Morris Taylor admits selling cocaine

Former track star could get up to 6 months in jail

ALBION – Morris Taylor, 24, admitted in Orleans County Court today that he sold cocaine on State Street in the village of Albion last Sept. 4.

Taylor has no prior felony convictions and has never served on Probation. District Attorney Joe Cardone presented a plea deal to Taylor where he would face no more than 6 months in Orleans County Jail and 5 years on Probation. Taylor accepted the plea offer in court today.

If Judge James Punch gives Taylor more than 6 months in jail, Taylor can rescind his plea and go to trial. He has been charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree, which carries a maximum of 2 ½ years in state prison.

Taylor, a former state track champion and football star for Albion, was accused of robbing Mark’s Pizzeria in February 2013. That case went to trial and Taylor was found not guilty.

Taylor on Dec. 2 also was arraigned on first-degree rape and forcible compulsion rape. Those crimes allegedly occurred on Thanksgiving morning. Those charges are now in a lower court and will be prosecuted separate from the drug case. Cardone said in court today there are some “issues” with the rape case. It may be handled as a misdemeanor.

“Some are questioning her motives with coming forward,” Cardone told the judge about the alleged victim.

Punch set Oct. 20 for sentencing for the drug charge.