UPSHUR COUNTY, Texas — Jurors on Wednesday sentenced an Upshur County man with a prior history of assault to 99 years in prison for threatening to kill an ex-girlfriend who he previously assaulted.
Charles Lance Taylor was found guilty and sentenced to 99 years in prison for the offense of retaliation. The jury deliberated for an hour before issuing the sentence.
On June 23, 2020, Taylor broke into the house of his former girlfriend where he assaulted and strangled her in Morris County, the Upshur County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
His ex-girlfriend was sent to the hospital for a brain bleed. A Morris County grand jury handed down an indictment against Taylor for the assault.
The Upshur County DA’s Office said that Taylor called her on Jan. 12 last year and threatened to kill her for filing charges against him in Morris County.
Taylor was later placed on four years of probation for the assault in Morris County on Nov. 1. This past conviction enhanced the sentence for his retaliation charge to a range of 25 years to life in prison, the statement said.
During Wednesday’s trial, the ex-girlfriend gave her testimony. The state also provided a series of text messages and recorded phone calls, where Taylor threatened her.
Prior to the 2020 assault, Taylor had seven felony convictions and four misdemeanors from the late 1990s, according to the DA’s office statement.
In 2015, he attacked another woman and threatened to slice her throat and run her over with her own car in Smith County. Taylor assaulted her in Upshur County many times but it was never reported, the statement read.