Charges dropped against Champaign woman in fatal stabbing of ex-boyfriend

Apr. 9—URBANA — A Champaign woman has been freed from jail after the Champaign County State's Attorney's Office dismissed murder charges against her in the June fatal stabbing of a man who had a history of violence toward her and other women.

Judge Randy Rosenbaum granted Assistant State's Attorney Troy Lozar's motion last week to dismiss four counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated domestic battery filed against Taneshia L. Brooks, 44, on June 4.

Champaign police arrested Brooks after Vincent R. Taylor, 34, of Champaign, was pronounced dead at 5:13 a.m. that day shortly after arriving at OSF Heart of Mary Medical Center in Urbana with a single stab wound to his chest.

Brooks' attorney, Chief Public Defender Elizabeth Pollock, argued that the incident was a clear case of self-defense. Lozar said the state decided to drop the charges partly because of circumstances that may back up that claim.

"I am grateful that the state saw their way to dismissing the case against Taneshia," Pollock said. "I'm glad that she's home with her family where she belongs."

Taylor's record

Pollock retained Karla Fischer, a consultant with 32 years of experience researching and working with victims of domestic violence, to evaluate Brooks six different times while she was awaiting trial in the Champaign County jail.

According to Fischer's report, Brooks and Mr. Taylor began dating in 2019. Brooks described many instances of Mr. Taylor inflicting physical abuse on her. She said she broke up with him multiple times but they repeatedly got back together, which is common in domestic-violence situations.

Court records show Mr. Taylor was arrested on Nov. 3, 2021, and charged with trespassing and damaging Brooks' residence. As a condition of his bond, he was ordered to have no contact with Brooks or her address.

Mr. Taylor was arrested again on Dec. 29, 2021, on charges of aggravated domestic battery involving strangling, domestic battery causing bodily harm, resisting a peace officer and violating the conditions of his release with Brooks as the victim.

The state dismissed those charges after Mr. Taylor pleaded guilty in March 2022 to violating the conditions of his release. He was sentenced to two years of probation.

Records show Mr. Taylor was also charged with domestic battery in 2006 but that case was dismissed after he pleaded guilty to a 2005 residential burglary.

He was charged in 2018 with two counts of domestic battery, but that case was later dismissed.

Fischer's report said Mr. Taylor was arrested twice on domestic-battery charges in incidents involving different victims, the first in 2006.

Fischer interviewed a woman who said she dated Mr. Taylor around that time and he choked her.

According to the report, there were five police reports between January 2018 and July 2020 where a single victim claimed that Mr. Taylor committed domestic violence against them.

The stabbing

Brooks told Fischer that she was at her eldest daughter's house on June 3 before she was driven to her home in the 600 block of Bradley Avenue around 4:30 a.m. June 4. In the car with her were her 6-year-old-daughter and two other men. After the group went into her house, Mr. Taylor arrived.

One of the men apparently fell asleep on the couch and the other went outside but stayed in the car in the driveway. Mr. Taylor and Brooks started arguing, and Brooks said after they moved into the kitchen, Mr. Taylor put his hand around her neck and began to strangle her.

Brooks said she was unable to breathe and her vision was dimming, and she felt she was going to die.

She said she reached backward with her right hand onto the counter and felt the wooden handle of a knife, then "poked" Mr. Taylor in the chest with it.

According to a Champaign police report, a witness told officers he saw Mr. Taylor walk out of the residence with "blood all over the front of his shirt." The man who was outside in the car then drove Mr. Taylor to the hospital, Brooks said.

After Brooks learned Mr. Taylor had died, she said she planned on dropping her son at her mother's house and going to the police station. But police then arrived at her house and arrested her.

Officers later conducted a search warrant at the residence and found a knife wrapped in an item of women's clothing, the police report said.

Lozar said that the autopsy of Mr. Taylor's body indicated he died from a single fatal stab wound and only had one other minor injury to his arm.

Pollock said the small incision punctured the top chamber of Mr. Taylor's heart.

Reasonings

In deciding to dismiss murder charges, Lozar said the state had to carefully evaluate Brooks' claim of self-defense in the context of Mr. Taylor's history of violence against other women and against Brooks in particular — including the fact he was charged with strangling her before.

In the end, Lozar said the state did not believe it had evidence that was likely to result in a murder conviction at trial.

"One thing we do not want to do is unfairly prosecute a victim for defending themselves," Lozar said.

"In this particular case, there are very significant reasons to evaluate that claim (of self-defense) and give it some credibility."

Pollock noted that the charges were dismissed without prejudice, which means that the state can elect to later revive its case against Brooks.

Though Pollock said she was confident a jury would have acquitted Brooks, she is happy her client's 10 months in jail ended without a trial.