Taylor Behl: Gun Charges On Fawley May Be Dropped

h/t to reader T. Local channel 8 is said to have reported that prosecutors may drop firearms possession charges against suspect Ben Fawley to clear the way to conduct further discussions in the Taylor Behl murder case.

I'm unable to confirm report through other surces at this time.

Comments

[Rick]

G'morning all.......I'm first

[Rick]

Dropping the gun charges? Now RPD has this bozo on a dozen charges from misdemeanors to capital crimes. Why drop this when WE dont even know if Taylor was shot?

[OctoberSky]

Odd.... I wonder why they would make this move? I am sure that it would not be part of any kind of deal.

[teresa]

They are saying they MAY drop them if they can have access to him in jail. I don't see why they can't have that now. This is a murder investigation. What does 5 years mean to Fawley? I would not do a deal with him at all.

[Kinsey]

I cannot confirm this throught other sources either........uuuuuuuuuugh channel 8 update your web site.Thats it screw cox im going sattelite t.v

[OctoberSky]

Yeah, wouldn't they have access to him in the jail now. Since he is there for the child porn charges as well?
I can't find anything on the Channel 8 website here in Richmond, or NBC.

[Kinsey]

Dan, did ya get my olamide e-mail this a.m? chicken coop they say is where they found THE body believed to be her. has anyone else seen that report?

[OctoberSky]

Kinsey, I saw it. It was a burned out chicken coop. It hasnt been confirmed, that I know of.

[Rick]

Chicken coop? Are we on another case or is this new info?

[Midwest Anon]

LE makes deals all the time-it might have been a brilliant move on the part of the police-get Fawley to trust them a little, give him a little leeway and then nail him on the murder charge.
Hope so.

Regarding Olamide-I live in Illinois and have been following it. Word here is that people think it might be her, in Mississippi. I wonder if there's any connection to Monica Sharp/Nichols. Both young, African American girls, both drove green cars that went missing, I don't know-maybe I'm stretching, but Nichols strikes me as a serial predator. Different from Fawley, et al., I think, as they all seem like a little cultish group who don't look outwards, but into their own worlds.

[OctoberSky]

Rick, different case.

I still can't find anything to confirm this new info about Ben.

[OctoberSky]

MA - Nichols was found yesterday right down the road from my place!! Good news. Not sure about the connection.

[absynth_minded]

Whoever is responsible for whatever has happened to Olamide, is no doubt in my mind, a repeat offender... (If the thread can be found, I mentioned other girls in that area that have gone missing.)

[Midwest Anon]

October-
At least they caught the bastard. Sorry it was near you!!!!!
I'm wildly speculating on any possible connection. I've just come to believe that cooincidences are overrated.

[Rick]

The gun thing is a puzzle anyway. How long was he in posession? Was it a day, month, year before he gave them to his lawyer? Were they left by the dead porn king? Deleted files on a computer is iffy. Tapes and magazines are not. If he was bright enough to get rid of the guns, why not get rid of illegal porn too? All very strange.

[OctoberSky]

MA - I am glad they caught him too... HE is one sick cookie. I am interested to hear more about that case as well.
The IL connection caught my eye too!

[OctoberSky]

Rick,
From what I have heard he is saying the computers belonged to a man who has died, and his landlord (Sam) asked him to get rid of them. In fact on EBAY Ben appeared to be selling some of the deceased mans possessions.
Also about the gun, there have been rumors around Richmond that the gun was his landlords and that Ben has access to the safe. Not sure how true that is.

[mmy]

Re Olamide case: There should be word today on identity of body. I think it's just coincidental that the man arrested in Monica Sharp case is from Illinios. Sounds like there have been sightings of them in the Richmond area during the five weeks that Monica Sharp was missing.

[Diane]

It was on nancy grace last night that they would drop the gun charges in exchange for Ben talking to the police.In which he did with his ruff sex story.Something else I was reading is that they have or had a forensic specialist comming from NY to take a look at this case.

