James Shirah Gets 30 Years for Killing Groomsman Terry Taylor Jr. on 2024 Wedding Day
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · May 12
James Shirah Gets 30 Years for Killing Groomsman Terry Taylor Jr. on 2024 Wedding Day
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · May 12
30 years is the minimum prison term James Shirah, 24, received in Genesee County after pleading no contest to second-degree murder and two other felonies in Terry Taylor Jr.'s death.
Police said Shirah intentionally drove a high-speed SUV into Taylor, 29, during an argument hours after Shirah's August 2024 wedding in Flint; testimony said he had been drinking and returned about a minute after walking away.
Taylor later died at a local hospital, and prosecutors said Shirah and his new wife left the scene and did not report the killing until the next day, complicating the investigation.
At sentencing, Shirah said the killing was unintentional and apologized, while Judge Khary Hanible told him, "You are not a criminal ... You are, however, a killer."
Taylor is survived by four children and his fiancee; Shirah's wife, Savanah Collier, 23, is due to be sentenced May 26 after pleading no contest as an accessory.
With the groom jailed for killing his best man, how will the victim's four children ever be financially compensated for their loss?
His bride helped him flee the wedding day murder. Can a special youth law now erase her permanent criminal record?