Boyfriend, Hitman Convicted Of Killing Girlfriend, Baby In Hawthorne

HAWTHORNE, CA — A 36-year-old man and the man he hired to kill his girlfriend and her unborn son were convicted of the crimes Monday.

Derek Paul Smyer was convicted of two counts of murder and other charges in the killings of 27-year-old Crystal Taylor and her fetus after she refused to have the abortion he demanded.

"Her only crime in life was to want another child," Deputy District Attorney Danette Meyers told jurors.

The six-man, six-woman jury found Smyer guilty of second-degree murder for Taylor's killing; first-degree murder of the fetus, named in the complaint as Jeremiah Johnson Taylor; two counts of solicitation of murder; and one count of conspiracy to commit a crime.

Jurors also found true an allegation of financial gain as to the fetus' murder, but not true for Taylor's killing, and a special allegation of multiple murders.

Smyer, who did not move as the verdicts were read, is set to be sentenced June 1 and faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

A separate jury of eight women and four men found Skyler Jefferson Moore, 35, guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy. The panel also found true special circumstance allegations of lying in wait and multiple murders, as well as several gun allegations.

Moore -- who is already serving a life prison sentence without the possibility of parole for an unrelated 2001 killing -- faces a possible death sentence. The penalty phase of his trial is set to begin Wednesday.

The two sets of jurors began deliberations Thursday and alerted the courtroom late Monday morning of their decisions, which were reached nearly simultaneously.

Smyer's defense attorney, Calvin Schneider III, said he planned to file an appeal based on the court's exclusion of evidence he said pointed to another perpetrator.

"I think it's clear that somebody else committed the crime," Schneider said. "I'm disappointed that the jurors didn't find that there was reasonable doubt."

Deputy District Attorney Danette Meyers told City News Service she understood the jury's decision to find Smyer guilty of second-degree murder for the mother's killing and first-degree for the killing of her baby-to-be.

"The intent was to kill the baby," Meyers said. "The premeditation went toward killing that baby."

Smyer was arrested and charged with murder a decade after the Sept. 25, 2001, killings of Taylor and her unborn son. An earlier jury deadlocked in August, leading to a mistrial.

Following the reading of the verdict Monday, Deputy District Attorney Rosa Zavala said it had been a "long-fought battle" but "Crystal has never been forgotten."

Prosecutors said Smyer and Moore met at the basketball courts at Anderson Park in Redondo Beach. Moore was a member of the East Coast branch of a Southern California gang and new to the area, according to Zavala.

"He was looking to build a reputation for himself" and offered to kill Taylor in exchange for Smyer's loyalty, Zavala said during opening statements.

— City News Service contributed to this report. Photo courtesy of the LASD