Driver in Madison Brooks case waives jury trial

Smart move by his lawyer. The judge’s son is serial rapist and she got in trouble last year for letting a rapist free.

probably means he won't get anywhere close to the harshest sentence available.

I'm guessing max 5 years and likely gets some sort of home confinement with good behavior and registered sex offender status

quote:

---

BATON ROUGE — Nelson Taylor, Jr., a convicted rapist and son of a Baton Rouge judge, has been accused of obscenity at a hotel in Baton Rouge.

Taylor, 45, allegedly exposed himself and masturbated in front of a housekeeper at a Siegen Lane hotel on October 15.

According to court documents, the victim told East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s deputies that she was cleaning a room when Taylor approached her. Initially thinking he was looking for towels, she left her cleaning cart, only to return and find him masturbating.

Deputies reported that the victim identified Taylor in a photographic lineup, and surveillance footage confirmed Taylor’s presence at the hotel.

Taylor is the son of 19th Judicial District Court Judge Gail Horne Ray, who faced criticism from the Louisiana Supreme Court earlier this year for ignoring evidence and releasing a convicted rapist. Taylor himself was convicted of two counts of forcible rape and two counts of aggravated burglary in 1997. He is currently on parole for these convictions until 2036 and is registered as a Tier 3 sex offender.

---

quote:

---

The Reverend Attorney Nelson Dan Taylor, Sr., age 76, went from labor to reward on October 21, 2023, at Baton Rouge General Hospital in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was born on October 3, 1947, in New Orleans, Louisiana, to the union of the late Reverend Dan Taylor and the late Bessie Lee Singleton Taylor. Nelson was the first of eight children and he was blessed with seven sisters. Nelson graduated from Scotlandville High School in 1964 with honors as Class Salutatorian. He went to Morehouse College with a suit his mother made and a half-tuition scholarship – unaware that he was expected to pay the other half of the tuition money. After arriving at the college, he met with the President of Morehouse College, Dr. Benjamin Mays, who allowed him to stay enrolled. He finished his first year at the top of his class. While at Morehouse, he became a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. As a result of his academic prowess, he was awarded the Charles Merrill Scholarship, which provided for an all-expense paid opportunity to study abroad at the University of Vienna for a full academic year. However, Nelson declined the scholarship and instead went to Chicago to work in a reading program dedicated to helping underprivileged children. He returned to Morehouse in 1968-69 and was elected President of the Student Government Association. He graduated in 1969 with a B.A. in Economics. Upon graduating, Nelson had a brief career in Marketing with a major oil company in New York. He ultimately enrolled in the Boston University School of Law in Boston, Massachusetts, graduating with a Juris Doctorate Degree in 1974 and was admitted to the Louisiana Bar on October 2 of that same year. Nelson loved the Lord and entered the ministry prior to entering law school. He was ordained as an apprentice Deacon in 1976 and as an Itinerant elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1978. For over 42 years, he pastored several churches in both Louisiana and Mississippi until his health caused him to retire from the active ministry; however, his service to the Lord and the Lord's people continued until his final days. Nelson also represented the A.M.E. church in legal matters when requested and was successful in setting the legal standard by which the A.M.E. church would maintain ownership of its properties. Nelson's career as an attorney was primarily devoted to civil rights issues. Immediately after graduating from law school, Nelson received an Earl Warren Fellowship with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) in New York, the nation's premier civil rights law firm. Under the terms of the Fellowship, he spent a year on the staff of LDF in New York and committed to a four year field internship. Upon returning to Louisiana, he joined with James A. Gray, II, to form the firm of Gray and Taylor. LDF assigned him as lead counsel in the school desegregation case Moore v. Tangipahoa Parish School Board in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. In that case, he promptly obtained reinstatement and remedies for black teachers discharged in the wake of the court's desegregation order. Forty-nine years later, he was still lead counsel, fighting to provide equal and quality education for all of the children in the parish. In 1979, Nelson formed the J.K. Haynes Legal Defense Fund, a nonprofit public interest civil rights firm. Between 1979-1981, he served as Director of Litigation for Capital Area Legal Services headquartered in Baton Rouge. He also served for over 25 years as the Chairman of the Board of J.K. Haynes Charter School. He also initiated litigation resulting in the first blacks being elected to the Tangipahoa Parish School Board, the Hammond City Council, the St. Mary Parish School Board, and the Harrison County Board of Supervisors in Mississippi. In the field of voting rights, Nelson joined with attorneys Murphy Bell, Robert Williams, and Robert Eames with Gail Horne Ray as law clerk in designing the strategy that lead to the first appellate decision to establish that an at-large scheme for electing judges was subject to challenge for invidiously diluting the voting strength of black citizens in violation of the Constitution of the United States. The case was Voter Information Project, Inc. v. City of Baton Rouge. Before that decision, there was only one black judge in the state of Louisiana and none in the state of Mississippi. This litigation paved the way for later cases, including Clark v. Edwards, that opened the door for the election of black judges in both Louisiana and Mississippi. Nelson was a tireless warrior in the fight for freedom, justice and equality. Nelson was preceded in death by his parents and two sisters Deborah Jean Underwood and Gloria Taylor. He leaves to cherish his memory his loving and devoted son, Nelson Dan Taylor, Jr.; his granddaughter Nova Danyelle Taylor, whom he called his "little chocolate girl" and was the apple of his eye; his sisters Valerie Taylor-Swift (Freddie), Olicea Taylor, Marie Lewis, Sherine Taylor and Jacqueline Taylor-Bell; a former spouse, law partner, Gail Horne Ray, a stepdaughter Naomi Collier; and a host of nieces, nephews, relatives, Godchildren and friends who were blessed to have the time that he spent with them.

---

quote:

---

Judge Gail Horne Ray

---

Scum judge. And we wonder how BR criminal justice system is so fricked up.

quote:

---

How TF does this judge not have to recuse herself for all sex abuse or rape cases?

---

She, and definitely her deceased husband, are well known in the church and the NAACP.

Please tell me these four men are still behind bars awaiting trial.

do tell

How many BLACK FEMALE judges are there? Would no HR dept take them?

This trial is going to be absolutely brutal

quote:

---

This trial is going to be absolutely brutal

---

Yep.

There are likely going to be a lot of unflattering things come out about the deceased. I couldn't imagine, as a parent, having to listen to that about my dead child.

From a defense strategy standpoint it probably makes sense to try it to the judge. The alleged facts are ugly. Attractive young female allegedly raped and left alone where she was ultimately killed. All trials such as these are emotional. But it's easier to play on the emotion of 12 members of the community vs a judge who has to hear about bad things every day.