The most serious charge facing former Penn State football player Phillip Taylor was thrown out by a Centre County Judge Wednesday.
Magisterial District Justice Jonathan Grine dismissed a felony charge of aggravated assault against the sophomore defensive tackle but sent onto Centre County Court misdemeanor charges of simple assault and disorderly conduct and a summary charge of harassment and stalking.
Police said Taylor was a participant in a violent fight stemming from an altercation on Oct. 7 in the HUB-Robeson Center. Two other former football players have been charged in connection with the alleged assault and a third was charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct and defiant trespass for an incident afterward.
The victim of the alleged assault, Temple University student Varney Capehart, was the only witness to speak at Taylor's hearing on Wednesday. Capehart testified that Taylor threw the last punch in a brawl that police said included as many as 15 football players.
Taylor's attorney, Ronald McGlaughlin, focused on identification during the hearing, characterizing the identification of Taylor by the victim as "sketchy." Capehart testified that he did not identify Taylor in the football media guide immediately after the fight, instead identifying two different football players as the main aggressors.
"The most we have is a sketchy identification, I think, by Mr. Capehart," McGlaughlin said during closing arguments.
But in a Dec. 5 preliminary hearing for Chris Baker and Navorro Bowman, both former Penn State football players who are also charged in the altercation, the victim identified Taylor as a participant as Taylor sat among Baker, Bowman and other men in the gallery of the courthouse.
That hearing ended in a similar fashion; District Judge Carmine Prestia threw out charges of aggravated assault against Baker and Bowman. However, the Centre County District Attorney's Office refiled the felony charges against the two players on Dec. 19.
The charges were reinstated after a second preliminary hearing in front of a different district judge in February. Centre County District Attorney Michael Madeira could not be reached for comment as of press time yesterday.
Baker, who faces charges of aggravated assault, harassment and stalking, simple assault and disorderly conduct, was cleared of all involvement in the fight by Penn State's Office of Judicial Affairs two weeks ago. While the university's decision has no bearing on the criminal case, his attorney filed a motion in Centre County Court last week forcing Judicial Affairs to turn over the records of the hearing for possible use in Baker's defense.
