For Star subscribers: Pima County Attorney Laura Conover reversed her plan to exonerate Louis Taylor — the man freed in the case after 42 years in prison — but changed her mind after pressure from Phoenix lawyers, court records show.
Jamie Donnelly Pima County Attorney Laura Conover had planned to exonerate Louis Taylor for his arson and murder convictions in Tucson's deadly 1970 Pioneer Hotel fire, but decided not to after “threats from Phoenix lawyers," new court documents claim.
Shortly after taking office in 2021, Conover told Trasoff that she reviewed Taylor’s case and planned to exonerate him, the affidavit says. Trasoff then helped edit a news release about the exoneration that was scheduled to be issued on May 28, 2022, court records say. When they discussed the new decision, Trasoff said Conover told her she decided not to go with the original news release “because Phoenix lawyers had threatened bar discipline and possible disbarment if she went forward with the plan to exonerate Taylor," court records say.
Taylor served 42 years in prison after he was convicted of starting the downtown Tucson fire that killed 29 people. In 2013, Taylor made a deal with former Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall’s office that set aside the conviction, by having Taylor plead"no contest" to the charges, and released him from prison.
Controversy surrounding Conover in the Pioneer Fire case is not new. Critics have said her involvement in Taylor's case poses a conflict of interest.
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