Inmate Sentenced For Targeting Michigan Lawmaker
MARQUETTE (WWJ/AP) - A Michigan prison inmate will spend more than four additional years behind bars after being convicted of soliciting the kidnapping of a state lawmaker.
A Marquette County judge on Friday sentenced Larry Taylor to at least four years and nine months in prison for targeting Democratic state Rep. Barb Byrum of Ingham County's Onondaga. A homicide solicitation charge was dropped as part of a plea agreement.
Byrum, who is in her third, two-year term in the Michigan House, attended the sentencing and said in a statement that she owes "a tremendous debt of gratitude" to authorities for protecting her and her family.
"I want to also thank everyone who has supported me and my family throughout this ordeal," she said. "I am thankful to finally have closure and will making no further comments about this matter."
Taylor, 44, made no comments during the hearing. A message was left for defense attorney Theodore Fulsher.
State police spokeswoman Shanon Banner says prison officials intercepted a letter on Sept. 9 last year, detailing Taylor's plot against Byrum.
Friday's sentence was consecutive with the sentence Taylor currently is serving at the Baraga Maximum Correctional Facility. An Ingham County judge sentenced Taylor in 2006 to at least 33 years in prison for solicitation of murder stemming from a 2005 crime.
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