Jermain Taylor ordered to hospital for evaluation

Jermain Taylor, right, leaves the Pulaski County jail shortly after noon on Jan. 20.
Jermain Taylor, right, leaves the Pulaski County jail shortly after noon on Jan. 20.

A Pulaski County judge Tuesday granted a request from Jermain Taylor's attorneys that the boxer be moved to a lockdown hospital for a full evaluation of his well-being.

Taylor was arrested last year in the shooting of his cousin at his Maumelle home and again this month on accusations he opened fire and threatened a family during an altercation after a Martin Luther King Jr. parade in Little Rock.

Prosecutors sought to have Taylor's bond revoked in the first case after the second arrest, and he was arrested again pending Tuesday's hearing before Pulaski County Circuit Judge Leon Johnson.

But instead of deciding whether to revoke Taylor's bond, Johnson agreed to a request from Taylor's attorney, Hubert Alexander, to have him moved to a lockdown hospital for an evaluation.

Afterward, Alexander said it would likely include a full mental and health evaluation.

"Everybody is saying this isn't the Jermain Taylor they know," Alexander said. "We're trying to figure out who in the heck it is."

Johnson also granted a request from prosecutors to have Taylor undergo a mental evaluation at the State Hospital, which will include a neuropsychological evaluation.

Alexander said Taylor would probably be moved to the lockdown hospital, which wasn't named in open court, on Tuesday.

He initially asked the judge to allow Taylor to be moved into a separate treatment center after his hospital evaluation, though Johnson said Taylor must make another appearance in court before he decides to allow that. He indicated there would likely be other conditions, including electronic monitoring and drug testing, if he allowed the move.

Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John Johnson told the judge the state believes Taylor is a "danger to himself and other people."

Taylor's most recent arrest centered on accusations he opened fire after pulling a gun on Thelton and Toya Smith and their three kids after the Jan. 19 parade. The couple said Taylor became enraged after their 5-year-old son dropped Taylor's championship belt.

Taylor was also arrested last August on accusations he shot his cousin at Taylor's home outside Maumelle. Police were called there again in December after a woman reported he threw a brick through her vehicle's window, though no charges were filed in that case.

Taylor is due back in court on Feb. 10. The results of his state mental evaluation are set to presented to the court on April 27.

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