Former Washington County jail guard ordered to trial in assault case
Former Washington County corrections officer Andrew Lee Taylor, right, leaves district court in Monongahela Thursday with his attorney, Benjamin F. Goodwin of Uniontown.
Former Washington County jail corrections officer Andrew Lee Taylor, at right, waits for his attorney at a district court in Monongahela after he was ordered to trial Thursday on charges he assaulted his wife and stepdaughter in April.
MONONGAHELA – A 5-year-old girl took the witness stand Thursday and accused her stepfather, a former Washington County jail guard, of dragging her by the hair from their living room couch to her bedroom before twice placing a pillow over her face, making it difficult for her to breathe.
The girl made the accusations before District Judge Mark Wilson in Monongahela during a preliminary hearing for Andrew Lee Taylor, 29, of Fredericktown, who also is charged with assaulting his wife April 25 in their home.
The girl also said she knew she was in court “because of the man who hurt me,” before Wilson forwarded all charges in case against Taylor to Washington County Court, where he is scheduled to be formally arraigned Aug. 23.
East Bethlehem Township police were dispatched to the couple’s residence at 55 Bethlehem St., where Courtney Kubicar Taylor claimed her husband of one year grabbed her by the neck and punched her in the stomach. She also told police her husband threw her on a bed and then pulled her off it by her hair.
Her daughter was taken to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC for an evaluation after Courtney Taylor said she discovered significant bruising on the girl’s buttocks and hips while giving her a bath, court records show.
Andrew Taylor, who worked at the jail full time since March 2011, left before police arrived at the residence. The county’s prison board fired him a week after he was charged in the case.
He also was charged with threatening to kill Courtney Taylor in December 2014 when she was his girlfriend. That case was dismissed after he agreed to attend anger management classes and undergo mental health and drug and alcohol evaluations.
Washington County Assistant District Attorney Kristin Clingerman amended the criminal complaint in the case Thursday to add charges of aggravated assault and child endangerment against Andrew Taylor.
His attorney, Benjamin F. Goodwin, was unsuccessful in asking Wilson to withdraw the aggravated assault and child endangerment charges.
Goodwin said parents have a “reasonable right to use corporal punishment.”
“There’s no paddle. There’s no weapon. He smacked her on the butt and squeezed her,” Goodwin said.
“She could not breathe,” Clingerman said, adding the child suffered serious bruising.
Andrew Taylor also was charged by East Beth police with two counts of simple assault and one count each of harassment and disorderly conduct. He remained free Thursday on $10,000 unsecured bond set April 27 by Wilson.