[Diane]

Going to try this one more time.It was on Nancy Grace last night that they would drop the gun charges if Ben would talk to the police and he did just that.Another thing I just read on a site is that they have or had a forensics specialist from NY comming down to take a look at the case.

[OctoberSky]

Diane: Interesting, I can't watch NG.

[Marie]

October 26, 2005

The 38-year-old amatuer photographer was back in court today to be formally charged with possession of a firearm while a convicted felon. Fawley served three years for car theft in Ohio. He's due back in court on this charge in December. Fawley remains in jail while awaiting trial on 16 counts of child pornography. He's also a suspect in the death of 17-year-old Taylor Behl. The body of the VCU freshman was found in a shallow grave in Mathews County last week. The medical examiner hasn't rule a cause of death yet and police will not file charges until that report is released.

[Diane]

I was under the impression that they did drop them when they talked to Ben the first time.I could be wrong

[OctoberSky]

Here is what I found from the courts:
Defendant: FAWLEY, BENJAMIN WILLIAM
Charge:
POS/TRANS FIREARMS BY FELONS
Offense Date: 08/09/05 Arrest Date: 10/07/05

10/11/05 0900AM Continued Arraignment/Bond/Detention/Appointment of Attorney Hearing

No mention of it being dropped.

[confusion]

FYI: It's confusing and a little time consuming to sort through the other off-topic cases mentioned here. Thanks.

[teresa]

I emailed channel 8 and asked them to update their website from what they reported at 5:30 this morning.

[error404]

Virginia News: "How did police get their hands on two of Ben Fawley’s guns? He’s the 38-year-old suspect in the Taylor Behl case. According to sources, the guns didn’t come from a police search or directly from Fawley. Instead, sources say, they were passed from Fawley to two different lawyers, before they reached police."

http://www.wwbt.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WWBT/MGArticle/WBT_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1128767525385

Fawley's landlord stated that he offered Fawley the lock to his own gun and Fawley wanted no part in it.

Who's to say that the guns Fawley handed to his own attorney were even his own? They could have been stashed in his apartment by anyone Fawley knew, but he was still held on the charges and his attorney offered no defense. Instead the guns somehow managed to leave his attorney's hands and end up in the hands of LE.

Fawley made his confession within a day or two of descovering this, he could easily state that he had lost confidence in his attorney and therefore felt compelled to give a false confession.

The firearms charge is better dropped more for LE's and Ben's attorney's benefit than for Fawleys or Taylor behls, as it clearly shows that Ben's own attorney failed to protect his interests, (for whatever reasons).

I wouldn't be surprised if the charges are dropped, I doubt Ben's attorney would like to have to explain that strange turn of events in court.

[absynth_minded]

That's like the Law and Order episode where the serial killer took his lawyer to a site where many of his victim's bodies were stashed, but the lawyer wouldn't violate confidentiality and disclose the location, even to help bring closure to the victims family(s).

So, instead, the lawyer was charged as an accomplice :)

[southern girl]

A bit of fumbling going on. Must not have enough evidence to convict 'beyond resaonable doubt' otherwise, what the hell is taking so damned long?

[absynth_minded]

Yeah, I agree...

LE is handling this with the agility of an overexcited male virgin trying to unhook a bra clasp....

[southern girl]

My goodness AM, and to think it's early afternoon!

I'm really not getting it though. Charges should have been filed already.

[Midwest Anon]

Hey confusion, put down the bong, OK? No one's so off-topic as to muddy the waters here, dude....

Absynth, that's quite an analogy ;)

I think LE is putting together plenty of evidence (hence the time and the gag order) to make sure their case is air-tight.

[absynth_minded]

Yeah, I think they have it under control, too. I don't think they want to deal with the backlash that will come with dropping the ball.

