Gang Rape Suspects Linked by DNA
Nov 2, 2007
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Three teenagers charged in the gang rape and beating of a woman and her son have been linked to the crime by DNA, authorities said.
DNA from suspects Tommy Lee Poindexter and Nathan Walker Jr. was found on the woman's dress, according to an analysis by the Palm Beach County Crime Laboratory, released in documents Thursday. DNA from Avion Lawson also was found on a condom left at the scene, according to the documents.
Poindexter, 18, Walker, 17, and Lawson, 14, face charges including sexual battery, kidnapping and burglary. A fourth suspect, Jakaris Taylor, 16, has been previously linked to the crime through fingerprints, police said.
All face life sentences if convicted.
The woman told police that as many as 10 masked teens accosted her and her 12-year-old son in their apartment on June 18. The teens are accused of raping and sodomizing the mother, forcing mother and son to have sex with each other and beating both of them.
The suspects then doused them with cleaning solutions in an attempt to destroy evidence, police said.
Attorneys for Lawson, Walker and Taylor declined to comment on Friday. Poindexter's attorney did not immediately respond to a telephone message and e-mail.
The Associated Press: Gang Rape Suspects Linked by DNA
Teen pleads in gang rape, beating
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A teenager charged in the horrifying gang rape and beating of a woman and her son agreed to a plea deal Monday that will send him to prison for 20 years. Jakaris Taylor, 16, pleaded guilty to sexual battery and burglary and will testify against three other teens charged in the June attack, the state attorney's office said.
One of the four teenagers charged with the gang rape of a mother and the assault on her young son at the Dunbar Village public housing complex agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors Monday morning.
In exchange for pleading guilty to two counts of sexual battery by multiple perpetrators with a firearm while wearing a mask and burglary with assault or battery with a firearm, Jakaris Taylor will serve 20 years in prison with credit for the 130 days he's been in jail.
The state attorney's office released the details of the agreement, and sentencing is set for next November.
Taylor, who will be designated a sexual predator, must also testify in court against any or all co-defendants, or risk voiding the deal, according to the agreement.
Also charged in the June 18 attack on the 35-year-old mother and her 12-year-old son were: Avion Lawson, 14; Tommy Lee Poindexter, 18; and Nathan Walker 17. They face life in prison if convicted.
Taylor had denied any involvement in the June 18 attack on a 35-year-old mother and her 12-year-old son in the troubled public housing complex on West Palm Beach's Division Avenue.
Taylor, one of at least four suspects in the attack, once thought he'd be out of jail on house arrest.
"They ain't got nothing on me but a latent fingerprint," Taylor wrote to his girlfriend from the Palm Beach County Jail. "But for the other three, they got DNA, fingerprints and the lady positively identified them."
Taylor, who described himself as a father-to-be, wrote from the Palm Beach County Jail to his girlfriend that his fingerprint was found on an item he gave to one of the other suspects that was dropped in the row house.
After the hours-long ordeal, the woman told police that as many as 10 males beat, raped and sodomized her at gunpoint. She was also sexually assaulted with a gun, a bottle and a bar of soap, according to an indictment.
The attackers then beat her son, smashed a plate over his head and poured household chemicals into his eyes. They managed to force the woman to perform oral sex on her son before dousing her with household chemicals in an attempt to destroy physical evidence
But a fingerprint and a used condom found in the woman's house led police to Taylor, Lawson and Walker, authorities said.
It was Lawson who first indicated a willingness to make a deal with prosecutors, according to case documents released at the beginning of the month.
According to a letter Lawson wrote to prosecutor Lanna Belohlavek, he said the teens were looking for jewelry and said six people attacked the mother and son.
He also blamed the attack on Poindexter
)) is right. It won't solve anything. Most prisoners teach new prisoners to learn bad things and repeat their crimes when they are freed.
