AUGUSTA — A Norridgewock man will serve 20 months in prison for repeatedly calling his girlfriend from Kennebec County jail in violation of bail conditions.
The woman was named as the victim in an underlying domestic assault charge.
Derek D. Taylor, 33, pleaded guilty Wednesday at the Capital Judicial Center to a charge of violating conditions of release for making the phone calls, which the prosecutor said took place Jan. 30 through Feb. 5, 2017, from the Augusta jail, under both Taylor’s name and another inmate’s identification.
Assistant District Attorney Michael Madigan said bail conditions on the underlying charges of domestic violence assault and escape included a prohibition on contact with the woman identified in the domestic assault charge.
Madigan said calls monitored at the jail showed that Taylor asked others to call the woman and that he spoke to her directly to tell her to say that his sister was responsible for the assault and not he.
“He said he loves her and wants to marry her,” Madigan told Justice Michaela Murphy.
Taylor told the judge he didn’t understand how he could violate bail if he was still being held in jail.
Murphy told him that the Maine Supreme Judicial Court has found that a person does not have to be out of jail in order to be found guilty of violating bail conditions.
In exchange for the guilty plea, the state dismissed charges of domestic violence assault and escape, which allegedly occurred Dec. 25, 2016, in Benton.
Taylor, who has been held since in jail Jan. 24, 2017, was represented by attorney Lisa Whittier.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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