Contact: Gloria Allred
(323) 653-6530
E-mail: gallred@amglaw.com

Today, Lawrence Taylor was sentenced by New York Supreme Court Justice, Honorable William Kelly. Defendant Taylor, a former NFL Hall of Fame football player had originally been indicted on charges of rape in the third degree, criminal sexual act in the third degree, sexual abuse in the third degree, endangering the welfare of a child, and patronizing a prostitute for acts the grand jury alleged that he committed against a 16 year-old victim on May 6, 2010 in New York.

However, recently Mr. Taylor agreed to plead guilty to one count of patronizing a prostitute and one count of sexual misconduct.

The sentence that he received for those crimes today was probation and a requirement that he register as a sex offender.
I am appalled by the charge of patronizing a prostitute to which he was permitted to plead guilty and also by the sentence that he received.

My client, the 16 year-old victim, was not a prostitute when she met Mr. Taylor in the hotel room on May 6, 2010. She was instead a 16 year-old girl who refused to have sex for money.

In fact, because she at first refused to go to Mr. Taylor's hotel room, she alleges that she was punched in the face, causing her a black eye which became swollen, and causing her nose to bleed. In addition, she was stomped on and kicked.
In other words, she only agreed to go to Mr. Taylor's room because she was afraid that if she continued to refuse to go, that she would receive yet another beating.

In addition, as she was being taken to the hotel, she secretly texted, trying to get help and be rescued. In sum, she was not a prostitute. She was a terrified young girl.

It is a disgrace that she should be labeled as a prostitute when she is and was a crime victim who was forced into becoming a victim of a crime. As NYPD Commissioner Browne was reported to have said, "She was coerced to go there. She did not want to go."

Also, both the victim and I feel that it is very unfair that Mr. Taylor is only receiving probation for his crime. We believe that he had many clues that his victim was under 18 and also that she was not in the room voluntarily.

When Police Chief Christopher St. Lawrence was asked if Taylor should have known that the victim was there against her will, he reportedly replied, "Well, she had a swollen eye. I think it was obvious that she had been battered."

Also, regarding her age, she was wearing a pony tail and no makeup. She also indicates that she told Mr. Taylor that this was the first time that she was doing something like that. It should have been obvious to him that she was a minor.

It also should have been obvious that she had been coerced into being with him.

He saw her face and her swollen black eye, but he never asked if she had been forced into being there.

Did he know that she was a sex trafficking victim? Did he want to know?

I am very proud of my client, who is now only 17 years old. Despite her young age, she had the courage to do everything she could to try to escape from a very frightening set of circumstances. She spoke out today because she knows that many other teenage girls are still being threatened and beaten and being forced to become victims of sex crimes so that others can profit from the sale of their bodies.

Although the system has failed this victim by providing the perpetrator of the crime against her with a light sentence, she has demonstrated that victims do have courage and that they will break their silence and cooperate with police to bring the perpetrators of crimes into the justice system.

Lawrence Taylor should be in the Hall of Shame, not the Hall of Fame.

We do not buy his excuses or justification for his acts of sexual misconduct against his victim. We look forward to representing her as she continues her fight for justice.

Gloria Allred
Attorney at Law
Representing Victim of Lawrence Taylor
March 22, 2011