Assault charges dropped
MONONGAHELA – An assault case was dismissed Wednesday against a former Washington County jail guard after his wife, the alleged victim, failed to testify against him at his preliminary hearing.
District Judge Mark Wilson in Monongahela dismissed the case against Andrew Lee Taylor, 29, of Vestaburg, who also is awaiting trial in Washington County Court in a separate case accusing him of assaulting his wife and stepdaughter in April at their home at 55 Bethlehem St. in East Bethlehem Township.
“I don’t know what her cooperation will be,” said Taylor’s attorney, Amanda Como, while discussing Courtney Lee Kubicar Taylor, who works as a guard at the jail and complained to state police Sept. 9 that her husband slapped her in the face and threatened to kill her at her residence that day.
Andrew Taylor was returned Wednesday to Greene County jail, where he is serving a 6-month sentence for violating a protection-from-abuse order his wife obtained in Washington County Court by going to her house about 12:45 a.m. Sept. 9, court records show.
Police said Courtney Taylor was distressed when troopers interviewed her about what had taken place before they arrived.
She told police her husband opened a kitchen window from the backyard and said he would kill her if she did not open the door, according to the affidavit supporting the criminal case.
Courtney Taylor also stated that her husband, once inside her residence, “began trashing the bedroom” and threatened again to kill her if she called police, a trooper noted in the affidavit. She also accused her husband of slapping her on the right cheek, choking her and holding her down on a bed.
Andrew Taylor, formerly of Vestaburg, was arrested that morning at the residence “without incident,” the record stated. He was charged with making terroristic threats, simple assault and harassment.
He also was scheduled to appear Tuesday afternoon before Washington County Judge Michael J. Lucas for a status conference regarding his trial in the April 25 assault case.
Wilson ordered Andrew Taylor to trial June 2 after his stepdaughter testified that he dragged 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 5-year-old girl also suffered serious bruising at the hands of her stepfather, the prosecution alleged.
Courtney Taylor also accused her husband of one year of grabbing her by the neck and punching her in the stomach that day. She also told police her husband threw her on a bed and then pulled her off it by her hair.
In that case, Andrew Taylor was charged with aggravated assault on a child, endangering the welfare of children, simple assault, harassment and disorderly conduct.
Como said he can’t be detained in Washington County because there would be conflict of interest because his wife works there as a guard. He was fired from the jail a week after the charges were filed against him in April.