One of the suspects charged in the deadly Marriott hotel shooting of a Long Island father visiting Poughkeepsie for a college family weekend last fall has pleaded guilty to a weapons charge in that case -- and to murdering another man in a separate investigation in the same city this past summer, Dutchess County prosecutors said Wednesday.
Devin Taylor pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the Aug. 9 death of Darren Villani in Poughkeepsie and to a single count of second-degree criminal weapons possession for having the handgun that was thrown and recovered at the Courtyard Marriott on Oct. 2, the day 53-year-old Paul Kutz, of East Northport, was killed in the hotel lobby.
He had been at the Marriott for a family weekend at Marist College when he was killed.
Taylor and another man — Roy Johnson Jr. — were both charged in that incident. Johnson Jr., the alleged gunman and a known fugitive at the time, pleaded not guilty to firing 30 shots in and around the Courtyard by Marriott.
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Taylor faces 22 years to life in prison on the murder charge and another seven years for the weapons possession charges. Those sentences are expected to be served concurrently. A hearing is set for mid-April on that.
A judge continued the no-bail remand for Taylor after Wednesday's plea.
Johnson Jr. was not charged in Villani's slaying. A convicted felon, he has pleaded not guilty to the charges in the Courtyard Marriott case. His court case is ongoing.
