Boxer Jermain Taylor is headed back to the Pulaski County jail pending a new mental evaluation ordered by a judge Friday.
The new evaluation came after attorneys representing Taylor on a pair of criminal cases changed his plea to innocent by reason of mental disease or defect.
Taylor had previously undergone a mental evaluation, but it was only to determine whether he was fit to proceed, not whether he is criminally responsible for his actions because of a mental condition.
Taylor had been undergoing treatment in a substance-abuse program. But Pulaski County Circuit Judge Leon Johnson on Friday changed the conditions of Taylor's bond to disallow that, sending him back to the Pulaski County jail pending the evaluation.
The results of the evaluation are set to be discussed at an Aug. 24 hearing.
Johnson made his ruling a day after an arrest warrant was issued for Taylor on a third case in which he is accused of striking a man at the treatment center. Johnson said during the hearing that his decision was based on that as well as other information, which the judge did not reveal in open court at the behest of one of Taylor's attorneys.
"This is not the first report I've gotten about what's going on in the facility," Johnson said. "And the court is concerned about those things."
Taylor's attorney, Hubert Alexander, noted the television and newspaper reporters in the room when he later asked Johnson not to expound upon his reasoning. Johnson had previously allowed Taylor to leave the lockdown treatment facility to go to church, but he revoked the order days later with no explanation.
Taylor is facing charges in two separate, earlier incidents: one in January in which he is accused of opening fire and threatening a family after a Martin Luther King Jr. parade in Little Rock and one last August in which he is accused of shooting his cousin at Taylor's Pulaski County home.
A Pulaski County sheriff's office report in the most recent, May 13 altercation at the Oasis Renewal Center indicated Taylor had "possibly hit" another resident who was found injured but said he had no recollection of what happened. A witness reported hearing Taylor say to the man, "Why do you keep f***ing with me?"
Capt. Carl Minden, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, said Thursday that it's likely the injured man met later with investigators and was able to provide additional details about what happened.
Taylor was escorted out of the jail and into state custody after the hearing based on the judge's ruling. He was also met by deputies who had the warrant on the battery charge in hand.
Taylor said little as he arrived to the courthouse with Muskie Harris, who works for the recovery center. Asked by reporters to comment, he said nothing about the new charge against him.
"I just want to say I love my state, Arkansas," he said.
Taylor's mother, Carlois Taylor, had more to say, addressing reporters as Taylor said with a laugh "talk to 'em, Mom."
"You all have tried everything you could to scandalize my son's name," she said. "We went to the 2000 Olympics and fought, fought all the way to the 2000 Olympics. And you guys brought a bronze medal back. And you guys have seemed to be happy about scandalizing my son's name every chance you get. Now I'm not saying that Jermain is a ... saint, but he has brought a lot of money in this state. He has brought a lot of money in this state."
Article Courtesy of Arkansas Online