Boxer Jermain Taylor made his ninth Pulaski County Circuit Court appearance on Monday as he and his lawyers await the results of a mental examination by state doctors on whether the former champion was in his right mind when police say he smashed a man's face in May.
The accusation resulted in Taylor being charged with second-degree battery and jailed indefinitely in May by Judge Leon Johnson. But the judge said he'll consider setting bail for the former Olympian after this third review is complete. Doctors have already twice cleared Taylor to stand trial in relation to the two other criminal cases against him.
The defense can contest any finding that Taylor might not be competent. Monday's hearing was for an update on whether the report on the examination was complete. Taylor is due back in court for another report on Sept. 21.
In what has become standard practice at Taylor's court hearings since he's been returned to jail, he was escorted into Monday's hearing shackled at the wrists, waist and legs and led by four deputies when his case was called before the judge. He was whisked from the courtroom as soon as his business was concluded, with his appearance lasting about three minutes. He did not speak.
Taylor was jailed by the judge after he was charged in the battery case, which occurred while he was in a substance-abuse treatment program. He's accused of punching a fellow patient in the face so hard the man suffered facial fractures and was knocked unconscious.
It was Taylor's third felony arrest in less than nine months. His second was in January after he was accused of threatening a Little Rock family of five with a gun just after the city's Martin Luther King Jr. parade. His first arrest was in August 2014 when he was accused of shooting his cousin and threatening to kill the man's son outside Taylor's house.
Taylor had been training for a comeback and recaptured a middleweight title he'd lost after a brain injury from a bout forced him to spend nearly two years recuperating. He won the title, but had to forfeit it in January after a training injury prevented him from defending the title.
Taylor, who entered jail with his head shaved, has been growing out his hair. He also marked his 37th birthday behind bars and has sold the estate that he and his now-ex-wife Erica Taylor bought in October 2005.
The couple, who divorced last month after 12 years of marriage and four children, sold the property to North Little Rock attorney Shawn Key on Aug. 14, three days after Jermain Taylor's birthday, for $825,000, according to county real estate records. They had purchased the property in October 2005 for $1.65 million, real estate records show.
Reportedly, it had last been appraised in 2013 for $1 million, was listed for sale in 2014 but drew no buyer, and no one has lived in the residence for some time. In a May divorce pleading, Erica Taylor reported that the couple had a $900,000 offer for the home and that the property held more than $1 million in debt -- primarily tax liens and three mortgages -- that is cross-collateralized with other property.
It was at that house where Jermain Taylor was first arrested on first-degree battery and terroristic threatening charges after sheriff's deputies said Taylor shot and wounded his cousin and threatened to kill the man's son in August 2014.
With the first anniversary of that incident on Wednesday, father and son, Tyrone Dawayne Hinton and Aharon Coley, filed a lawsuit last week against Taylor alleging negligence by acting in a "grossly reckless manner," battery and terroristic threatening, with a demand for damages to cover the injuries they say they received as well as punitive damages. The men state in the suit that they were never any threat to Taylor and would have left the property if he had asked them to leave.
According to the complaint, Hinton, 42, of Woodson, had been working for Taylor to help him prepare for an upcoming championship match and to keep Taylor's gym open for others. Hinton and Coley had been at the gym all day and Coley, 20, of Little Rock, was driving his father home on that August 2014 day in a car Taylor had provided for his cousin. The pair stopped at Taylor's home so Hinton could report that he had closed the gym for the day and was going home.
They stopped at the closed gate across Taylor's driveway and tried to contact Taylor by the gate speaker, but could not hear any response. Hinton heard Taylor's children playing outside, so he and Coley walked around the open end of the gate, approached the children and asked them to get their father. Taylor came out of the house, and he and Hinton "had a discussion" about closing up the gym and Hinton asked for gas money to get home, according to the lawsuit.
Taylor asked Hinton about damage on the vehicle Hinton and his son had been driving, then accused Hinton of lying about what had happened to the car as well as "other past issues." Hinton denied lying to him and Taylor "excused himself" and went into his home. He came back with a gun, according to the lawsuit.
"With no other spoken interaction with the plaintiffs ... Taylor exited the garage area of the house and raised the pistol, pointing it in the direction of Hinton and Coley. Taylor then told Hinton that he was going to kill him for lying to him. Taylor began to fire the pistol in Hinton's and Coley's direction," according to the lawsuit.
Hinton states he was hit by the first shot, then ran back down the driveway toward the driveway gate with his son, fearing for his life, as Taylor threatened to kill him as well. Taylor chased them while firing the gun, striking Hinton five times. Hinton sustained "serious life-threatening permanent injuries" and "permanent scarring and disfigurement," according to the lawsuit.
Coley started the vehicle and turned it around. Hinton got inside and the men drove off as Taylor continued to fire, striking the vehicle at least once, the lawsuit says. They drove to a Dollar General store where they got someone to call police.
After the men fled, according to the lawsuit, Taylor's wife made a "misleading" phone call to 911 reporting that unknown intruders had been on the property. Taylor can be heard in the background of the recording of that phone call, saying he would kill the men if police did not come, according to the lawsuit.
Metro on 08/25/2015