FORT PIERCE — Former City Commissioner James Taylor is potentially one step closer to walking out of the St. Lucie County Jail, where he has spent four weeks in custody.
His bond was cut in half at an Aug. 21 hearing, following impassioned testimony for and against his temporary release from his wife and the mother of the alleged victim, respectively.
Taylor was arrested on July 24 and charged with 24 felony counts related to an alleged innaproriate internet relationship with a teenage girl.
The bond, initially set at $360,000, was lowered to $180,000 by Judge Lawrence Mirman, with stipulations including house arrest, GPS monitoring, prohibitions on internet access, surrendering his passport and having no contact with children, including the alleged victim.
Taylor had not yet paid the bond and remained in custody as of 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 21, though, according to the jail.
Taylor, who was less than a year into his first term at the time of his resignation, would be allowed to leave home to work, seek work, attend church and go to doctors’ appointments, including those for his pregnant wife. However, Taylor must remain 20 feet away from children when at church, and avoid contact with them entirely when elsewhere, Mirman decided.
Taylor is accused of sending explicit material to, and asking for similar material from, a minor via private messaging app Snapchat, as part of a years long relationship that allegedly lasted from when the girl was 12-years-old until she was 14.
Taylor has yet to enter a plea on the charges, with an arraignment set for Sept. 29, though he may enter a written plea before then.
Gabrielle Radcliffe, the attorney representing Taylor at the bond hearing, asked Mirman to lower the bond from $15,000 per count to $5,000. Miramin, who said he believed the initial $360,000 total was “pretty close to reasonable,” agreed to cut that number in half if Taylor agreed to added conditions, such as house arrest and GPS monitoring.
At the hearing, donning bright orange prison attire and glasses, Taylor spoke publicly for the first time since the arrest. Facing prosecutor questions about his ability to pay the $360,000 bond, Taylor said he cannot afford an amount that high.
Then, Taylor’s wife, Jenna Taylor, rose to testify in favor of reducing the bond. Jenna Taylor said there are about five months left in her pregnancy, with an escalating number of doctors’ visits between now and then, and she needs her husband to be able to help. The Taylors announced they were expecting their first child in a July 4 social media post, just 20 days before his arrest.
Jenna Taylor, answering questions from Radcliffe, affirmed that she has been supportive of her husband since the arrest, as have her family and his family.
Radcliffe emphasized to Mirman that James Taylor never attempted to make physical contact with the alleged victim, who Radcliffe claimed told him that she was 16 years old, when in reality she was 12.
The alleged victim’s mother, who TCPalm is not identifying to protect the identity of the minor involved, testified in a video call against lowering the bond. She said her daughter, the alleged victim, was listening to the proceedings off-screen.
With a shaky voice, the mother described the trauma her daughter faces, and said if there are other victims they may be scared to come forward, especially if James Taylor is released on bond.
“I am a little bit nervous, but my nerves are turning into anger,” the mother said, describing how she felt hearing James Taylor speak. “I don’t think that there should be a bond reduction.”
Assistant State Attorney David Dodd also pushed for no reduction.
Dodd said evidence shows that within 20 minutes of first interacting with the alleged victim, James Taylor began sending her pornography. Eventually, that escalated to explicit photos and videos of himself, which, Dodd said, James Taylor sent from both home and work.
Dodd, downplaying James Taylor’s apparent belief that the alleged victim was older, said that a 38-year-old man having an inapporpriate relationship with 16-year-old girl is also illegal.
Dodd and the mother both said James Taylor asked the alleged victim to share his Snapchat contact information with her friends, and to share theirs with him. There is no evidence of other victims at this time, said Radcliffe.
Dodd also pushed back on James Taylor’s wife’s pregnancy as a factor that should lower the bond.
“I don’t find it a mitigator that a child is about to be brought into his home, given his condcut,” Dodd said.
Mirman, who called James Taylor “a danger to the community,” said his former status as an elected official plays a role in setting the bond.
The public is paying close attention to the case, Mirman said, and it is important that their trust in the judicial system is taken into account. Even the perception of a lenient bond, for example, could hurt that trust, Mirman said.
In addition to not lowering the bond as much as James Taylor had asked for, Mirman also shot down Radcliffe’s request that James Taylor be allowed to have contact with children. James Taylor has neices and nephews, Radcliffe argued. Mirman, however, said even supervised time with children would be a risk not worth taking.
As for James Taylor’s own potential future child, Mirman said if that becomes an issue it will be addressed in the future.
Meanwhile, across Downtown Fort Pierce at City Hall, James Taylor’s absence leaves the City Commission with just four members. A special election has been set for Nov. 4, with a runoff scheduled on Jan. 13, if one becomes necessary.
Wicker Perlis is TCPalm’s Watchdog Reporter for St. Lucie County. You can reach him at wicker.perlis@tcpalm.com.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: James Taylor bond lowered after emotional testimony from wife, alleged victim’s mother
Reporting by Wicker Perlis, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
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