By Joshua Hammann
The Associated Press

LOUISVILLE - When James Taylor was released from prison after 10 years in 1994, he and his sons picked up right where they left off.

James and Edward Graham watched a football game and ate dinner with their father that day in December and it was as if Mr. Taylor had never been away. James Graham moved to Indianapolis a few years later but returned to Louisville around Thanksgiving.

"I walked to the store with him, we bought a beer, a pack of cigarettes and talked about a game," James Graham said Saturday in an interview with The Associated Press. "He said he didn't expect to see me (back in Louisville) and then he told me he loved me and kissed me on the cheek."

Seven days later, James Taylor was dead.

Louisville Police say Mr. Taylor, whose hands were handcuffed behind his back, lunged at two detectives with a box cutter, prompting them to open fire. Detective Mike O'Neil fired 12 shots, hitting Taylor 11 times and killing him almost instantaneously, according to a coroner's report.

Detective O'Neil and Detective Brian Luckett, dressed in plain clothes, were searching for a witness in an unrelated case at a residence next door to Mr. Taylor's apartment. After hearing a commotion, the officers walked into the apartment complex, heard a woman cry for help and saw Mr. Taylor's door ajar, police said.

"He (Taylor) was in a very agitated, very aggressive state. He was ready to fight," Louisville Police Chief Greg Smith said after the shooting.

James Graham and his attorney, William Aubrey, dispute the report that Mr. Taylor threatened the officers. Mr. Graham said the two officers should go to jail for the shooting.

"He did not charge at him (O'Neil) with a box cutter," Mr. Aubrey said. "That's gospel."

Reports say that Taylor had alcohol and cocaine in his system when he died, but Mr. Graham said his death is still unjustified.

"He was at home doing what he wanted to do where he needed to do it at," Mr. Graham said. "If you can't do what you want to do in your home then why do we have doors and locks?"

Since the shooting, protesters have gathered regularly in front of the police station calling for the firing of Detective O'Neil and Detective Luckett and want Chief Smith to step down.

Both detectives were placed on administrative leave after the shooting, and Chief Smith will be replaced Jan. 6 when the new Louisville-Jefferson County merged government takes effect.

Mr. Graham has marched with the protesters and said that regardless of his father's criminal past, he did not deserve his fate.

"I'm not saying that I'm proud or condone what my father was doing while he was in his house, but I don't believe my father's execution was in vain," Mr. Graham said. "I believe he gave me a chance to speak on something and help and save someone's life."

Since 2000, Louisville police officers have fatally shot five men, all of whom were black. No charges have been brought against any of the officers involved in the shootings.

Louisville police have concluded their own investigation into Mr. Taylor's death and have turned it over to the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office.

"I believe the police know that O'Neil is guilty and that he committed a horrible crime," Mr. Graham said. "But whether they have the humanity or morals to do what they're supposed to do?

"Most of them can't be trusted but there are some good ones out there," Graham said of police officers. "They've turned it (helping people) into something sick and perverse that turns you into a godlike being that can do anything at will with no consequences."

Mr. Graham, who has now moved back to Louisville to be with his mother, brother and two sisters, is overseeing a lawsuit filed against the detectives, police department and city for the wrongful death of his father.

"I have faith in the system to a certain extent," said Mr. Graham, who also has spent time in prison for drug-related charges.

Mr. Graham also believes the system failed his father to some degree. Mr. Taylor, who had a history of mental illness and drug addiction, has an extensive criminal background, including 10 years in jail for manslaughter, but couldn't get the help he needed, Mr. Graham said.

"I know my father had a lot of problems," he said. "But through the course of his life, by him being incarcerated and them knowing he was mentally ill, I believe that institutionalized him.

"He would try so hard to communicate (with his family), but it was hard to understand. He was a very deep man," Mr. Graham said.