(Article by Sarah Akey republished from LawEnforcementToday.com)
According to RedState, the software engineer discovered his hobby several years ago. Taylor took up gunsmithing and intended on eventually turning the hobby into a business. That goal was halted when it was discovered by a task force of ATF and NYPD that Taylor was “legally buying parts from various companies.”
The discovery led to an open investigation and eventually a raid by SWAT that resulted in Taylor’s arrest.
While two lesser charges were dropped, Taylor was found guilty of prohibition on unfinished frames or receivers, unlawful possession of pistol ammunition, five counts of criminal possession of a firearm, violation of certificate registration, four counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, second degree possession of five or more firearms, and second-degree criminal possession of a loaded weapon.
Taylor’s case is setting up to be a landmark case for the Second Amendment, and not in a good way.
Vinoo Varghese, Taylor’s attorney, noted that there was evidence from the start of the trial that there would be bias against Taylor. Prior to Judge Abena Darkeh presiding over the case, two other judges presided over the case.
During Varghese’s opening statement, Judge Darkeh repeatedly interrupted him. The judge even went as far as telling the defense not to reference the Second Amendment in the proceedings.
“Do not bring the Second Amendment into this courtroom. It doesn’t exist here. So you can’t argue Second Amendment. This is New York,” the judge said.
A post on social media showing a photo of the judge and her statement has garnered more than 642 thousand views as of April 23 and commenters are scratching their heads.
This thought process is dangerous. And it should terrify and tick off every single American. Our constitutional rights absolutely exist and truly belong in every single courtroom in this country. To dismiss constitutional rights in a courtroom of all places, is irresponsible and un-American.
As Taylor’s trial continued, so did the bias. The prosecution was determined to make Taylor appear dangerous. Varghese attempted to counter the prosecution’s narrative by saying in his opening statement that “there’s no crime here, there’s no allegation of violence.”
“Varghese explained that he believed the only chance of having the case go in his client’s favor was through jury nullification,” RedState reported.
Jury nullification is legal, although Judge Darkeh “attempted to shut down his argument and led the jury to believe they would face consequences if they did not vote to convict Taylor.”
“I actually argued that jury nullification is allowed because there is some law from the High Court of New York that talks about lawyers who made jury nullification arguments. And basically, they said that judges shouldn’t encourage it, but they can’t prevent it. I actually made a pitch directly to Judge Darkeh to allow me to argue during nullification. She, of course, rejected that,” Varghese said.
“She basically said, ‘You must vote guilty’ without saying, ‘You must vote guilty,’” he continued.
Varghese also commented that Judge Darkeh was “the most aggressive prosecutor in the room.”
Nonetheless, on April 16, Taylor was taken into custody after being found guilty “of all but two counts.”
Taylor is being held on Rikers Island while he awaits sentencing. He faces 10-18 years in prison. This case is far from over as Varghese and Taylor are prepared to take the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. “We have a shot at winning in federal court,” Varghese said.
Read more at: LawEnforcementToday.com
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