SEATTLE — The Coast Guardsman who falsified a racial hate note while stationed in Port Angeles last spring was escorted to Naval Brig Puget Sound on Friday afternoon, where he faces a 100-day sentence following his court-martial in military court.
A military judge also sentenced Petty Officer 3rd Class Robert E. Taylor, 26, to a bad-conduct discharge from the Coast Guard and reduction in status to seaman recruit for the falsification and three other crimes to which he pleaded guilty.
Before he was sentenced, Taylor — a tall, broad-shouldered man who maintained an expressionless face in the courtroom — stood and read a short statement to the judge, saying he apologized to the Coast Guard and to Port Angeles for the crimes.
“For the past seven months, I’ve been living in agony and disgust over what happened,” he said.
Taylor, who is black, pleaded guilty to falsifying a hate note on April 30 that he initially told his Coast Guard superiors and Port Angeles police he had found on the windshield of his vehicle outside his Port Angeles apartment.
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The rest of the story appears in the Sunday Peninsula Daily News.