Housemate found guilty of fiery murder
Rejecting an insanity defense, a jury Friday found a Houston man guilty of murder for setting fire to the son of a local defense attorney who let him live in his home.
Curtis Lee Holliman, 35, stood trial on murder charges filed after the Jan. 2016 death of Dexter Taylor, who was set on fire at his father’s home.
The guilty verdict came after a weeklong trial in which Holliman’s defense attempted to convince the jury that he was not sane at the time of the crime. The jury reached their verdict after more than three hours of deliberations in state District Judge Kelli Johnson’s court.
Holliman took the witness stand during his trial and admitted dousing both Dexter Taylor, 45, and his father, attorney Kirby Taylor, with gasoline and setting them one fire after claiming he received subliminal messages they intended to harm him. He testified he feared the attorney’s familiarity with local police would make it easier to carry out what he felt at the time were actual threats.
“I asked both of them if they were behind the threats, threats on my family, threats against me, and they both laughed,” Holliman said. “In the moment, I lost it. Something came over me. It was if my mind just went blank.”
Holliman, who Kirby Taylor had counseled on a past drug charge, told the jury that after his housemates laughed at his questions he remembers running up the stairs at the house.
“I got the gas and went downstairs and threw it,” he said. “In my right mind, I would never do something like that.”
Holliman also told the jury that before the fatal fire, he had been exchanging emails with then-President Barack Obama.
“I was hallucinating. I was paranoid. I’m seeing shadow people everywhere,” Holliman said on the stand. “After doing some research online, I thought that I was the Messiah. That I was Jesus.”
Houston defense attorney Kirby Taylor, who had met Holliman at a church, was burned over 30 percent of his body and survived the incident that took place on Martin Luther King Day in 2016. The attorney testified that neither he nor his son laughed at Holliman, and that his son simply smiled after Holliman confronted them with his wild-eyed accusations.
Taylor also disputed Holliman’s assertion that they were living together in a dating relationship. He said they were friends from church and he was trying to help the younger man get on his feet after he got out of jail.
Johnson ordered the jury to return Tuesday for a hearing to determine Holliman’s sentence.