Click here to subscribe today or Login.
WILKES-BARRE — A city man Wednesday admitted to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the brutal 2014 assault and attempted homicide of a woman who prosecutors allege was kidnapped, beaten, and left for dead after one of her captors took a knife to her throat.
Nygee Jamal Taylor, 27, pleaded guilty to the charge at a hearing before Luzerne County Judge David W. Lupas, who immediately sentenced him to 9½ to 19 years in state prison. Nearly a dozen related offenses were withdrawn in exchange for Taylor’s plea, which the judge accepted despite Taylor’s initial reluctance to admit to the facts of the case as read by prosecutors.
Asked after the hearing why he appeared hesitant, a shackled Taylor said, “Because I ain’t do it.”
When a reporter noted Taylor had just entered a guilty plea in the matter, Taylor stated, “I don’t care what you say. I ain’t do it.”
Taylor and co-defendants Jerone Andre Moore, 33, and Chloe Amelia Isaacs, 23, both of Wilkes-Barre, were charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, aggravated assault, kidnapping and related charges on allegations they conspired to kill Dayna Williams in October 2014.
Williams, then 22, of Pittston, was not present at the hearing, but prosecutors said she was aware of the agreement.
According to the affidavit, the trio kidnapped Williams from her home, took her to a secluded area near Lake Aleeda in Bear Creek Township and slashed her throat. As the blade was put to her neck, Williams told investigators she heard a voice say, “Go deeper. You’re supposed to go deeper.”
Before she was placed in the trunk of Isaac’s vehicle and brought to the remote area, prosecutors said Wednesday, Williams was stripped naked, beaten and burned with cigarettes inside Isaac’s residence on North Hancock Street in Wilkes-Barre. She was then placed inside a barrel and stored in the attic for hours.
Williams was left in the woods after she was cut, but survived the 3-inch-deep gash and made her way to a nearby home, prosecutors said.
The assault stemmed from a missing iPhone Williams’ alleged kidnappers believed she stole, prosecutors said. The phone held evidence that incriminated Taylor and Isaacs as drug dealers and was an item the pair could ill-afford to lose, according to prosecutors.
Isaacs pleaded guilty to unlawful restraint, simple assault, reckless endangerment and false imprisonment charges in July. She is scheduled for sentencing next month.
Moore, meanwhile, remains scheduled for trial next week. He is jailed on $500,000 bail.