Lawrence Taylor

As many people already know, former New York Giants, Hall-of-Fame, linebacker, Lawrence Taylor, was arrested for soliciting prostitution with a sixteen (16) year-old girl in a hotel room in Montebello, New York. Now, according to several reports, the victim (currently nineteen (19) years-old), lost her civil suit against Taylor.

Taylor admitted to having sex with the minor, however; he denied being aware that she was underage and being forced into prostitution by her pimp.

The jury did not necessarily find Taylor “innocent,” but rather found that the victim was unable to sustain her burden of proof that Taylor ignored obvious signs that the victim was a teen runaway in distress, despite numerous objective indications of same.

A criminal jury must find that the Prosecutor [Assistant District Attorney] proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the alleged crime. The standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt,” is often described as being 99% certain.

Here, a civil jury must find that the Plaintiff proved by a preponderance of the evidence that Taylor knew or should have known that the girl was underage and being forced into prosecution by an abusive pimp. The standard of “Preponderance of the evidence” is often described as “more likely than not” or 51% certain.

If you would like to discuss this blog further, contact me anytime at Matthew@jtlaw.org

Matt