MOUNT VERNON — On Tuesday, Judge Otho Eyster dismissed the charges against a Mount Vernon man accused of domestic violence against his 14-year-old daughter. In what Eyster called a “spoiled teenage girl crying wolf,” Eyster dismissed the charges against Larry F. Taylor due to lack of evidence immediately after the prosecution rested its case.
Taylor was indicted in February by a Knox County grand jury. According to the indictment, Taylor was accused of pushing his daughter to the floor in the course of an argument and dragging her to her room by her hair.
In opening statements, Assistant Knox County Prosecutor Jennifer Thatcher told the jury that on Jan. 15, Taylor had been drinking when he supposedly assaulted his daughter in their kitchen.
Defense attorney Phillip Lehmkuhl argued that “nothing of a criminal nature occurred that night between father and daughter, except a heated family argument that daddy won, and should have won, for [the girl’s] sake.”
Testimony began when Springer called the investigating Mount Vernon Police officers to the stand. Cpl. Roger Monroe testified that Taylor’s daughter had called 9-1-1 twice on the evening of the alleged incident. The first time police arrived, at approximately 1:20 a.m., no one answered the door to let police in. Eventually, a guest of the house, a 17-year-old friend of the family, came to the door and told police that “everything was all right and the occupants of the house were getting ready for bed,” according to testimony by Ptl. Andy Burns.
Approximately 20 minutes later, police dispatchers received a second 9-1-1 phone call from Taylor’s daughter. According to the 9-1-1 tape, the girl repeated that her father “had gone psycho.” Police then returned to Taylor’s Cooper street residence.
Burns testified that he spoke to the girl through an open upstairs window and officers believed they had probable cause to enter the residence to make sure the occupants were secure and not being held against their will. Monroe testified he called Taylor’s probation officer, Lisa Lyons, who authorized Taylor’s arrest, and City Law Director William Smith, who authorized police entry. Officers then forced open the front door of the residence and, according to Monroe, found Taylor seemingly asleep on the living room couch. Taylor was arrested and transported to jail.
Statements taken at the time from the daughter and the 17-year-old male house guest both stated that during the course of a verbal argument, Taylor pushed the girl to the floor and dragged her by the hair into her bedroom.
The daughter and the 17-year-old house guest eventually recanted their testimony on the stand.
The 17-year-old boy testified that Taylor’s daughter was actually the one out of line with her dad.
“She started a fit,” the boy testified. “She blew up. She couldn’t contain herself. She was screaming and yelling profanities everywhere and all I hear Larry saying was go to her room.”
As for allegedly shoving the girl to the ground, the boy testified that “she fell back on her own.”
“He picked her up by her arm. He just kind of shoved her. I don’t really think it’s violent at all. Larry is one of the nicest guys I ever met,” the boy said.
Taylor’s daughter took the stand and testified, “I wanted to see my boyfriend and he wouldn’t let me.”
She added that she was upset with her father because he wouldn’t allow her to leave the house at 1:30 a.m. and visit her 17-year-old boyfriend.
“It was mostly about him not letting me go with my friends,” she said.
When asked about the violence allegation, the girl said, “I fell down, he picked me up and pushed me in my room. It wasn’t that big a deal.”
When confronted with her handwritten statement she said, “I wasn’t thinking when I was writing it. I just wanted to get it done. [The statement] is over exaggerated. It’s making it sound so bad and it wasn’t.”
Under cross-examination by Lehmkuhl, the girl admitted that her father had never harmed her in his entire life.
Eyster then dismissed the charges.
Following his decision, Eyster told the girl to sit behind her father at the defendants table.
“I don’t know what you thought you could accomplish,” Eyster told her. “This is an expensive proposition to try to get even with your dad. You’re responsible for this thing. You owe an apology to a lot of people. You have to live with that.”
After court adjourned, Lehmkuhl said that Taylor’s daughter, who had been living with a relative due to a court protection order, will be moving back with her father immediately.
“Judge Eyster made the right call by acquitting Taylor,” said Lehmkuhl. “There was no domestic violence in this case because there was no harm to anyone. Children must respect the authority of their parents, or they will never learn to respect any authority of any kind.”
Since Taylor is on probation from a domestic violence conviction in 2006, Eyster said Taylor may still face possible prison time for consuming alcohol and violating his probation.
