ELLSWORTH, Maine — A Corinth man who had pleaded guilty to shaking and injuring his newborn son went on trial Tuesday in Hancock County Superior Court after the plea agreement fell through.
Nicholas W. Taylor, 30, is facing charges of aggravated assault and assault in connection with the alleged September 2002 incident, in which he is accused of breaking one of his son’s ribs and causing bleeding in his son’s eyes. The infant was 5 weeks old at the time he suffered the injuries, when Taylor was living with his sons and girlfriend in Winter Harbor.
Taylor pleaded guilty to the charges in March of last year but the plea agreement eventually fell through, according to court records. Justice Jeffrey Hjelm rejected the plea agreement, resulting in the case going to trial.
A jury of 11 men and three women heard opening arguments Tuesday morning from Hancock County District Attorney Michael Povich and from defense attorney Andy Slater. Justice Kevin Cuddy is presiding over the trial.
Povich said in his opening remarks that the alleged assault came to light after the infant’s mother noticed he was having seizures in mid-September 2002, only weeks after the infant was born in early August. He said Taylor is accused of squeezing his son and throwing him onto a sofa.
“Mr. Taylor admitted that he squeezed [his son],” Povich told the jury. “[Taylor] caused his nose to bleed [and] caused him to stop breathing for 30 seconds.”
During a break in Tuesday’s testimony, Povich declined to comment on the case.
Slater countered that the infant’s state was the result of medical problems, rather than any criminal behavior from Taylor. He said that two days after the infant was born, he was transferred from Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor because of complications from jaundice. The baby spent four days at the Bangor hospital before his parents first brought him home, he said.
Slater said the prosecution’s theory of what caused the baby’s condition was spurred by increasingly speculative questioning of his client by Maine State Police.
“I’m confident you’re going to say ‘it’s not possible.’ Nick did not do this,” Slater told the jury.
The jury heard testimony Tuesday morning from Dr. Robert Beekman, an Ellsworth pediatrician who treated Taylor’s son immediately after birth and after the alleged assault.
Taylor is also facing a charge of failure to appear in court, connected with the assault charges. Attorney Richard Hartley of Bangor is serving as Taylor’s defense co-counsel in the case.
It took more than two years after the 2002 incident for charges to be filed against Taylor because prosecutors had to wait for Maine Department of Human Services issues to be resolved and had to study medical records of the baby's injuries, the district attorney said last year. It took another two years to prosecute the case.
The boy, now 6, largely recovered from any injuries.
“Initially, there was some real concern that he had suffered severe head trauma,” Povich said last year. “He was fortunate that great medical care intervened.”
The trial is expected to last two or three days, according to Slater.
On 12/2/08 at 2:28 PM,
mom2one wrote:
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This story makes me sick to my stomach....I can only hope and pray this baby is no longer around his 'father' (if you can call it that).
On 12/2/08 at 3:06 PM,
pcme2000 wrote:
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Is the child still alive?
On 12/2/08 at 4:11 PM,
Louise wrote:
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How in the name of God could anyone do this to a tiny 5 week old baby? What kind of a sick freak is this man? He can't find anyone his own size to mangle? People like this really should be put away for life somewhere where it's dark and cold!
On 12/2/08 at 5:27 PM,
dexter wrote:
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What a sick person. He needs to go to Maine prison to be straighten out.
On 12/2/08 at 6:32 PM,
luckyone wrote:
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I bet this is not an isolated incident of abuse for this beast. He has probably abused other children as well as his girlfriend, this time he caused physical damage to this poor little 5 week old baby and got caught. He needs to go to the supermax where he can get squeezed by one of the big boys.
On 12/2/08 at 7:01 PM,
Richard28 wrote:
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to hell with maine prison....he needs to be taken out back and strung up from a tree....worthless piece of garbage...people like this dont deserve prison they deserve to die...bring back capitol punishment
On 12/2/08 at 7:04 PM,
thekingofmaine wrote:
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anyone harming children should be SOS (shot on sight) guilty or not of whatever offense, should be sent to camp. under comrade obama's plan: internment in America's Siberia Wasilla, Alaska
On 12/2/08 at 7:28 PM,
Louise wrote:
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I just re-read this story.It just makes you sick! Wonder if this lawyer defending this sicko has any children? Sorry to tell you chum, complications from jaundice do not break ribs, cause cessation of breathing, or cause your eyes to bleed. If the lawyer is so sure that this sick puke is innocent, maybe he will let him baby-sit his children, if he has any. I'm sure he will get a little slap like they all do, but, if by some chance, he actually goes to jail? I hope the big "boys" beat the living crap out of him, bust up his ribs, stop his breathing for a while and make his eyes bleed. Then, find a sofa and literally throw his ass right ,straight thru it! And do this on a daily basis. Just like he would have if he haden't got caught.
On 12/2/08 at 9:12 PM,
whitnmeme wrote:
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This sick SOB needs a really good thrashing by some big guy. Then let the rest of us beat the living crap out of him. Stories like this make me so mad!!
On 12/3/08 at 5:27 AM,
scarletsaint5 wrote:
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hang him high. if he did this to one child he will do it again.
On 12/3/08 at 9:50 AM,
myopinionsrmine1 wrote:
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2002? This should be done and over with...
IF he shows remorse..I think he should be STUCK in jail for the rest of his life..to be reminded day after day
what he did with this child.
IF he shows no remorse...end his life like he tried to do to the poor baby.
On 12/3/08 at 10:20 AM,
acitizen wrote:
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pcme2000, re-read the article where it states that the child who is now 6 has largely recovered from his injuries...
On 12/3/08 at 10:21 AM,
mareean wrote:
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I feel so bad for the family that this had to drag on for so long. I pray this little boy does not remember the trauma he suffered at the hands of his "father". What kind of man could hurt a poor defenseless baby like that? I hope he gets what he deserves and this family can heal and move forward.
