GADSDEN– Alabama executed Michael Shannon Taylor by lethal injection Thursday, Nov. 5, for the 1991 murders of Ivan and Lucille Moore. Taylor’s time of death was 6:10 p.m. Central at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore.

Before the execution, Gov. Kay Ivey declined to grant clemency. She then directed Corrections Commissioner Greg Lovelace to carry out the sentence. Attorney General Steve Marshall then cleared the execution to proceed at 5:47 p.m. Central, his office said. Read Marshall’s statement.

Ivey’s statement recalled how the Moores welcomed Taylor into their home. She condemned the killings and said Taylor attacked the couple to steal money for clothing and jewelry.

“Tonight is long overdue for the relatives and loved ones of Ivan and Lucille Moore,” Marshall said. He also credited the state’s Capital Litigation Division for its work on the case.

The 1991 Gadsden Murders

Taylor was 19 when he went to the Moores’ Gadsden home on Nov. 4, 1991, and asked to use their phone. Ivan Moore, 83, offered him a snack. Taylor later retrieved a metal bar from a bag he had left outside and attacked the couple.

Taylor then took the Moores’ car, checkbook, and other belongings. A neighbor found the couple two days later. Ivan had died, but Lucille, 79, was still alive. Lucille later died from her injuries on Nov. 10.

Police later arrested Taylor outside the Galleria in Hoover, where he had the couple’s Cadillac. He subsequently confessed to beating the Moores during a robbery.

An Etowah County jury found Taylor guilty on three counts of capital murder in 1993 and unanimously recommended death. The trial judge later imposed that sentence. According to Marshall’s office, Taylor exhausted his direct appeals and post-conviction remedies by November 2016.

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