NEW CITY, N.Y. (AP) — The teenage girl at the center of the sex-crimes case against football great Lawrence Taylor made a surprise appearance at his sentencing Tuesday, eager to declare that he should be behind bars.
She was denied the chance to speak in court, and Taylor was sentenced to six years’ probation, as agreed when he pleaded guilty in January to sexual misconduct and patronizing an underage prostitute.
The former New York Giants linebacker must register as a sex offender, but a hearing on exactly how that will affect him was postponed to April 12.
The girl arrived with celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred, who described her as “a sex-trafficking victim.” The girl, now 17, has been identified in court and by Allred only by the initials C.F.
Allred stood beside the girl at a news conference but later refused to reveal her name. She would not say whether the girl plans a lawsuit against Taylor but said, “We look forward to representing her as she continues her fight for justice.”
She said Taylor “should be in the hall of shame, not the Hall of Fame.”
The girl was 16 — under the age of consent — when she met Taylor last May.
Speaking outside the Rockland County Courthouse, she denied she was a prostitute and said another man, whom she called Rasheed, forced her to go into Taylor’s Montebello hotel room by punching her in the face.
She said Taylor should have been able to tell she had been beaten and that she was underage.
“I believe Mr. Taylor could see my face and how young I was,” she said. “I did what he told me to do because I was afraid what would happen if I didn’t.”
She added, her voice breaking, “I am upset that he will not go to jail for what he did to me.”
The other man has been identified in a separate federal prosecution in Manhattan as Rasheed Davis, who is accused of acting as the girl’s pimp and who allegedly assaulted her and brought her to Taylor’s room at the Holiday Inn.