Opening statements begin in murder of Medford mom

Opening statements were delivered Wednesday in the trial of a former Marine from Mastic charged with murdering a 21-year-old woman. As News 12 has reported, Dante Taylor is accused of raping and killing

News 12 Staff

May 12, 2016, 1:29 AM

Updated 3,078 days ago

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Opening statements were delivered Wednesday in the trial of a former Marine from Mastic charged with murdering a 21-year-old woman.
As News 12 has reported, Dante Taylor is accused of raping and killing Sarah Goode in Mastic in 2014. Goode's car and body were found in the woods near her Medford home.
During opening statements, jurors heard gruesome details of the crime -- that Goode was raped, stabbed 40 times and found face-down in the woods days later, badly decomposed. The prosecutor said her case is strong, citing cellphone records and forensic evidence, including what she says is Taylor's semen found inside Goode and his bloody handprint on her car.
The defense opened by telling jurors that the semen was inside Goode because she and Taylor had what he called consensual sex. But he said that just because they had sex, does not mean Taylor raped and killed her. The defense added that there was no confession and no murder weapon was found.
The statements were disrupted for about an hour after one of the jurors fainted and had to receive medical treatment. He was OK by the afternoon session.
If convicted, Taylor faces life in prison without parole.