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• PHOENIX (AP) -- Louis Taylor was just a teenager when he was convicted of starting a Tucson hotel fire that killed 29 people. He has since spent more than four decades in prison, consistently maintaining his innocence.
• On Tuesday, Taylor is expected to be released as part of a deal with prosecutors that forces him to plead no contest in the case, but sets him free about a month after his 59th birthday.
• Taylor was sentenced to 28 consecutive life sentences in the December 1970 fire at the Pioneer Hotel where employees of an aircraft company were celebrating at a Christmas party.
• Many guests were trapped in their rooms as the blaze engulfed the building, and fire truck ladders were too short to reach the upper floors. Some people jumped to their deaths while others burned in their rooms. Most victims died from carbon-monoxide poisoning.
• Taylor, who is black, contends he was wrongly convicted by an all-white jury after he says police failed to investigate other suspects. Reports at the time indicate Taylor was helping people escape the blaze before being arrested later that night. He was never charged in the death months later of a 29th victim from injuries sustained in the fire.
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Colorado officials to do review after mistaken release of man accused in prison chief slaying
• DENVER (AP) -- Colorado court officials have vowed to review procedures to ensure that a clerical mistake that allowed the early release of a prisoner -- who then went on to allegedly shoot the state's corrections director last month -- doesn't happen again.
• Judicial officials acknowledged Monday that Evan Spencer Ebel's previous felony conviction was inaccurately recorded and his release in January was an error.
• In 2008, Ebel pleaded guilty in rural Fremont County to assaulting a prison officer. In the plea deal, Ebel was to be sentenced to up to four additional years in prison, to be served after he completed the eight-year sentence that put him behind (Continued on page 30)
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