By Selwyn Harris
PVT
A jury Wednesday cleared a former Nye County Sheriff’s deputy of criminal charges related to allegations of sexual misconduct with a prisoner more than three years ago.
Daryal Taylor, who was with NCSO for almost five years before being arrested on multiple felony charges in March 2008, expressed jubilation after the verdict was read. Jurors spent less than an hour deliberating after they received the case, which was tried over two days in the Fifth Judicial District Court.
After exiting the courtroom, Taylor shared his feelings about the verdict.
“I feel fantastic. It’s been a long time coming, but I’ve got to say, I don’t have any animosity towards the Nye County Sheriff’s Office. Somebody accused someone of a crime and they did what they thought they had to do, so I don’t hold anything against them,” he said.
Taylor was facing two charges, both Category D felonies: oppression under the color of authority and voluntary sexual conduct between a prisoner and another person.
Taylor said carrying the burden of the case for nearly four years weighed heavily on his emotions.
“It felt like a ton of bricks for four years on your back. I wasn’t able to get any type of job because this situation was over my head and as long as that’s on your background you’re not going to be able to do anything. I’m so glad this is done,” he said.
Taylor’s defense attorney, Las Vegas lawyer Michael Becker, said jurors did the right thing and he was very pleased with the outcome.
“We are grateful, and especially now, Daryal Taylor can go on about trying to move forward with his life and that’s the thing we’re most grateful for,” he said.
Becker also noted that his defense team was quite confident about prevailing in the trial. The prosecution put three witnesses on the stand compared to the two expert witnesses the defense offered.
“We believed the jury would come back not guilty. We believed they would do it before the close of the day because we believed in our case and we believed the jury did the right thing. The bottom line is we think that the state did not have any credible evidence to substantiate the allegations and we think the case shouldn’t have been filed in the first place,” he said.
Shannon May, 36, the alleged victim in the case, reported to authorities that Taylor sexually assaulted her during a return trip to jail after a visit to a local medical facility.
She was in custody on drug trafficking charges at the time she said the act occurred.
Taylor was assigned to transport inmates to and from medical appointments.
During testimony, Becker hammered NCSO’s lead investigator in the case, Det. David Boruchowitz, on how the case was handled after the alleged assault.
Becker made it known to the jury the NCSO did not follow proper policy and procedure in terms of investigating a sexual assault case.
According to the NCSO policy and procedures manual, the victim of an alleged sexual assault must be medically examined for evidence after the act.
He called on expert defense witness Kristine Mautner, a former 11-year Boulder City police sexual assault investigator.
Mautner said it’s standard practice to examine all victims in sexual assault cases.
“The Nye County Sheriff’s Office is the same like other police departments. There’s definitely a certain protocol to follow in these investigations. One very important one is a sexual assault examination of the victim, and of course it’s an evidence gathering. That’s why the rape kit is normally done so we gather evidence to either disprove or prove the allegations at hand.” she said.
In the end, jurors were convinced Taylor was innocent of the charges against him.
Becker summed up the case with his closing argument to the jury.
“Justice requires more than just law enforcement, just pursuing evidence used to convict people. Law enforcement also has an obligation to look for evidence that might exonerate people. Detective Boruchowitz wholly failed in that obligation. I suggest to you that if you go back into that jury room and deliberate truly about what you saw presented as the case against Deputy Taylor here, You should have no problem. I’m asking you to come back and rightfully find Deputy Taylor not guilty of both charges,” he said.
Taylor’s case is not the only such criminal case making its way to conclusion. Former deputy William Tidmarsh, who was in court for a status hearing on Monday, is expected to go to trial in January on three gross misdemeanor charges. In a sign that local prosecutors aren’t sure of success in that case, sources have told the Pahrump Valley Times that Tidmarsh has repeatedly been offered a plea agreement that would reduce his charges to little more than a misdemeanor, with no jail time and even the opportunity to seal his case after a short time.
Tidmarsh recently told the PVT he refuses to plead guilty to any charge and plans to take his chances in court. He also believes, like Taylor, that the case against him was mishandled by local authorities.
Look for more on both cases in Friday’s Pahrump Valley Times.
it isn’t surprising that yet another officer of the courts in nye county goes free.
soon tidmarsh will be let go and nye county will keep it’s perfect record!
