3rd Teen Convicted in Dunbar Village Rape/Sodomy Case
Jakaris Taylor Faced Charges Of Rape, Kidnapping, Assault
POSTED: 5:31 pm EDT September 18, 2009
UPDATED: 5:34 pm EDT September 18, 2009
UPDATED: 5:34 pm EDT September 18, 2009
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A jury convicted a teenager Friday in the gang rape of a mother and the beating of her young son.
Jakaris Taylor, 17, faced multiples charges, including rape, kidnapping and assault.
A West Palm Beach jury deliberated for about five hours on Friday before convicting Taylor on all 13 counts against him.
Two others charged in the case were convicted on most of the same counts last month. Another defendant pleaded guilty and testified against the others. All the suspects were teens at the time of the 2007 attack, but were charged as adults. They face life in prison.
Authorities said the teens — along with up to six others — repeatedly raped and sodomized the now-37-year-old woman, beat her son and then forced her into sex acts with the boy.
Previous Stories:
- August 28, 2009: Verdict Reached In Dunbar Village Rape Trial
- August 28, 2009: Closing Arguments Conclude In Dunbar Village Rape Trial
- August 27, 2009: Dunbar Village Victim: I Was Crying, Begging For Them To Stop
- August 26, 2009: Defendant Continues Testimony In Dunbar Village Rape Trial
- August 24, 2009: Opening Statements Begin In Dunbar Village Gang-Rape Trial
- August 13, 2009: Dunbar Village Gang-Rape Suspect Pleads Guilty
- July 17, 2009: Separate Juries Ordered In Dunbar Village Gang-Rape Trial
- March 3, 2009: Prosecutors: Teen Won’t Cooperate In Dunbar Village Gang-Rape Trial
- January 15, 2009: Date Set In Dunbar Village Gang-Rape Trial
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The Dunbar Village trials of two of the accused started today.
Here are the latest reports:
Detective Expects More Arrests In Dunbar Village Rape Case (08.27.2009) Jurors this afternoon will hear closing arguments in the case against Tommy Poindexter for the assault on a Dunbar Village mother and her son.
Prosecutor: Poindexter ‘guilty as sin’ of assaulting Dunbar Village mother and son (08.27.2009) “Guilty as sin, right there!” Assistant State Attorney Craig William exclaimed before jurors today, pointing to the 20-year-old accused in the savage attack on a Dunbar Village woman and her son.
State’s case against 2 charged in brutal Dunbar Village attack nears end (08.26.2009). The state’s case against two young men charged in the savage attack on a mother and son in Dunbar Village is nearly done.
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Attorneys draw out different roles of key witness in Dunbar Village rape case - (08.25.2009)
… A co-defendant in the savage rape of a Dunbar Village woman and her son testified Tuesday about details of her assault, naming six people who had violated her that night, including himself. Avion Lawson, 16, who has pleaded guilty, told of Tommy Poindexter having an assault rifle and being the ringleader. He described him as the one laughing as she was assaulted, the one directing others to beat the boy to shut him up, the one forcing mother and son into sex together. Police witness in Dunbar Village rape case: ‘She was in the fetal position’ after assault - (08.24.2009)
After opening statements in the trial of two men charged with a brutal attack on a Dunbar Village woman and her son, prosecutors rolled out dozens of evidence bags, sealed with red tape. They began showing photos, pointing out the staples in the boy’s head after being beaten. One police officer described their demeanor at hospital after the attack. “She was in the fetal postion on side of the bed, and he was in the fetal position in the chair next to her,” said Dustin Moore. Second jury seated in Dunbar Village rape case - (08.19.2009)
A jury panel was seated late Wednesday for the trial of a second man accused in the savage attack on a Dunbar Village woman and her son. Five females and three males were seated to hear the case against 18-year-old Nathan Walker Jr. Opening statements in Walker’s and co-defendant Tommy Poindexter’s cases are scheduled for Monday morning. Jury selected to hear evidence against one defendant in Dunbar Village rape case - (08.18.2009)
… Moving quickly in the Dunbar Village sexual assault case, six men and two women were selected as jurors late today to judge the evidence against 20-year-old Tommy Poindexter. The panel of eight, including two alternates, was asked to come back Friday morning for opening statements. None are African-American. The hunt begins Wednesday for prospective jurors to judge evidence against 18-year-old Nathan Walker Jr. Poindexter and Walker are scheduled to be tried together, but each will have his own jury. Two charged in brutal Dunbar Village rape set to go to trial Tuesday - (08.16.2009) …Dunbar Village – the public housing complex’s name itself connotes one of the county’s most appalling crimes. Two young men charged with a brutal assault inside one of its apartments go to trial Tuesday in the first public vetting of evidence in the case. This much is known for sure: a mother and her then 12-year-old son were attacked in June 2007 by a group of as many as 10 men and boys, at least some with shirts wrapped around their faces. The mother was beaten and sexually assaulted various ways and she and her son were forced to simulate sex with each other, according to a charging indictment. The 35-year-old woman told police that afterwards they were doused with chemicals in an attempt to destroy any evidence.
Youngest Dunbar Village rape defendant pleads guilty, will testify against others - (08.12.2009) …The youngest of four men charged in the gang rape of a 35-year-old Dunbar Village woman and assault on her 12-year-old son could become the star witness against others accused of the crime that stunned the community two years ago. Avion Lawson, who was 14 when the woman was raped by up to 10 men before she and her bloodied son were forced to perform sex acts on each other, pleaded guilty Wednesday to 14 charges, admitting he brutalized the two in their West Palm Beach apartment.
Youngest Dunbar Village rape defendant pleads guilty, will testify against others - (08.11.2009) …The youngest of four men charged in the bone-chilling rape of a 35-year-old Dunbar Village woman and her 12-year-old son pleaded guilty this morning. Avion Lawson, who was 14 when the woman and her son were gang raped in her West Palm Beach apartment in 2007, wants to accept responsibility for his actions, his attorney told Palm Beach Circuit Judge Krista Marx.
Dunbar Village rape suspect’s deal is dead, judge rules - (07.29.20090…Prosecutors will not be forced to honor a 25-year prison plea deal they once offered to one of four young men charged in the brutal rape of a Dunbar Village woman and her son, a judge ruled Wednesday. But the judge also strongly criticized the way prosecutors treated Tommy Poindexter, including taking a statement from him in December without precise assurances and then reneging on the deal later.
Nun on jury works at same church Dunbar Village victims attended - (08.20.2009)
A nun assigned to the same parish as the victim of an armed gang rape at a notorious West Palm Beach public-housing complex will sit as a juror in the case. The woman will be on the panel in the case against Nathan Walker, 18, who, along with co-defendant Tommy Poindexter, 20, faces up to 11 life sentences for the 2007 attack in the Dunbar Village community. The young men are charged with 14 counts, eight of them armed sexual battery by multiple perpetrator while masked, in the duration of an armed gang rape of a working-class Dunbar Village woman and her son, at the notorious West Palm Beach public-housing complex. |
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