Lawrence Taylor To Avoid Prison With Plea Deal

Former New York Giants linebacker and NFL Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor has entered guilty pleas on two misdemeanor charges stemming from an arrest in a Rockland County motel room with an underage girl. Taylor entered guilty pleas to soliciting a prostitute and sexual misconduct for having sex with a girl who was not old enough to give consent.

In court, under oath, Taylor admitted that he had six with a 16-year-old and he said that he was aware that results of a DNA test identified him.

"She told me she was 19," Taylor said in court.

On March 22, a hearing will be held to determine the level of his sex-offender status. There also was an order of protection against him that was renewed.

Harry Carson, his former teammate and fellow Hall of Famer, was in the courtroom and gave Taylor a supportive greeting when he arrived.

"I've always seen a distinction between Lawrence Taylor and LT," Carson said.

In New York, ignorance of a person's age is not a defense against statutory rape. The age of consent in New York is 17.

Taylor was arrested early in the morning of May 6 at a Holiday Inn in Montebello, N.Y. Police said they were led to his hotel room by a 16-year-old runaway who had allegedly been forced into prostitution by Rasheed Davis.

Davis pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking, while Taylor pleaded not guilty to charges of third-degree rape, patronizing a prostitute and endangering the welfare of a child. The rape charge carried a maximum of four years in jail.

It looks like Taylor will avoid prison, but it isn't clear whether he'll have to register as a sex offender.