Sentence affirmed in Upshur County death threat case

UPSHUR COUNTY — The 6th Court of Criminal Appeals in Texarkana has affirmed the 99-year prison sentence handed to Charles Lance Taylor in an Upshur County case. That’s according to a news release from the Upshur County DA’s Office. Last May, a jury found Taylor guilty of retaliation against a witness in a January 2021 incident, and the 99-year sentence followed. According to our news partner KETK, officials say Taylor broke into the Morris County house of a woman he previously dated on June 23, 2020, and assaulted and strangled her. Morris County placed Taylor on three years’ probation for the assault, then revoked the probation and sentenced him to three years in prison. The retaliation verdict and 99-year sentence followed Taylor’s threats to kill the victim if she testified against him — which she did in spite of the threats.

Taylor had seven prior felony convictions and four misdemeanors that dated back to the 1990s. Officials said on a different occasion Taylor attacked another woman in 2015 in Smith County and threatened to slice her throat and run over her with her own car. He had assaulted the victim in Upshur County several times and it was not reported, according to the DA.