While being strip-searched at Delta Correctional Facility in 2007, inmate Carlos Taylor ran naked past a guard and into a restroom before jailers could catch him. Afterwards, marijuana was found in a toilet in the restroom.
In Leflore County Circuit Court Monday, Taylor claimed he bolted for the restroom because the guard searching him had sprayed his genitals with pepper spray and he needed water.
The guard, Tyrone Banks, said he spotted something in Taylor’s hand during the search and administered pepper spray when Taylor refused to drop it while sprinting for the restroom.
A Leflore County jury believed Banks’ version.
Taylor, 29, whose address is unknown, was convicted Tuesday afternoon of possession of contraband in a prison facility, a felony.
“He ran in there to flush that dope,” Assistant District Attorney Timothy Jones said during closing arguments. “He wouldn’t have run in there and washed off his genitals in two seconds.”
Taylor, who remains in custody, will be sentenced Friday. As a habitual offender, he faces the possibility of life in prison.
Since 1999, Taylor has been charged with about 15 crimes, including felony evasion, possession of paraphernalia, possession of marijuana and statutory rape.
The incident that led to his latest conviction happened during the summer of 2007. Taylor’s then-fiancee and his 71-year-old grandmother visited him one day at the correctional facility.
Immediately following the supervised visit, Taylor was strip-searched before being placed back in the general population. The incident occurred during that search.
Taylor was indicted in November 2007.
During closing arguments, Jones suggested to jurors that Taylor’s grandmother or fiance passed him the marijuana. The fact that the grandmother was 71 years old and the fiancee was eight months pregnant could have made security lax, Jones said.
Greenwood attorney Whit Mounger, who defended Taylor, stressed to jurors that the prosecution produced no witness who testified to having seen Taylor holding marijuana. Mounger also noted there was no videotape of the incident — the video equipment happened to be broken that day — and no fingerprints were taken from the bag of marijuana.
But Jones, commenting on Taylor’s defense, told the jurors not to “fall victim to the rabbit trail” and urged them to use common sense.
“There is no conspiracy against Carlos Taylor, ladies and gentlemen,” Jones said.
It took the jury about half an hour to come back with a guilty verdict.
