LITTLE ROCK — After a Mississippi woman recanted her accusations of rape, Maumelle police said Wednesday it is unlikely former middleweight boxing champion Jermain Taylor will face sexual assault charges stemming from an alleged meeting Friday at a motel room.
The police department released a short statement that said it “does not anticipate any additional criminal charges” after a 45-minute meeting with Taylor, his attorney, detectives and Maumelle Police Chief Sam Williams.
“This preliminary decision is based on the interviews of all involved parties and physical evidence collected during the investigation,” the statement read.
The decision was reached after the 27-yearold woman gave conflicting statements regarding heroriginal report - made early Saturday morning as she was being treated for injuries - in follow-up interviews this week with detectives, police spokesman Lt. Jim Hansard said.
Hansard said he could not discuss the circumstances that prompted the woman to recant her original report to police that Taylor sexually assaulted her after the two quarreled in a second-floor room and that while trying to get away she broke her ankle tumbling down a flight of stairs at America’s Best Value Inn in Maumelle.
“This is still an ongoing investigation,” Hansard said. “I can’t really address an indepth question like that.”
Kenny Shemin, an attorney based in Rogers who is representing Taylor, saidthe meeting with police was largely cursory. Shemin said evidence, including video footage from the motel, shows Taylor could not have been involved in a physical altercation outside the motel.
“They just wanted toverify certain aspects,” Shemin said. “The woman had recanted that there was any rape incident or any type of assault. It wasn’t a question of Jermain having to defend himself. It was only confirming what had transpired.”
Maumelle City Attorney JaNan Davis said prosecuting Taylor on any charge would be difficult when “a story is changing [and] it’s much harder to prove a case.”
“For whatever reason, her memory is cloudy,” Davis said. “Whatever that might be, I can’t speculate, but that makes her testimony and credibility a question of what do we believe.”
Pulaski County public defender Jessica Coleman, who was assigned to represent the woman, was in court Wednesday and wasn’t available for comment.
The account provided by Taylor to police differs dramatically from the incident outlined in a police incident report released Monday.
Shemin said Taylor told police he went to the motel, located at 14325 Frontier Drive, to end his relationship with the woman and thatshe was already under the influence of marijuana and became upset with Taylor’s decision.
Police watched security camera video during the meeting that contradicted the woman’s version of events - outlined in the incident report - in which she told officers she tumbled down a flight of stairs trying to flee the room, Shemin said
Shemin said the footage shows the woman falling over a railing at the motel and landing on the ground.
“It shows Jermain wasn’t even on the same level [of the motel] at the time it happened,” Shemin said. “Once you look at the video, you would see there was so much distance it wasn’t even remotely possible for him to be involved in any battery.”
The woman told police she drove to Little Rock from Mississippi, accompanied by two friends, on the promise thatTaylor would pay her $2,000 for “sexual relations,” according to the incident report.
Shemin would not comment whether money was exchanged between Taylor and the woman, who toldpolice she received $500 for performing oral sex on the Little Rock fighter.
“I wouldn’t feel comfortable commenting on that,” he said. “That’s a family matter.”
The woman also told police that she and Taylor, who is married with three children, smoked marijuana before becoming embroiled in an argument.
Shemin said that portion of the account differed from the one offered by Taylor.
“There was absolutely no drug use by Jermain Taylor,” Shemin said.
In the report, the woman called police from the lobby of the motel and three officers responded to the scene to find her “intoxicated due to smoking marijuana.” A subsequent search of the room led to the discovery of 16 pills of Lortab, a prescription painkiller containing hydrocodone.
Coleman entered a plea of not guilty on her client’s behalf Tuesday in Maumelle Circuit Court on charges of possession of a controlled substance. Her next scheduled court appearance is July 24.
Sports, Pages 19 on 05/24/2012