ÿþ<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"> <title>OnlineColumnist®.com: Putin Punishes Georgia</title> <meta name="generator" content="Adobe GoLive 4"> <style type="text/css"> .style3 { height: 68px; } .MsoNormal {} h1 {margin-bottom:.0001pt; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; } .style4 { font-size: large; font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial; } .style6 { height: 69px; } h2 {margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; } .style7 { font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; } </style> </head> <body bgcolor="white" vlink="black"> <center> &nbsp;<table cool width="624" height="2719" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" gridx="16" showgridx gridy="16" showgridy> <tr> <td width="133" height="118" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"> <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="110" width="62" src="images/discobolos.logo.transp.gif" border="0"></a></td> <td width="7" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="482" colspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="140" class="style6"><img height="75" width="450" src="images/banner.GIF"></td> <td width="1" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" class="style6"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="79"></td> </tr> <tr height="39"> <td width="182" height="39"></td> <td width="300" height="39" valign="top" align="left" xpos="322"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="14" width="267" src="images/divisionofNEW.GIF" border="0"></a></td> <td width="1" height="39"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="39"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="624" colspan="6" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0" class="style3"> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="black" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#99ffcc" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td align="center"> <div align="left"> <a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> HOME</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> &#8226; <a href="articlesindex.html">ARTICLES</a> &#8226; <a href="books.html">BOOKS</a> &#8226; <a href="teflon.html"> THE </a><a href="teflon.html">TEFLON</a><a href="teflon.html"> REPORT</a> &#8226; <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com"> REACTIONS</a> &#8226; <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">ABOUT DISCOBOLOS</a></strong></font></div> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr height="2"> <td width="133" height="2"></td> <td width="489" height="2576" colspan="3" rowspan="2" align="left" xpos="133" content valign="top" csheight="2573"> <p class="style4">Lawrence Taylor&#39;s Latest Mishap</p> <p><b><font face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica">by John M. Curtis</font></b><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b><a href="books.html"><br> </a></b></font><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b> (310) 204-8700</b></font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><i>Copyright May 8, 2010<br>All Rights Reserved. </i></font>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </p> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <p class="MsoNormal"> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="style7">A</span>rrested Thursday night May 6 for allegedly raping a 16-year-old runaway prostitute, former New York Giant Hall of Fame linebacker 51-year-old Lawrence Taylor was arrested by Ramapo police and charged with third-degree rape and patronizing a prostitute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Rapapo s police chief Peter Brower alleges that Taylor paid $300 for sex at a local Holiday Inn in the early morning hours of May 6.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Police received a call from the girl s uncle, after getting a text message from his niece that night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> She apparently was beaten by her 36-year-old parolee pimp Rasheed Davis, someone she met in the Bronx a few weeks earlier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>How Davis made the connection with Taylor is anyone s guess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Prostitution scandals are nothing new to New York, where its then 49-year-old governor and likely Democratic presidential candidate Eliot Spitzer was forced to resign March 17, 2008 for soliciting prostitutes.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>While Spitzer s love-object, 22-year-old Emperor s Club VIP call girl Ashley Dupré, was not a minor, he was never charged with solicitation, resigning his office March 17, 2008.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Taylor, a 1987/1991 Super Bowl XXI/XXV champion linebacker, has had other scrapes with the law, mostly tax and drug-related charges, before and after his 1993 NFL retirement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> My client did not have sex with anybody, said Taylor s attorney Arthur Aidala.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Lawrence Taylor did not rape anybody, denying the charges that Taylor solicited a prostitute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Taylor finds himself caught in the murky zone of New York s age-of-consent law, requiring consenting adults for sex acts to be at least 17-years of-age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Charging Taylor with third-degree rape carries far worse penalties than only solicitation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Ignorance is not an excuse to an individual s age, said Brower, seeking the more serious charge.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>When you compare Taylor s crime with Spitizer s, it s far more outrageous that the state s governor, a former attorney general, faced no criminal charges, despite betraying his office as the former chief law enforcement officer of New York.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While New York state attorney general, Spitzer showed no mercy prosecuting<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>prostitution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Having sex with an under-age-minor is certainly unfortunate but it only constitutes a  statutory rape, defined as rape because of the age-limits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Ramapo officials should reconsider the charge of rape because it distorts the simple sex-for-payment transaction, if it, in fact, occurred.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Police officials say that Davis beat up the 16-year-old and insisted that she have sex with Taylor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Davis, a former convict, was charged with unlawful imprisonment, assault and endangering the welfare of a child for his role in the Taylor prostitution episode.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Pro athletes have had their run-ins with the law in over the years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>When heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson was accused of raping 18-year-old former Miss Rhode Island Desiree Washington in an Indianapolis hotel room July 19, 1991, there were racial overtones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He was eventually convicted Feb 10, 1992 by a white jury and sentenced to 10 years in prison.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He was released in 1995, insisting he never  raped the young woman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> NBA and Los Angeles Lakers star guard Kobe Bryant was accused July 2, 2003 of raping 19-year Ketelyn Faber in his Cordillera Spa &amp; Resort hotel room, prompting a criminal investigation and eventual out-of-court civil settlement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>More recently, Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl XL/XLIII Champion 2006/2009 28-year-old quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was accused of sexually assaulting 20-year-old Georgia a College &amp; State University coed March 5, 2010.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>While no charges were filed by the Milledgeville prosecutor, Roethlislberger was disciplined by the NFL, suspending him for six games without pay for the 2010 season.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Roethlisberger had been accused before of sexual assault in Lake Tahoe back in 2005.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Neither incident resulted in criminal prosecution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Prosecuting Taylor now for  third-degree rape doesn t serve the interests of justice when the state s former governor was never charged with solicitation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Convicting Taylor of statutory rape and imposing jail-time serves no purpose other than political grandstanding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Taylor should be allowed to negotiate a civil judgment, much the same way Kobe and Roethlisberger resolved their problems out of criminal court.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Tyson s conviction spoke volumes about failures in the criminal justice system to deal fairly with sexually-related crimes involving the African American community.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Throwing the book at Taylor in rural New York smacks of the same differential justice that lets white elected officials and pro-athletes off the hook, while making examples of blacks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While the 10-time Pro-Bowler should pay some price for solicitation, should that be the case, he shouldn t face statutory rape charges given the victim s age and circumstances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Taylor s past tax and drug problems have nothing to do with the commonplace occurrence of soliciting prostitutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>If prosecutors show he was responsible for the victim s injuries, then they should prosecute him to the fullest extent for sexually-related violence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>If Taylor made the mistake of soliciting a prostitute, he should be entitled to the same kind of rehab as other misguided individuals, including high-profile politicians and men of the cloth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Prosecutors should rethink the charges and consider other options.</p> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <p class="MsoNormal"> <b>John M. Curtis </b>writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He&#x2019;s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of <a href="books.html">Dodging The Bullet</a> and <a href="books.html">Operation Charisma</a>.</p> </td> <td width="1" height="2576" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="2"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2"></td> </tr> <tr height="2574"> <td width="133" height="2574" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><img height="172" width="111" src="images/johninframe3.jpg"></td> <td width="1" height="2574"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2574"></td> </tr> <tr height="1" cntrlrow> <td width="133" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="133" height="1"></td> <td width="7" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="7" height="1"></td> <td width="182" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="182" height="1"></td> <td width="300" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="300" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> </table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" width="597"> <tr> <td><font size="1" face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica"> <hr noshade size="1"> </font><a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> Homecobolos> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">©1999-2005 <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"> Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.</a><br> (310) 204-8300<br> All Rights Reserved. </font></td> </tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>