Boxer Taylor pleads innocent in MLK parade shooting

Boxer Jermain Taylor arrives to Pulaski County Circuit Court in Little Rock on Monday, March 30, 2015.
Boxer Jermain Taylor arrives to Pulaski County Circuit Court in Little Rock on Monday, March 30, 2015.

Boxer Jermain Taylor pleaded innocent Monday to accusations he opened fire and threatened a family after a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in Little Rock earlier this year.

Taylor faces five counts of aggravated assault and single counts of terroristic threatening and possession of a controlled substance in the Jan. 19 incident, which marked his second arrest on a shooting-related charge in less than six months.

The January arrest centered on accusations Taylor pulled a gun on Thelton and Toya Smith and their three kids after the parade. The couple said Taylor became enraged after their 5-year-old son dropped Taylor's boxing championship belt. He was reported to have fired into the air multiple times; no serious injuries occurred, though Thelton Smith said one shot grazed his ear.

A Sept. 15 trial date was also set Monday.

Taylor last August was arrested at his home outside Maumelle on accusations he shot his cousin, seriously injuring him.

Taylor was out on bond in the August case when he was arrested in January. He was briefly released on bond in the January case before the bond in the original case was revoked.

Johnson granted a request from Taylor's attorneys that he undergo a full mental and physical evaluation at a lockdown facility. Earlier this month, the judge agreed to transfer Taylor from the hospital to the substance-abuse program.

Taylor didn't speak during the brief hearing before Pulaski County Circuit Judge Leon Johnson, but his attorney, Jimmy Morris, requested he be allowed out of the program once a week so he could handle various business and personal issues. Morris noted that in addition to the two criminal cases, Taylor also has a business attorney he needs to consult with and is going through a divorce.

Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John Johnson objected, noting that such exceptions wouldn't be granted to other defendants in similar circumstances.

"If we're going to say he's getting treatment, he needs to do it the same as everybody else," John Johnson said.

The judge ultimately agreed and denied the request.

Asked how the treatment was proceeding as he left the courthouse, Taylor said it was "going good." Morris then said they would have no further comment.

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