3 sentenced to life for gang rape of mother
WEST PALM BEACH (AP) – Three men convicted of the gang rape of a West Palm Beach woman and the beating of her young son were sentenced to life in prison Tuesday.
Palm Beach Circuit Judge Krista Marx sentenced Jakaris Taylor, 17, and Nathan Walker, 18, to life in prison while Tommy Poindexter, 20, was sentenced to life in prison with a mandatory minimum of 25 years in prison. A fourth defendant, Avion Lawson, 16, pleaded guilty and will be sentenced in December.
The four were convicted of barging into the then-35-year-old woman’s West Palm Beach apartment in 2007 and raping her repeatedly, then beating her then-12-year-old son and forcing her to perform oral sex on him. They then doused the two in chemicals and left when they could not find a match.
Authorities say fingerprints and DNA found on clothing and condoms in the apartment identified the defendants, who were juveniles at the time of the crime.
The courtroom, packed with family members of the defendants, erupted after the sentence was read, despite Marx’s admonishment that those who could not control themselves should leave beforehand. After Poindexter scuffled with a corrections officer, his brother, Masterson Poindexter, yelled out, “What the (expletive) are you doing to my brother.”
Then the 13-year-old half brother of Taylor ran past stunned officers and deputies and opened a back door where his brother had been led in shackles. The crying boy was detained by deputies but later freed.
Defense lawyers had argued that the men were juveniles at the time of the crime and sentencing juveniles to life in prison amounts to cruel and unusual punishment – something that does not even occur in Iraq and North Korea. They noted that two similar cases are currently before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Both Public Defender Carey Haughwout, who represents Poindexter, and Robert Gershman, who represents Walker, said they would file motions for new trials and appeal.
Haughwout said she was “disappointed” with the sentence but Gershman said he was not surprised.
“I was expecting life based on the facts of the case,” he said.