Taylor Parker Wants Her Conviction OVERTURNES - The Full Courtroom Footage

In October 2020, Taylor Parker, eight months pregnant herself, lured a pregnant woman to a remote home in Texas, attacked her, and cut her unborn child from her womb. The victim died from more than 100 stab wounds. Parker was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. Now, her appeal—argued before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals—does not deny the horror of the crime. Instead, it argues that the trial was fundamentally unfair, tainted by evidence that had nothing to do with guilt or innocence and everything to do with branding Parker a "bad woman" in the eyes of the jury.

The core of the appeal: What the jury heard that it should not have

Parker’s attorney, Caitlin Halpern, argued that the state’s case relied on a "circus atmosphere" of extraneous character evidence. The jury heard, starting in the guilt phase and escalating at punishment, that Parker had weight loss surgery and had previously been "very large." Witnesses testified that after losing weight, she was "always flirting, showing off her body, and coming to work dressed like she was headed to the club." The jury heard about numerous extramarital affairs, including one instance where her ex-husband caught her having sex in a car with another man. A jail official testified that Parker read over a hundred books while awaiting trial, including one about a woman who faked a pregnancy—evidence the defense