[Midwest Anon]

Agreed- people would riot if a solid conviction wasn't achieved (Fawley or otherwise)

[absynth_minded]

That's often the reason for shady police work and people being wrongly convicted...People would riot, so lock up anyone, just to say you have SOMEONE (nevermind if it's the RIGHT someone.)

[k]

I have not been on the boards in a few days so sorry in advance if this has already come up...but does anyone know anything about the site on livejournal named 'benspurpledildo'? This person claims to have bought a diary off of ebay that was written by an ex-girlfriend of Fawley's detailing thier bizarre sex life.

[Diane]

K yes and I was looking at it today and I find it to be a sick sight and not beliveable.The stories are sick and I don't belive any of them

[Diane]

sorry for the spellling errors lol

[k]

K yes and I was looking at it today and I find it to be a sick sight and not beliveable.The stories are sick and I don't belive any of them

Posted by: Diane | Oct 26, 2005 4:48:06 PM

It is revolting and I find it very hard to believe. I was hoping it may have already come up here and had been 'outed' as a fake. I searched ebays closed auctions (that's gonna look great on my profile searches!) and found nothing even remotely related.

[Captain Joe]

http://www.livejournal.com/users/benspurpledildo/

[bob]

How could possession be proved if the attorney handed over the weapons? The attorney would have to testify that he got them in Frawley's apartment, that they have Frawley's prints on them.
I can't imagine just having access to a gun in the landlord's possession would be enough. If I was the landlord, I wouldn't turn over my own gun to an attorney. UNLESS Frawley gave the landlord the gun, and all the news with Frawley made the landlord afraid that maybe that gun was somehow used in a crime, and if HE had it, he could be charged too.
I assume we are talking about handguns here. Frawley has a record for burglary, the guns could have been picked up in a heist, we all know that. With VIN numbers, cops could tell which burglary the guns were stolen obviously, and if Frawley was suspected in that burglary.
If I was an attorney and I came across guns my client may or may not have had possession of, and I knew my client had a criminal record, I'd turn them over too. I would NOT want to be charged with impeding an investigation, withholding evidence, etc.
We know the attorney(s) felt that he(they) had to turn the weapons over. That's a pretty strong statement right there. Let's wait for more news. Maybe the attorneys were just playing it safe.

[k]

A WARNING: You should know before entering the site linked above, that it is lewd and offensive. It is of a highly graphic and disturbing sexually explicit nature!!

[?]

Guns have serial numbers.
Cars have VIN codes (Vehicle Idenification Number)

[Rick]

Capt Joe: That LJ has to be a fake.

[Captain Joe]

I'm sure it is fake, but at least someone has a little sense of humor in a depraved sort of way.

[Rick]

CJ: A lot of depraved, a little sense of humor. I hope abigail doesn't look.

Thought on the fire arms: Is it possible that the first lawyer to recieve them was also disallowed from posessing them? In some states one does not have to have served time to be disallowed fire arms posession.

[Diane]

yea Capt.Joe and to think they paid for this so called journal! lol

[absynth_minded]

That LJ is just like every other thing Fawley is involved with:

Truths woven in with lies.

[absynth_minded]

"We went to a resturant this evening. It was a steak place of some kind, I don't remember the name of it. It was kind of weird how Ben kept taking so many pictures of the old people in the corner. He was telling me some pretty morbid things about growing old and dying. He made reference to the fact that plants are seasonal. And how the flowers bloom to their prime, and than decay to their death. Then he started taking pictures of the children and their parents. And he was telling me how he was going to put all the pictures into some kind of collage to show the season of man. How it lasts much longer but still we suffer the same fate as the flowers that bloom. Ben was always a deep thinker. He was brilliant in almost everything that he would say. This was Ben at his normality. And just as the cow that we ate snapped when first knocked with the hammer gun. Ben's mood suddenly crashed........

Truth^

[absynth_minded]

All the sexual references seem to be fantasy, but also with some truths woven in. I believe they answer the questions of Ben's sexuality and interest in fetish and perversion. Some may even be things he took part in, though obviously not in a public place....