A troubling twist has emerged in the high-profile cases concerning the alleged gang rape of Louisiana State University student Madison Brooks, as the presiding judge, Gail Ray, is grappling with her personal connection to similar charges borne by her son, according to official records.
Desmond Carter, one of the individuals accused in the grim incident involving Brooks, is preparing to face trial slated for August 17. This marks a crucial phase in the legal proceedings as Carter becomes the first of the three suspects to appear in court with Judge Ray at the helm.
The unfortunate series of events occurred in 2023, when Madison Brooks, then a 19-year-old student at LSU, allegedly fell victim to a gang rape following a night out. Tragically, she was later fatally struck by a vehicle.
Further complicating the scenario, court documents reviewed by News Media reveal Judge Ray’s son, Nelson Taylor, now 46, faced a conviction for multiple counts of forcible rape back in 1997. Taylor’s ongoing attempts to overturn his convictions have become a point of contention, instigating a legal clash between the district attorney’s office and the 19th Judicial District Court, where his mother serves.
Madison Brooks, pictured left, tragically lost her life in 2023 following an alleged gang rape. Judge Gail Ray, pictured right, is overseeing the cases against the accused. (Ashley Baustert and 19th Judicial District Court)
Taylor admitted to raping several girls who went to high school with him between October 1995 and April 1996.
All judges within the 19th Judicial District Court recused themselves from the case in December 2025. Taylor’s attorney filed a motion to have the convictions overturned in a November 2025 motion. While the motion was filed in November, the conflicts of interest prevented it from being heard by a judge until late July.
District Attorney Hillar Moore, who’s prosecuting the men accused of raping Brooks, filed a motion to recuse Ray from presiding over the state’s case against Casen Carver, whose trial is set to begin in November. Carver is charged with video voyeurism, first-degree rape and third-degree rape.
Moore’s office filed the motion to recuse Ray from Carver’s case in November 2025, arguing she couldn’t judge fairly after the suspect waived his right to a jury trial, making her the sole decider of the case.
Prosecutors pointed to Ray’s previous exposure to evidence about Brooks’ alleged sexual history, which is being excluded from the trial, and previous rulings that went against them. Those included her order for the state to turn over data from Brooks’ cellphone, her initial ruling that evidence of Brooks’ activities in the 72 hours before the alleged rape would be admissible, and her decision ordering the state to produce items from Carver’s phone.
Desmond Carter, Kaivon Washington, and Casen Carver are all facing rape charges. (Getty Images:John Korduner/Icon Sportswire, East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office)
However, the prosecutor’s central argument for Ray’s recusal was a series of text messages between Carver and his father, where the rape suspect claimed “we are friends with” Ray, adding that “she knows to help us,” given the judge’s son is a convicted rapist.
In another text message, Carver told his father that “judge is on our side” and was “going to rule in our favor.”
An updated photo of LSU student Madison Brooks, who was fatally hit by a car after an alleged rape earlier this month. (Brooks family)
“These are not the ‘musings’ of a teenager who was hoping for the best outcome in his case. These are affirmative statements that show that Mr. Carver believed that the judge ‘knew to help him’ because of an alleged friendship with him or someone he knew and the judge’s son’s interactions with the criminal justice system,” 19th Judicial District Judge Bradley Myers wrote in his ruling.
The unusual combination of evidence, combined with Ray’s previous rulings and her son’s criminal history, is what prompted prosecutors to seek the recusal.
Ray was initially recused from the case in November 2025, but the Louisiana Supreme Court would later allow her to preside over Carver’s case.
Former Louisiana prosecutor Franz Borghardt explained to News Media why the text messages weren’t enough to get a recusal.
LSU student Madison Brooks was fatally hit by a car after an alleged rape. (The Brooks family)
“So the standard in Louisiana for recusal is, does the judge have a bias or a personal interest such that they can’t be fair and impartial to both sides?” Borghardt said. “And while those text messages on their face certainly present that, if someone says, ‘hey, this judge is a friend,’ doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re gonna be fair or impartial. And in fact, oftentimes judges that are friends will rule against you just as quickly as judges that dislike you.”
News Media reached out to Ray’s office and Taylor’s attorney for comment.