Bail remains for attack suspect

A man charged in an attack on his wife's boyfriend was denied a bail reduction.

By Times staff writer
© St. Petersburg Times,
published December 12, 2001

DADE CITY -- Circuit Judge Maynard Swanson on Tuesday refused to reduce the bail for a Zephyrhills man accused of attacking his estranged wife's boyfriend with a knife and ramming her Crystal Springs home with his truck last month.

Steven Taylor, 35, of 3747 Allen Road, was arrested in Zephyrhills on Nov. 17 on charges of attempted murder, burglary and assault.

According to the arrest report, Taylor went to his wife's Bay Avenue home armed with a kitchen knife, kicked in the front door and brushed past a houseguest on his way to his wife's bedroom door. There, investigators said, Steven Taylor kicked in the door where estranged wife Stephanie Taylor, 31, and Bryan Peoples, 29, were sleeping. The report accuses Steven Taylor of jumping on the bed and stabbing Peoples, who suffered several small cuts.

The three fought over the knife, and it was thrown into a hallway, investigators said. Steven Taylor ran outside, got in his pickup truck and rammed it into the home, according to the arrest report.

His public defender, Dillon Vizcarra, told Swanson his client is a local, hard-working man with a clean record. Steven Taylor's mother, Nancy, told the judge he is a good father to his three children.

But prosecutor Phil Van Allen said Taylor has been in trouble before, facing assault charges in the 1980s, and violated a court order by going to his estranged wife's home.

Swanson left the bail at $250,000.

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