In 1970, Tucson’s Pioneer Hotel set fire, resulting in the deaths of 28 people. At the time, 16-year-old Louis Taylor was convicted of the murders. However, 42 years later Taylor was freed.
From a cover story we did on Taylor two years ago:
For more than 10 years, a team of volunteer attorneys and law school students from the Arizona Justice Project took on Taylor’s case—combing through old files and doing interviews that eventually led to enough new evidence to enable his attorneys to request a new hearing. Attorneys told reporters that much of the evidence had to do with science. If the Pioneer Hotel fire happened today, experts would have determined it was not arson.
There was also clear evidence that prosecutorial misconduct had taken place, such as the suppression of evidence that supported Taylor’s innocence. Which only made it more difficult when Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall fought and maneuvered to prevent Taylor’s case from going back to court, finally offering a plea agreement that didn’t exonerate him from the crime but allowed him to go free based on time served.
Carlos Arzate tells the story of wrongful imprisonment, corrupt court proceedings and the double tragedy of both the deadly fire and what happened to Louis Taylor afterwards in a new song called “The Ballad of Louis Taylor.”
The song is part of a partnership with the Arizona Justice Project—a nonprofit that seeks to help victims of injustice like Taylor. “The Ballad of Louis Taylor” will be released on the forthcoming album “Got Me Wrong,” which will donate a portion of its proceeds to the project. You can also donate to the cause via the AJP Paypal account.
Here’s Arzate’s “The Ballad of Louis Taylor”:
Editor’s Note: This post has been updated from its original content to include more information on the Louis Taylor case.
This article appears in Apr 2-8, 2015.
The shame of Tucson.
So the killer is still out there and the new forensic sciences are of no help?
New forensic science helped free an innocent man, Rat. Not everything is punitive.
I read the article three times and it mentioned advances in fire science but it did not explain how that freed him. My thought is that prosecutor’s misconduct was blamed.
What would Hillary Clinton say as we search for the truth? At this point what difference does it make? You bought that fraudulent line.
Interesting that you consider the freeing of an innocent American citizen a liberal issue. I’m sorry, it’s not interesting at all, just predictable.
GREAT SONG!!!
Rat , modern forensics found that fire “science” in 1970 was more like a shell game. Mr.Taylor was convicted on nothing more than the than the say so of a charlatan & an illegally obtained confession.His legal defender at the time Howard Cashman esq. Was so convinced of his innocence that he let him live in his own home during his trial.The guilty party does not have to be discovered in order for the innocence of another to be proven. The state of the hotel was more than likely the cause of the fire. The walls were carpeted for crying out loud & the wiring was about 40 years out of code.
I’m the same age as Louis. I met him near The Loft not long after he’d been released from prison and had a long conversation with him. When I looked back on my life with the richness of my experiences, the places I’ve lived, the traveling I’ve done, the jobs I’ve had , the people I’ve known, by comparison, its shocking to think of what Mr. Taylor has missed out on by being stuck in a prison for something most people don’t think he’s guilty of. He was pretty clearly wrongfully convicted, but because of the chicken sh#t way the county attorney set the terms of his release, he’ll never be able to collect the damages that he’s entitled to. His suffering continues.