A Hopkinsville man entered a guilty plea in federal court, in relation to the destruction and damaging of a religious statue at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church earlier this year.
According to the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky, 27-year-old Marley Taylor of Hopkinsville has entered a guilty plea to damage to religious property, which comes with a penalty of three years in prison and payment of $35,935 in restitution.
Taylor admitted to destroying a statute of Mary holding the baby Jesus at the Catholic church by using an axe to chop off both of the statues’ heads. He reportedly admitting to intentionally decapitating the statues because he believed people were praying to the statute as an act of worship.
That religious statue had been hand-carved and imported to Hopkinsville from Italy.
There is no parole in the federal system.