Probation officer gives office BJ to boot-camp teen
More About Ben Fawley's Efforts to Get a New Trial
Friday, August 29, 2008 at 1:55 am
According to 88-year-old psychiatrist Merritt W. Foster Jr., Ben Fawley didn't murder Taylor Behl.
Even though Fawley is currently in prison for the murder, having copped an Alford plea in 2006 -- essentially stating that he wasn't pleading guilty, but he couldn't fight the evidence against him.
Fisher told Richmond's Style Weekly that "Right is right and wrong is wrong," and "Ben Fawley, I don’t think, ever had a fair trial."
The article about Foster's contention that Fawley is innocent -- the groundwork for a plea Fawley's attorney recently filed to vacate the earlier verdict -- doesn't really do this psychiatrist any favors. He comes across as shockingly insensitive to the family of the victim, Taylor Behl. In one portion of the piece, which was written by Chris Dovi, Foster says, "There’s a fine line between intensification of an orgasm and erotic asphyxiation that causes death."
Later, the piece reveals Foster's contention that the two antidepressants found in Taylor Behl's bloodstream after she died may have contributed to an inability to orgasm. Dovi writes, "Foster maintains that it was under the influence of these drugs, possibly suffering from a frustrating inability to reach sexual climax, and with a diminished concern for taking risks, that Behl may have insisted on trying erotic asphyxiation -- starving the brain of oxygen as a means of heightening sexual stimulation."
According to Dr. Foster, Ben Fawley wasn't a "domineering older man," he was under the control of Behl. Ben has apparently said that Taylor would whisper the word "jailbait" to him whenever they parted. This was supposedly to reinforce her control of the relationship.
Janet Pelasara, Taylor's mother, is very clear on the subject of Ben Fawley and guilt: "Ben Fawley is guilty, he admitted his guilt [...] There is nothing in here that’s new evidence, which is one of the requirements for this to be heard. I believe in my heart that [Fawley's attempt to get a new trial] will not go anywhere."
A woman who had a relationship with Ben shortly before he met Taylor Behl agrees with Janet Pelasara. I'm not giving her name, but this is what this particular ex had to say about Ben Fawley's efforts to do a little takesies-backsies on the whole Alford plea deal: "It's not right. The bastard did it, everyone knows he did it. Who else would have dumped her where we found her? He's the one who had, as the crime dramas say, 'means, motive and opportunity'. This can't possibly be happening."
I wrote her back and reassured her that I tended to agree with Janet Pelasara; I will be surprised if Fawley's plea goes anywhere. That said, I can certainly believe it's happening -- Ben Fawley is undoubtedly a sociopath. He is a clever, psychologically astute manipulator of others. He feels no remorse for what he did to Taylor Behl. And he is plenty smart enough to pull the chain and pluck the heartstrings of a sympathetic, 88-year-old psychiatrist. Ben Fawley is just running a game. If this gambit fails, he will try another. That's how guys like him amuse themselves once they end up behind bars, where they truly belong. [Style Weekly]
Tags: Ben Fawley, cybersleuthing, Hayden Fisher, Janet Pelasara, Jr., Merritt W. Foster, Richmond VA, Style Weekly, Taylor Behl, William Johnson
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