WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The youngest of four teens charged with gang raping a South Florida woman and forcing her to have sex with her 12-year-old son pleaded guilty Wednesday and agreed to testify against the others.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The youngest of four teens charged with gang raping a South Florida woman and forcing her to have sex with her 12-year-old son pleaded guilty Wednesday and agreed to testify against the others. Avion Lawson was 14 when the 35-year-old woman and her son were attacked in a West Palm Beach housing project in June 2007. His DNA was found in a condom and his fingerprints were on a wall in the woman’s apartment, police said. "He’s very sorry for what he did," Lawson’s attorney, Bert Winkler, told Palm Beach Circuit Judge Krista Marx. Lawson, now 16, pleaded guilty to 14 charges including sexual battery, burglary, kidnapping, grand theft and promoting sexual performance of a child. "He’s taking responsibility for everything he did and is going to cooperate fully with the state and testify if called," Winkler said. All the defendants were teenagers when they were charged in 2007. Tommy Poindexter, 20, and Nathan Walker, 18, are scheduled to be tried together before separate juries next week. Lawson had been scheduled to stand trial with Jakaris Taylor, 17, in September. Taylor’s attorney did not immediately return a phone message or e-mail from The Associated Press. Lawson faces a maximum 11 life sentences plus 50 years, according to sentencing guidelines. While Marx has broad discretion when she sentences him on Oct. 13, he faces a minimum of 49 years in prison. His mother stood stoically by him in front of the judge, but she collapsed in tears outside the courtroom and avoided reporters. According to authorities, on June 18, 2007, as many as 10 young men entered the woman’s apartment and raped her repeatedly, making her son watch. They then forced the mother to perform oral sex on her son. They allegedly beat both victims. Finally, they poured household cleaners on the two and fled, after stealing the woman’s cell phone and car, and ripping their home phone out of the wall. The mother and son, both Haitian immigrants, walked to a hospital in the middle of the night to seek treatment. ______ In photo: Avion Lawson, 16, the youngest of four teens charged in the 2007 gang rape of a South Florida woman and her 12-year-old son, enters Palm Beach County court Wednesday Aug. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/ The Palm Beach Post, Lannis Waters) Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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