Lawrence Taylor has entered a plea of not guilty on charges files against him. Several weeks ago, Taylor was indicted by a New York grand jury on charges of rape, criminal sexual act and sexual abuse as well as endangering the welfare of a child and patronizing a prostitute.
Although Taylor has not publicly addressed the charges, his attorney, Arthur Aidala, said that he would fight them after Taylor was indicted by a grand jury on June 23. Aidala said the indictment was little more than a formality and that Taylor would plead innocent.
"I am saying that he did not have sexual intercourse, as it's defined in the penal law, with this person," his lawyer said.
ESPN legal analyst Roger Cossack took a closer look at the case several weeks ago.
They're not going to have a problem getting a guilty verdict in showing that he had intercourse with a woman under the age of 16. The law doesn't require knowledge by him that he knew seh was under 16 so I think he's in a tough spot.
The real question is: Is this what the law was intended to do? I don't think that's what this law was intended for this type of situation. I think it was intended to prevent older men from preying on younger girls and I don't think there's any question Lawrence Taylor did not know how young that girl was.
Taylor's attorney has said this won't be a "he-said, she-said defense" and that others would be able to corroborate Taylor's version of the events.
Taylor left the hearing on Tuesday morning and when asked by ESPN if he looks forward to his day in court said, "Hopefully it don't go that far."