Marion County jury returns guilty verdict in rape, assault case
Aug. 18—FAIRMONT — A Marion County Circuit Court jury in the Joseph Scott Taylor trial found him guilty of assault and rape on June 6, 2021.
He was convicted on counts of kidnapping, sexual assault in the first degree, robbery in the first degree, assault during the commission of a felony, strangulation, felony destruction of property and fleeing from the police.
"We are not beasts in the fields, animals in the forest," Marion County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Sean Murphy said. "We are people and we deserve to be treated as such. Biting, grabbing her by the throat till blood came out, brain cells die when that happens. That is what animals do to each other."
Throughout the trial, the defense's strategy lay in prying inconsistencies in the prosecution's case wide enough to fill in an alternative theory of what happened in Taylor's apartment.
When Taylor took the stand in his defense, he did not deny a physical altercation took place between him and the victim, and corroborated several instances of the victim's testimony. However, he spun a different story for the jury to hear inside the victim's car and the apartment, framing her as an equal participant in their altercation. Taylor also tried to paint the victim as an abuser, one with her own share of blame in a toxic relationship.
However, Taylor's testimony and that of his defense attorney, Christopher Wilson, attempted to cherry pick plot holes but could not overcome the central throughline of the prosecution's case. Murphy brought to the stand two witnesses who were in a prior relationship with Taylor. Although the jury was instructed to not consider these two witnesses in terms of Taylor's guilt for the specific crime on June 6, 2021, they could be used to establish a pattern of behavior particular to Taylor.
"We dated for a year, it was good at first for a few months," Samantha McDaniels, one of Taylor's former partner's, said. "But he had extreme jealousy issues, got angry. There was a pattern, he'd push and bite and then laugh it off like it was funny."
He later stabbed McDaniels through the chest while driving, after an argument where he accused her of cheating.
Both McDaniels, 28, and Destiny Star Jones, 34, said they encountered extreme jealousy issues, rage and reported something that would later be key at trial.
Taylor had a pattern of pushing and biting his partners, only to laugh it off like it was funny. One particularly harrowing moment for Jones happened on July 4, 2019. While watching fireworks at her house, Jones' daughter became overwhelmed by the noise. Taylor spit on the child and began an altercation over the daughter that terrified Jones. Later, at another violent incident, Taylor jumped out of the window to escape consequences, establishing a pattern of abusing and punishing women who did not submit, which continued with the June 6, 2021 assault.
The morning of June 7, police confronted Taylor outside his apartment. Wearing only blue swim trunks, Murphy suggested that Taylor was trying to destroy any evidence inside the victim's car. In the McDaniels' case, police found the car she had been stabbed in, only to find it had been totally stripped, seats included.
He retreated inside before fleeing out a window, still in nothing but the trunks. Police caught him at a Wendy's several hours later. He was booked wearing the trunks. He claimed the victim busted his eye and bit his chest, which is why he bit back. However, photos shown by Murphy of Taylor's examination show no evidence of bruising or bite marks. Then, Murphy confronted Taylor with photos of what he did to the victim, showing photo after photo after photo of the victim's wounds, each time asking Taylor if the victim deserved it. He answered no. Murphy asked if she received it. Taylor said yes.
Mocking Taylor's pretensions to manhood, Murphy called him a coward in his closing arguments.
Wilson tried one last time in closing arguments to sway the jury. He said even though jurors might not like Taylor's life choices, they weren't there to convict him on his character. They were there to decide if the prosecution's story was more definitive than any alternative narrative.
"Return to the book analogy," Wilson said, referencing his opening arguments from the trial. "All chapters read. Now piece things together. Point out any inconsistencies in the witness testimony. There are no other witnesses for Taylor because they had no direct knowledge of what happened. It's not his burden to prove his innocence."
Murphy was more direct.
"If you believe the victim, that book is closed," he said. "The rest is hyper-technical hair splitting."
The jury agreed. After an hour and a half deliberating, they handed their verdict. Guilty.
A sentencing hearing will be held in two months.
Reach Esteban at efernandez@timeswv.com
