Judge whose son is a serial rapist makes ‘unprecedented’ ruling in rape case

A judge in Louisiana has been criticized by prosecutors for overturning a rape conviction in an “unprecedented” ruling.

East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore asked the state Supreme Court to overturn District Judge Gail Horne Ray’s decision to completely throw out the conviction of Donald Ray Link after Link asked the judge to reduce his sentence to probation. Link was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of rape in 1973.

“I’ve never seen anything like this happen, and I’ve never heard of it,” Moore said in an interview with Baton Rouge’s WBRZ-TV earlier this month. “What she had in front of her was obviously something that was easily adjudicated, and then it was expanded to find someone not guilty? That’s just outrageous.”

Parole or clemency proceedings are usually left to a state board or the governor, not to judges. Newsweek I emailed Ray’s office for comment.

Ray’s son is Nelson Dan Taylor Jr., a convicted serial rapist. When Taylor was a student at Baton Rouge High School, he was convicted after admitting to a series of rapes. The then 17-year-old was accused of breaking into the homes of six girls and raping them between October 1995 and April 1996.

Taylor pleaded guilty to one count of rape and two counts of aggravated rape, according to 1998 court records. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison as part of his guilty plea, with a mandatory minimum of 25 years to serve.

Ray said she overturned Link’s conviction because the jury received “improper instructions” during the trial.

“Ultimately, the Court relies on its ‘inherent authority’ to make its decision,” Moore wrote to the Louisiana Supreme Court. “The fact is that the Court does not have the inherent authority to ignore due process of law and decide what it wants, when it wants.”

Link has been in prison for five decades. He was sentenced to life in prison by a jury for raping a victim in 1972 while threatening her with a butcher knife. The state Supreme Court upheld Link’s conviction in 1974.

“She has no authority whatsoever to do what she did and her reasoning was flawed,” Moore told the local news station.

This is not the first time Ray has come under fire for her decision in a rape case. Last year, she reduced the bail of De’Aundre Cox, who was accused of raping his underage neighbor. That decision was made without informing the victim’s family or prosecutors.

She is also handling the high-profile rape case of LSU student Madison Brooks. Brooks was allegedly raped by four suspects after a night of drinking in early 2023. The suspects reportedly left her on the side of the road after raping her in a car. She was hit by a car and succumbed to her injuries.

The story gained national attention after the defense leaked video footage that painted the 19-year-old in a bad light, as well as her autopsy report. Attorneys for the suspects also claimed that the prosecution’s decision to file the highest-level charges had racist undertones. Three of the four men are black. Brooks was white.