Appomattox man sentenced to 45 years for rape and abduction

By Carrie Sidener
Lynchburg News & Advance
Published: April 25, 2008

APPOMATTOX — An Appomattox man who pleaded guilty to rape and abduction earlier this year will spend the next 45 years in prison.

Eric Lee Taylor, 29, was sentenced on charges of rape, object sexual penetration and abduction stemming from the rape of a motel clerk in 2007.

Appomattox County Circuit Court Judge Leslie M. Osborn sentenced Taylor to 40 years in prison with 20 suspended for rape, another 40 years with 20 suspended for object sexual penetration, and 10 years with five suspended for abduction.

Taylor told the court that he was on medications that weren’t working properly when he raped the woman.

“This is a horrible offense,” Osborn said. “The damage done to the victim is irreparable.”

Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Les Fleet argued that Taylor should have received life in prison.

“The defendant has an extremely violent past,” Fleet said. “The psychological evaluations paint a very dark picture of the defendant.”

At the plea hearing in January, investigator Donald Simpson testified that he was called to the Super 8 motel on Richmond Highway just after midnight on Feb. 13, 2007, for a reported rape.

The victim, a woman working as the night clerk, told him Taylor came to the office saying something was wrong with his telephone. Once he got her into his room, he physically restrained and raped her.

DNA testing was used to identify Taylor as a suspect.

Fleet said Taylor has been in and out of correctional facilities since age 10 for charges that include arson, armed robbery, attempted rape, and malicious wounding.

Fleet said the evaluating psychiatrists found Taylor unable to cope with stress normally and unable to delay his gratification.

“Whatever Mr. Taylor sees, whatever Mr. Taylor wants … that’s fine with him,” Fleet said. “He’s going to go ahead and do it. … He was out (of prison) less than two months and in the motel less than two hours and he assaulted a fresh new victim.”

Taylor’s lawyer, Mark Arthur, said Taylor’s entire criminal record happened as a juvenile and before he had fully matured. He said it was unrealistic to expect that Taylor would come out of a maximum-security prison and re-adjust to society’s expectations in the first few months. He argued that Taylor needed some hope of returning to society.

Arthur made a motion to withdraw Taylor’s guilty plea. He said his intent was to get the case reset for trial, and then enter an insanity plea.

“Whether or not an insanity defense works or does not work is a jury question,” Arthur said.
Osborn ruled the guilty plea would stand.