LANSING — A judge on May 6 handed a life prison sentence to a man convicted of murdering Zacarri Taylor in early 2024, describing the case as among the worst she’s ever seen.
“I cannot tell you that I have seen a more heinous crime,” Ingham County Circuit Judge Wanda Stokes told Leonard Felton Hayes III. “And it really goes beyond pale that I live among people who can watch the life go out of a body and not in some way respond with some kind of empathy.”
Stokes imposed the mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole on Hayes, 44, who was convicted by a jury in late March of first-degree, premeditated murder and mutilating a body. His brother, Marcus Lee Hayes, also is charged in connection with the killing, and Marcus Hayes and a third man also were charged with mutilation of a body.
Video captured by a security camera in a southwest Lansing apartment showed Hayes holding Taylor, 25, in a stranglehold for nearly four minutes, until long after Taylor had stopped moving. At some point, Marcus Hayes wrapped his arm around Taylor’s neck and dragged him out of the camera’s view. The two brothers could be heard talking about cutting up the body.
The body was taken to a home on West Malcolm X Street in Lansing and dismembered in the basement.
Assistant Ingham County Prosecutor Nattalie Macomber, who argued during trial that Taylor was killed because he had disrespected Leonard Hayes, told Stokes on Wednesday that Leonard Hayes is the type of defendant the Legislature had in mind when it created the mandatory sentence of life without parole for first-degree murder.
Leonard Hayes chose not to address Stokes on Wednesday. His attorney, Kareem Johnson, said Hayes maintains he was acting in defense of himself and his brother.
Taylor, of Battle Creek, died from asphyxia, a forensic pathologist testified. His body was in pieces when the autopsy was performed, with the head, legs and both hands removed.
Marcus Hayes is awaiting trial. The third defendant, Terrance James Jones, pleaded guilty to an accessory count last fall.
Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on X @KBPalm_lsj
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Judge says Lansing murder, mutilation case among the worst she’s seen
Reporting by Ken Palmer, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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