Lawrence Taylor is going to need a great criminal defense lawyer if he wants to be remembered for being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame instead of indicted for rape and solicitation of prostitution.  Taylor has been formally charged with third-degree rape and patronizing prostitution.  Unfortunately for Taylor, the alleged victim was one year under the legal the age of consent in New York, thus making his charges rape of a minor and solicitation of child prostitution.  It appears that Taylor will plead not guilty and that the defense has a plan to prove Taylor’s innocence.  The ultimate goal of Taylor’s criminal defense attorney would be to have all charges dropped.  This is not Taylor’s first brush with the wrong side of the law and he was previously charged and convicted on two occasions of possessing drug paraphernalia and is also on federal probation for filing false tax returns and tax evasion.  Luckily, New York does not enforce the three strikes law and consequently if Taylor’s sexual assault lawyer is unable to dismiss all charges against him, a good outcome may still be reached and Taylor may still be able to avoid serving any prison time. 

The FBI is teaming up with police to combat underage prostitution in a national campaign called Innocence Lost.  The goal of this program is to fight child prostitution by decriminalizing the girls involved and charging the people who control them and solicit prostitution instead. Even though many girls engaging in child prostitution make themselves available through internet ads, they are looked at as victims that need protecting from themselves and from the people that are taking advantage of them.   It is likely that given this national crackdown on child prostitution, the prosecution will be extremely tough on Taylor due to the fact that the girl was underage, and will seek as harsh of penalties as possible for the rape charges and solicitation of prostitution charges.  Currently there appears to be no evidence proving that Taylor sexually assaulted the alleged victim beyond a text she sent to her uncle after the alleged incident explaining what happened.   Taylor’s criminal defense lawyer will have to show that there is no evidence to corroborate the alleged victim’s statements.  The alleged victim could have made wild accusations due to emotional and psychological strain.  The alleged victim was a runaway from her family, had been reported a missing person, and was allegedly staying with the man that brought her to Taylor’s hotel.  This man appears to have beaten the alleged victim prior to the incident that occurred in Taylor’s room.  Alleged victims of assault and domestic violence often make accusations that they later say are untrue and wish to recant in court.  It is probable that the girl, who appears to have been abused by the man she was staying with, made statements against Taylor in the heat of the moment out of fear and emotional instability that will prove false in court.   Instead of trying to incriminate Taylor, a well known public figure, the prosecution should go after the man who has most likely repeatedly beaten and forced the alleged victim into prostitution.  Most importantly, the court needs to seek help for the alleged victim so that she can make more positive choices in her life and have a better future than one of prostitution, instability, and crime. 

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/36998884/ns/sports-nfl/

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/06/27/child.prostitution/index.html