Man sentenced for 'horrific' murder as defense focuses on mental illness

IDAHO FALLS -- A man appeared in court Wednesday to be sentenced for horrifically killing his roommate just weeks after seeking serious mental health treatment.

Douglass Taylor, 34, was sentenced by District Judge Bruce Pickett to spend 27 years to life in prison after he previously pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. Taylor used a knife to brutally kill his roommate Hermann Hans Woerrlein, 51, on March 10, 2020, inside a home for those with mental illnesses on the corner of Higbee Avenue and 17th Street.

"This is a crime that shouldn't have happened," Public Defender Jason Gustaves said before the sentencing. "Hans didn't deserve to die. Two families didn't need to lose their families like this. The hospitals and the courts, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare have all touched Doug too many times to be righteous. Idaho has a deeply flawed structural system for mental health that has allowed these types of cases to put the public at risk."

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