On 12/3/08 at 11:59 AM,
hardworkingmom wrote:
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Louise, even though I do agree that this man needs to have the same treatment done to him, his lawyer may be a public defender, ever think of that? This goes along with the same principle that Dr.'s and nurses, police, emt's, and any one in public service has to do their job NO MATTER HOW THEY FEEL!. If you can tell me that you would NOT do your job just because you didn't like or condone what your "client" had done, you are richer than most, and more power to you. Just think a little about the lawyer and what he actually has to do for a living. Granted he chose the profession, BUT, if there were no lawyers, doctors, or other public servants where would we be. Just be a little more compassionate toward public servants, that is all I ask.
On 12/3/08 at 1:46 PM,
DowneastFF wrote:
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I agree with Richard28 110%!!!
On 12/4/08 at 12:37 AM,
Scanth wrote:
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I would discourage everyone from prejudging this case. The "diagnosis" of child abuse is based on some unproven assumptions. One is that nothing other than abuse can cause certain injuries, including bleeding in the eyes. In fact, several rare congenital conditions are known to cause the same symptoms, including seizures. A recent study found that about 25% of newborns have bleeding in their eyes, and this baby was just a few weeks old. Another assumption is that injuries can be timed and the perpetrator therefore singled out from a group of caretakers. Serious symptoms such as seizures or labored breathing have been known to be delayed for up to 72 hours.
That is not to say this defendant is innocent. I don't know. But I do hope the jury does not convict unless the prosecution proves its case beyond a reasonable doubt. Under interrogation, people admit to all kinds of things they didn't do. This baby's symptoms may not have been due to abuse at all.
Thankfully, the child is now doing well. DNA proves that hundreds of people have been wrongly convicted of serious crimes. Jurors must take their job very seriously, and never assume guilt.
On 12/4/08 at 8:15 AM,
ladyinthestix wrote:
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For the record i know about this case personally he retracted his guilty plea not once but TWICE and had 2 failure to appears over 6 years.the failure to appears were before the retractin of the guilty plea 2 times. and he also admitted to what he had done in front of a detective it is all in recording. his defense is what he admitted to doing couldnt have caused the injurys. he is a sick manipulative man. and i pray that the jury finds him guilty for the familys sake and the dumb broad he convinced he didnt cause the inurys who he now lives with, with her child. her father (father of nicholas's girlfriend) just so happens to be a bailiff at a jail who thinks he could never have done this. it seems to me he hand picked this girl for one and only reason to try to say hey look i can be around kids and this guy dont think i did it and he works for law enforcement.
On 12/4/08 at 9:09 AM,
mareean wrote:
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I am inclined to believe a trusted pediatrician from the community who cared for the child at the time of the incident to be cabable of judging based on his medical training that the child was abused. "IF" he is innocent then he should not be found guilty. Yet the man admit that the both squeezed and threw the infant on the couch. That alone is abuse and he should be punished for it.
On 12/4/08 at 12:39 PM,
ladyinthestix wrote:
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i
On 12/4/08 at 12:51 PM,
ladyinthestix wrote:
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in regards to what schanth wrote there are no newborn diseases that cause broken ribs that i am awake of.... that is a load of BS and it is very unlikely that the bleeding and seizures were caused by inherited traits seems how the child stopped having seizures after the hemorages in his brain cleared up. if the mother had waited a day or 2 longer to take the baby to the hospital she was informed he would have passed away. he had to have a feeding tube down his nose b/c he could not eat. and his father showed no remorse what so ever. the man was consumed with start a home based business with no money he refused to work and forced the childs mother to go back to work b/c they couldnt survive off of state aid. little #*&%@ did it while she was at work. so yeah he is GUILTY he admitted to throwing the child and squeezing the child and rocking him so hard into his shoulder that he cause the babys nose to bleed and bruising around the nose.. try and say that didnt cause any inurys.. as i said in my last post he is a evil manipulative #*&%@ and i pray to go the jurty find him guilty and he rot in jail wheere he deserves to be.. it si just sad that our tax dollars go to house *!&^#%s liek hima nd i wish there was corparal punishment!
On 12/5/08 at 10:44 AM,
schimekjm wrote:
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I am this child's aunt and reading this story makes me nauseous. I was a teenager living at home at the time and when DHHS removed both boys for the investigation, they came and lived with my mother and I. I saw this child being fed Dilantin, a medication which they don't even make for children, daily. We had to crush up the pill and feed it to him in liquid. Watch him writhe when he tasted it.
I went to college for Social Work after living through this. It is not easy to watch your family struggle to stay strong for SIX YEARS of court. It's hard for a child not to know their father, let a lone a little boy who was abused by his and never remembers meeting him. They say that Connor is "largely recovered". This doesn't mention anything about how he has an extremely short attention span, repeats himself very often, fixates on things and even has a hard time talking when excited.
The tragedy of this case really is that we won't know what trauma Connor really has suffered until he gets older and begins to show deficits. And even at that time, people will say "it could have happened regardless of the trauma". It breaks my heart to know that Connor will live with the effects of a traumatic brain in jury for the rest of his life. I know the frustration, having suffered one from a car accident in 2000. He will live with it for the rest of his life and his father will probably be out of jail by the time Connor graduates high school. People can fight about the guilt of the father but the true tragedy is the son. The tragedy is that this man is lying about what happened and had a child with another woman, later removed because of his history, and he is now with yet another woman with a child. Maybe if the children are big enough to fight back it is ok, but there is no warning for child abusers like there are for sexual abusers. You won't know until DHHS shows up at the hospital the day after your child is born and tells you that you cannot allow your child to be around his father.
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