Judge’s problematic track record in LSU student Madison Brooks’ rape case now shows trends

The judge who presided over the gruesome rape case of LSU student Madison Brooks has an adult son with numerous sex crimes convictions and, out of the blue, overturned another man’s conviction when he asked for a shorter prison sentence.

District Judge Gail Horne Ray’s decisions have raised questions about a possible conflict of interest in the Brooks case.

Brooks, 19, died on January 15, 2023, when she was hit by a car in East Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after she was allegedly raped by four men, Kaivon Washington, Casen Carver, Everett Lee and Desmond Carter.

Ray presides over the trials, but her impartiality has been questioned after she overturned the 1972 rape conviction of Donald Ray Link this month and released rape suspect De’Aundre Cox on reduced bail last year.

East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore III has clashed with Ray over the decisions, telling WBRZ, “I’ve never seen anything like this done, nor heard of it.”

Ray’s son, Nelson Dan Taylor Jr., was found guilty of raping several classmates between the ages of 12 and 17 between 1995 and 1996. He broke into their homes wearing a mask and attacked them with a knife.

He pleaded guilty to all rape charges and was sentenced to 50 years in prison, of which he had to serve a minimum of 25 years.

Ray took office as a judge of the 19th District Court on January 12, 2023. Three months later, she released De’Aundre Cox, who was accused of raping his underage neighbor, on reduced bail without informing the victim or notifying prosecutors.

Cox is accused of two counts of aggravated rape of a now-teenage girl who lives near his family’s home in the Park Forest neighborhood. She was 12 when the alleged sexual abuse began.

She told officers that Cox threatened her with a gun before raping her twice. The abuse was discovered when the victim’s older brother, who was friends with Cox, found a video of the attacks on his phone.

District Attorney Hillar Moore sharply criticized Ray’s decision to release him last April, saying his office was not informed until a week after his release.

He told The Advocate at the time: “We are really confused as to how this bail could have been reduced without notification to the state and without an opportunity for us to be heard on behalf of the victim. And we are concerned about what happened and how it happened.”

The victim’s mother told the news agency that the family was “living in fear” and said: “Why didn’t they tell me? We could have changed because these people were already threatening me.”

This month, Ray again clashed with prosecutors over their decision to overturn convicted rapist Donald Ray Link’s 1972 aggravated rape conviction.

Link was serving a life sentence for threatening a woman with a butcher knife and then raping her.

He appeared before Ray and asked her to reduce his sentence so he could ask for parole.

Instead of reducing his sentence, she overturned his conviction entirely, thereby bypassing the parole process.

Moore told WBRZ her decision was “unprecedented,” adding, “She has no authority whatsoever for her decision and her reasoning was flawed.”

Ray’s decisions and her family history have raised further questions about Ray’s impartiality in the ongoing Brooks case.

Her decisions were sharply criticized online. One Twitter user said: “She needs to be fired.” Another said: “This judge should be fired! Simply disgusting.”

Moore and Ray did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

LSU student Brooks was allegedly raped by Carter and Washington in the back seat of their car while the other two suspects watched after a night of drinking at a bar in Tigerland.

After the alleged attack in her car, the suspects allegedly left Brooks staggering and drunk on the side of a busy four-lane highway.

She was hit by a car at around 3 a.m. and succumbed to her injuries.

Brooks’ alleged attackers claim they did not rape her and say only consensual sex took place.

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