Rape suspect pleads guilty

Chris Dumond / Lynchburg News & Advance
Published: January 10, 2008

APPOMATTOX - An Appomattox man pleaded guilty Thursday to raping a motel clerk in February.

Eric Lee Taylor, 29, pleaded guilty to rape, object sexual penetration and abduction in Appomattox Circuit Court. In exchange for his plea, Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Les Fleet agreed to drop charges of aggravated sexual battery and petit larceny.

Appomattox County Sheriff's Office Investigator Donald Simpson testified Thursday that he was called out to the Super 8 motel at 7571 Richmond Highway just after midnight on Feb. 13 on a reported rape.

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

DNA testing also was used to identify Taylor as a suspect, he said. Furthermore, the victim's watch was found on Taylor when he was being processed into jail, Simpson said.

Although Judge Leslie M. Osborn accepted the guilty pleas and Taylor's lawyer, Mark Arthur, submitted a report that showed Taylor was competent for trial and that he was not insane at the time he raped the woman, Arthur also asked for another mental evaluation before sentencing.

It may be that his mental status needs to be considered at sentencing, he said.

Sentencing is tentatively scheduled for April 24. Taylor is in police custody and is also on probation for an April 1996 conviction for malicious wounding, Fleet said.