Latest on Taylor

[MTK]

From the WPost:

Yesterday, the Miami-Dade state attorney's office held a pre-filing conference to begin determining whether to prosecute safety Sean Taylor for two felony counts of aggravated assault with a firearm and one misdemeanor charge of battery. The procedure was closed to the public and Taylor's defense lawyer. The process is expected to last a few days. If the police's evidence is judged insufficient, the charges will be dropped. A decision isn't expected to be revealed until Taylor's arraignment June 24.

[Red Robert]

Love to see the charges dropped but at the same time this kid needs to be taught a lesson. It may be the best thing for him and our team. Thoughts?

[dirtbag2112]

Mike Doss was suspended two games for firing a gun into the air. FIRING A GUN.

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by dirtbag2112

Mike Doss was suspended two games for firing a gun into the air. FIRING A GUN.

Firing a gun into the air would represent recklessness and general public disturbance, and perhaps inciting panic. Since he didn't fire it at anybody, it's not a felony.

What Taylor did was way worse. He allegedly pointed a gun at somebody, as if to threaten them. That's felony assault. If Taylor is convicted of a felony the NFL will hit him with a 4 game suspension, per the NFLs criminal conduct policy.

Hopefully the facts surrounding the situation are unclear enough for him to have the charges dropped. I'm just guessing here, but maybe if the other guys actually shot at Taylor later in the night, the police might be lacking in concrete eyewitness accounts of what happened. It's possible that the guys who fired at Taylor were the only ones who really saw what happened, and maybe they don't want to talk so much because they stole his ATVs. I dunno, I'm no lawyer, so I don't know the chances of the charges being dropped. But hopefully the facts are too fuzzy to charge him with anything.

[memphisskin]

Taylor sounds like a thug, an extremely talented thug, but a thug nonetheless. If I'm in Taylor's position and my pops is the Chief of Police, then the last thing I do when my ATV's are stolen is run up on the guys with a gun and threaten them. Maybe Taylor does need to be charged and tried, perhaps the threat of prison time will slap some sense into him. But the only thing that is clear is that Mr. Taylor just doesn't get it.

[manicd]

To bad it happened in Florida and not California. You can molest and kill people in California and not get jail. But in all seriousness, I don't think he'll do any time at all. But I agree he needs his head straightened out.

[paulskinsfan]

Oh he'll do time all right! Florida has some of the toughest gun laws in the country. I am a lawyer, and this whole thing is gonna come down to the credibility of the witnesses against Taylor. IF the only State witnesses are the thugs that he pointed the gun at, then the State's case could be pretty weak, unless of course Einstein gave a statement to the cops. If the state's case is weak, look for a plea to a misdemeanor and some jail time.

[e16bball]

Originally Posted by paulskinsfan

Oh he'll do time all right! Florida has some of the toughest gun laws in the country. I am a lawyer, and this whole thing is gonna come down to the credibility of the witnesses against Taylor. IF the only State witnesses are the thugs that he pointed the gun at, then the State's case could be pretty weak, unless of course Einstein gave a statement to the cops. If the state's case is weak, look for a plea to a misdemeanor and some jail time.

Well, as a lawyer, I'm sure you are aware of how rare it is for the commission of a misdemeanor offense to lead to incarceration, particularly for a first-time offender, and particularly in a case with such mitigating circumstances.

Also, I'm sure you are aware of how flimsy a case can be when it is based on solely eyewitness accounts, as these are incredibly easy to discredit, especially by the crack defense team Taylor will assuredly retain.

And of course, tough or not, Florida's gun laws really won't end up applying once Taylor cops his plea, except perhaps as some sort of leverage on the part of the DA in the bargaining process. As you mention, he will plead to a misdemeanor (probably simple battery, which is the lesser of the charges, obviously), and the gun laws in Florida do not apply to misdemeanors; they only apply to certain felonies.

The end result is that he will almost certainly be serving no jail time. If he does, it will be something meaningless like a weekend, which would be part of the disposition only as a sort of "Scared Straight" ploy and a concession to the State for the purposes of PR.

[RedskinRat]

Originally Posted by manicd

To bad it happened in Florida and not California. You can molest and kill people in California and not get jail.

You have to be rich and famous to really get away with shit. We do seem to have the lowest national IQ when it comes to jury service.

[GoSkins!]

You guys really need to shut up or I hear that Seans going to come and kick your a@s!.

[CRT3]

BAsed on the rules the NFL has established, shouldn't Jamal Lewis be suspended for a few games this year?

[saden1]

Originally Posted by dirtbag2112

Mike Doss was suspended two games for firing a gun into the air. FIRING A GUN.

Air-shmair. The fucking moron should never have fired a gun in a city. What goes up always comes back down. He is lucky for only getting 2 games.

[MTK]

If the charges are dropped I don't see how we could punish him. Doesn't the league only allow you to punish a player who's actually been charged with a crime?

[Red Robert]

Matty is correct, no charges=no punishment

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

If the charges are dropped I don't see how we could punish him. Doesn't the league only allow you to punish a player who's actually been charged with a crime?

I think it requires conviction, not just being charged.