Lawyer asks if Taylor Parker should be on death row after sharing what was heard 'behind the scenes'
A public defender has posed the question of whether Taylor Parker should be on death row or not following her 2022 conviction.
Parker's case has been making headlines again of late following the release of Netflix's new documentary, Material Instinct.
The doc follows the story of Parker and the months leading to the murder of Reagan Simmons-Hancock in October 2020.
Parker was dating Wade Griffin at the time, and she told her boyfriend, his family, and all their friends that she was pregnant.
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But the whole thing was all a ruse and Parker was never actually carrying a child. In fact, she was physically unable to do so after having a hysterectomy.
Despite this, she tried for months to make people believe that she was pregnant and turned desperate after passing her apparent 'due date'.
She faked her pregnancy for 10 months. Then, on October 9, she went to visit her friend Reagan who was actually pregnant.
Parker then murdered the 21-year-old and cut her unborn child out of her womb. Neither Reagan or her baby survived.
Parker tried to pass the baby off as her own when she arrived at hospital, but doctors there could not find any physical evidence that she had just given birth and the cops were called.
Ultimately she was arrested and charged with murder. Two years later, Parker was handed the death sentence and she's been on death row ever since.
At the time of writing, Parker's execution date has not been set.
Following the documentary's release, viral public defender Stephanie has asked her 282,000 TikTok followers if they think Parker deserved the death sentence.
She said in the video: "So now that we've all watched the Maternal Instinct documentary, here's my question for you. Did she deserve the death penalty or not?
"Now, her appeals process has been affirmed. The death penalty has been affirmed. Her conviction has been affirmed. So it really isn't so much debatable, really. But personally, do you think she deserved the death penalty or not?"
Stephanie went on: "Hearing all of the stuff that was going on behind the scenes from the people that were involved was super interesting to me."
She shared what she believed to be the most interesting part of the doc, that being the fact that people feared Parker was going to steal a baby so hospitals were put on 'pink alert' – which is used when there's a risk of child abduction, or if a child is already missing.
The topic has certainly left people divided in the comments section of Stephanie's post. Some argued that Parker 'absolutely' deserved the death penalty, while others felt differently.
One person replied: "I don’t believe in the death penalty. I am a family member of a murder victim. I don’t want someone’s family to feel what I feel."
"I don’t believe in the death penalty under any circumstances," echoed another.
However, somebody in favor of the death penalty said: "Yes she did! Holy moly I’ve been following this case since it happened."
A timeline of Taylor Parker’s crime
2014
Mother-of-two and wedding photographer Taylor Parker decides to get her tubes tied after suffering pre-eclampsia, a dangerous condition which raises blood pressure, during her last pregnancy.
2015
Parker goes to her doctor with bleeding, who concludes she has had an ectopic pregnancy. She undergoes a hysterectomy, permanently removing her ability to have children.
July 2019
Parker, who is now twice divorced, meets hog trapper Wade Griffin at a local rodeo and they start a relationship. She lies to him that she is the heir to a $6 million estate.
September 2019
Jessica Brookes hires Parker as the photographer at her daughter Reagan Hancock’s wedding to longtime boyfriend Homer Hancock. Parker also previously took their engagement photos.
January 2020
Parker tells Griffin she’s pregnant. He doesn’t know about the hysterectomy. To maintain the ruse, Parker wears a fake pregnancy bump, takes maternity photos and throws a gender reveal party. She claims her due date is September.
Staffers at the hospital where Parker had her hysterectomy are ‘very confused’ about her social media updates, but are bound by privacy laws.
May 2020
Hancock tells her mum Jessica that she’s pregnant with her second child. Jessica later says that after Parker finds out Hancock is pregnant and expecting a girl, she starts to have more contact with her.
September 2020
After her ‘due date’ passes, Parker tells Griffin she will need to be induced or have a c-section.
October 9 2020
Parker watches a video on how to deliver a baby pre-term at 35 weeks, the length of Hancock’s pregnancy. She tells Griffin she is travelling to Idabel, Oklahoma to be induced. Instead, she travels to Hancock’s home, killing her and cutting her unborn child, Braxlynn Sage, from her womb. Hancock’s three-year-old daughter is later found in the house unharmed.
Parker is later pulled over by a Texas State Trooper for erratic driving. As the trooper is approaching her car, she calls 911 and asks for an ambulance, saying: “I’m starting to have my baby.”
The trooper finds Taylor covered in dried blood and holding Hancock’s dead baby, with the umbilical cord still attached.
She is taken to hospital, where it is soon determined she has not given birth. She is arrested the same day.
December 2020
Taylor is indicted by a grand jury on charges of capital murder and kidnapping.
October 2022
Parker is convicted of capital murder.
November 2022
Parker is sentenced to death. Jessica says a ‘heavy burden has been lifted’.
May 2026
The Supreme Court says it will not review Parker’s case. She remains on death row. A date of execution has not been set.
June 2026
Netflix documentary Maternal Instinct is released.
Topics: True crime, Netflix, Documentaries, TikTok
Niamh Shackleton