brought a gun and shot Bell in the head.

Null, now 22, was resentenced in April after the Iowa Supreme Court overturned his 75-year sentence because he was juvenile at the time. He was resentenced to the same 75-year sentence but eliminated the mandatory minimum of 52 years before being eligible for parole.