Lawrence Taylor wins over teen prostitute lawsuit
NFL Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor has scored a major legal victory on Friday after a jury dismissed a woman’s claims that Taylor assaulted her by failing to recognize her distress when he had sexual intercourse with her in a hotel room when she was 16 years old.
According to reports, the jury in U.S District Court in Manhattan deliberated for about an hour before deciding in favor of Lawrence Taylor — who appeared relieved as he turned around and gave a thumbs up to a friend on a court bench behind him. Outside of court, the NFL star signed a copy of the verdict sheet belonging to his lawyer, Arthur Aidala, then proceeded talking about his future and past.
Lawrence Taylor, who led the New York Giants to Super Bowl titles in 1987 and 1991, said he wanted to go home to Pembroke Pines, Florida, and “concentrate on my own broken life and try to repair that.”
When asked to elaborate on the matter, he said: “I’ve done a lot of things I need to address. I look forward to going home.”
Outside the courthouse, Taylor, whose post-NFL life has been tainted by several run-ins with the law, including drug and tax charges, smoked a cigar. When asked what kind, he said, “Redemption.”
The verdict in his teen prostitution case came after a four-day trial in which Lawrence Taylor testified that he had sex with a “very, very pretty” prostitute back in 2010, but denied allegations that he ignored obvious signs she was a teen runaway who was beaten and forced to meet with him. He said the girl named Cristina Fierro told him she was 19 years old.
The meeting took place in the football star’s room at a Holiday Inn in Montebello, just north of New York City, where he paid $300 to Fierro after the sexual encounter.
Cristina Fierro said another man forced her to have sex with Lawrence Taylor, saying she brought the lawsuit to hold Taylor accountable.
Nathan Goldberg, one of Fierro’s lawyers, said after the verdict that the teen prostitution case gave Cristina a chance to stand up for herself after she was delivered “like a piece of meat to the hotel room where Lawrence Taylor had sex with her.”
“(Fierro) believes that by bringing this case and the facts to light that she has stood up for herself and for other children and shown that they, too, can have a voice and let people know what happened to them,” Goldberg said.
Lawrence Taylor said he regretted that he did not know about the true circumstances of their meeting when he met Cristina Fierro .
“I feel for what she has gone through,” he said. “At the time, I wasn’t a bad person, and if I had known what was going on, I would have helped her. I hope the best for her.”
He shook his head as he spoke quietly about his missed opportunity.
“I’m a sensitive person. I love people,” Taylor said. “She was in good hands.”
During the trial, Cristina Fierro cried as she recalled the sexual encounter, saying the massive Lawrence Taylor failed to stop having sex with her even after she told him it hurt and tried to push him away.
“I kept telling him I didn’t want to be there,” Fierro said. “He’s much bigger than me. I couldn’t do anything.”
Meanwhile, Lawrence Taylor testified that Fierro “didn’t seem to have a problem” and “didn’t tell me to stop.”
He had already entered a guilty plea to misdemeanor criminal charges of sexual misconduct and patronizing an underage prostitute and is serving six years of probation.
Outside court, Lawrence Taylor cited “changing times” and said there were many lessons to be learned from his encounter with Cristina Fierro and everything that came afterward.
“We’re not in the ’80s. We’re not in the ’90s anymore,” he said. “You have to govern yourself accordingly.”