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Tracey Taylor, 47, of Buena Vista was sentenced in Buena Vista Circuit Court last Thursday, receiving a sentence of nine years for two felony charges, with all but 14 months suspended. She also received fines for a pair of misdemeanor convictions.
Taylor stood trial on March 29, facing four felony charges stemming from an incident in the early morning of Dec. 4, 2022, during which she fired a gun in her home in an attempt to get her on-again, off-again boyfriend Paul Thompson to leave her home: attempted second degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, child endangerment and maliciously discharging a firearm in an occupied dwelling. Taylor was also charged with two misdemeanors – brandishing a firearm and discharging a firearm within Buena Vista city limits.
A jury acquitted her of the attempted murder and the use of a firearm in commission of a felony charges and convicted her of the two remaining felonies and both misdemeanors.
Judge Christopher Russell sentenced Taylor to three years for the child endangerment charge with two years and six months suspended, and six years for the discharging a firearm in an occupied dwelling charge, suspending five years and four months of the sentence. For the brandishing charge, Taylor received a suspended 90-day jail sentence and a fine of $200, and a fine of $100 was the sentence for the violation of the city ordinance. The sentences will run consecutively.
Taylor, who has been incarcerated since her arrest on Dec. 8, testified prior to the sentencing that this incident has “taken me away from my child,” that she’s had to help her daughter, Maura Flint, with college applications and financial aid over the phone, and that she’s missed several events with her daughter, including Christmas and her senior prom.
“I haven’t been able to be an in-person mom,” she said. “I’ve had to be a telecommute mom.”
Flint testified that not having her mom at home has “been difficult, but it’s something I’ve had to.” She is living at home with a friend of Taylor’s, Hailie Montgomery, looking after her. She is a senior in high school and is on track to graduate in May. Taylor requested that she be allowed to attend her daughter’s graduation. Russell did not expressly allow it, but noted that the jail does occasionally allow inmates to attend events and that Taylor could request permission to attend the graduation. Flint has been accepted to James Madison University in Harrisonburg.
Taylor said that she regretted firing the shot, testifying that her arrest and subsequent convictions had cost her her job and had affected her plans to get her master’s degree, which she was working on prior to her arrest. She said that, upon her release, she would likely move to Augusta County to be closer to her daughter while she is in college and also to stay away from Thompson. She added that she would like to get a protective order from the court against Thompson. “He broke into my house and robbed me,” she said. “I don’t want Paul around and I’ll do everything in my power to keep him away.”
