thedrifter
02-28-07, 07:19 AM
Officer found guilty of raping four men
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Feb 28, 2007 5:15:48 EST
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. — An Air Force officer was found guilty Tuesday of raping four men and attempting to rape two others.
The nine-member military jury deliberated for about seven hours in Capt. Devery L. Taylor’s court-martial. Taylor showed no reaction when the jury of seven male and two female military officers handed down the verdict.
Sentencing was scheduled to begin Wednesday. Taylor faces up to six life terms — one for each victim.
Military prosecutors described Taylor, 38, as a serial rapist who met men in bars, spiked their drinks with the “date-rape drug” gamma-hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, and kidnapped them.
“I am pleased. I am emotional, but I am very, very pleased,” said Maj. Kathleen Reder, the military prosecutor. Reder praised the six victims who testified during the week-long trial.
“These men can sit up a little a little straighter now, I am proud of them,” she said.
Taylor’s civilian defense attorney, Martin Regan, declined comment pending the sentencing phase of the court-martial.
Regan had argued that each of the men willingly had sex with his client. Taylor testified that he had consensual sex with five of the men and that the sixth, who is openly gay, raped him.
Regan said his client’s only crime was being gay in the military and violating the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which bans people who are openly homosexual from serving in the armed forces.
Four of Taylor’s alleged victims were in the military when they met Taylor and Regan said they lied to protect their military careers, while a fifth wanted to join the Navy and feared being identified as gay, he said.
Ellie
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Feb 28, 2007 5:15:48 EST
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. — An Air Force officer was found guilty Tuesday of raping four men and attempting to rape two others.
The nine-member military jury deliberated for about seven hours in Capt. Devery L. Taylor’s court-martial. Taylor showed no reaction when the jury of seven male and two female military officers handed down the verdict.
Sentencing was scheduled to begin Wednesday. Taylor faces up to six life terms — one for each victim.
Military prosecutors described Taylor, 38, as a serial rapist who met men in bars, spiked their drinks with the “date-rape drug” gamma-hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, and kidnapped them.
“I am pleased. I am emotional, but I am very, very pleased,” said Maj. Kathleen Reder, the military prosecutor. Reder praised the six victims who testified during the week-long trial.
“These men can sit up a little a little straighter now, I am proud of them,” she said.
Taylor’s civilian defense attorney, Martin Regan, declined comment pending the sentencing phase of the court-martial.
Regan had argued that each of the men willingly had sex with his client. Taylor testified that he had consensual sex with five of the men and that the sixth, who is openly gay, raped him.
Regan said his client’s only crime was being gay in the military and violating the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which bans people who are openly homosexual from serving in the armed forces.
Four of Taylor’s alleged victims were in the military when they met Taylor and Regan said they lied to protect their military careers, while a fifth wanted to join the Navy and feared being identified as gay, he said.
Ellie