Well guess again, I suppose you know of the one piece of evidence that would convict Mr. Taylor or Mr. Tidmarsh? Were you in the court room during this trial? If the answer is no to either these questions, please do not assume that Justice in Nye County allowed an “officer of the courts” to go free. The Prosecutor and the judge in this case were from Las Vegas, NOT NYE COUNTY! There was NO EVIDENCE to warrant what you might understand as probable cause to arrest. Lastly the JURY was the one who said NOT GUILTY on all counts.
The lead Detective in this case was a joke on the stand. Had he done his job (which appears he cannot ever do) the public may have never known of this case and had to bare the burden of wasting yet more money on a lost trial. Another case of DeMeo’s merry band of misfits NOT doing their job properly. 1 down 1 to go. By the way Mr. “I am the Sheriff” when is Defective Brady-o-witz going to come into your eye as being inefficient?
Fore you see, if a person is to be convicted of a crime, there has to be evidence to convict that person “beyond a reasonable doubt” or in lay terms close to 100% that this person committed this crime and the jury has to be convinced that he/she did it.
Congratulations to Mr. Taylor
do i know weather or not this cop was guilty? no… i wasn’t there in the car with them. do i believe he’s guilty? absolutly 100% i do. the cops and other “court officers” like beckett get to do what they want with little regaurd for the law….they pick and choose what laws they want to enforce or follow. if you think differently then i have some priime swamp land and a bridge i would love to sell you.
I completely agree!!!
What a shame. We have a law enforcement department with some of its members being accused of improper behavior. Think I’ll move today. Maybe go to L.A.,Phoenix, New Orleans, I don’t know; someplace safer. Someplace where meth dealers, pedophiles,burglars, or wife beaters will be granted the privilege of the weight of their word over that of a peace officer in the discharge of his or her duties. No, I’m not a cop, as many may assume when reading any comment that comes out in defense of our sheriff’s department,few as they are. But neither am I any part of the bunch that keeps the NCSO and our mercilessly overworked and woefully understaffed court system busy day and night. In my 40+ years as a Portland,OR resident, I was called to jury duty twice. Since I’ve been a Pahrump resident,it’s,on average,2-3 times a year! In 10 years living here I’ve had about a half dozen encounters with members of the Nye County Sheriff’s Office; once for speeding, 3 times with Officers Benson, Stash and one other whose name I can’t recall,all 3 of these investigating reports of prowling or break-ins in our adult,gated community. Two other times,with Sheriff Tony,who insists on being addressed simply as “Tony”. I first met Tony at the 2009 Vet’s Day celebration at the Chief Tecopa cemetery. The other, at a funeral reception being held for my friend Hoppy Hopkins. Although I would not have expected to see Tony there,attired as casually as everyone else, I wasn’t surprised either. I’m sure gonna miss him when I move to Washington,
D.C. or Miami in search of a better police department. Meaning no offense, to anyone who should take no offense, I can’t help but wonder at the past history of some the persons who post such aggressive comments in reference to the NCSO. I, personally, see our deputies with great admiration for their attitude and
their service to me and our community. Some people welcome the sight of a cop, some don’t. Oh,well.
Yep, once again we see a situation where Justice will only be served (if possible) by a Grand Jury, not influenced by the boys club that is the Sheriff, prosecutors and all the other gang members on the public payroll. Louie DeCanio is soooo right! Shame on what is laughingly referred to as public servants here in Nye County – laughingstock of the known universe?
i must agree with enough is zenough I was present in the pre trial on this case and after hearing what the SO called victim ssaid there was no way this happened…. check her history its not the first time she has cried wolf!!!
Just from reading the story in the paper i thought the story was completely bogus. Why would you believe someone who has drug problems and a pass record? That poor man has gone through enough. Like I said its the DAs office trying to ruin another families life.
When a jury spends less than a hour deliberating, it is very clear that there was no evidence. Reality is that it takes time to decide on a foreman, deliberate, vote and then write down the verdict. So, in reality, they probably spent about 10 minutes actually discussing the case.
Now, the deputy probably will sue to get his job back and that will cost Nye County ten’s of thousands of dollars, if not more.
It would have been nice to see what evidence the State had besides a she said/he said.
Three firemen, two law enforcement officers and a Sheriff candidate have been arrested by Det. Boruchowitz. So far the three firemen and the Sheriff candidate’s cases were dismissed and one leo has now been found not guilty. The former Sheriff candidate has a large civil suit pending against the county as I’m sure the others will too. When is the DA’s Office and the Sheriff himself going to get rid of the common denominator in all of these cases before even more damage is done?