THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 30, 1994 TAG: 9410280274
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GARY EDWARDS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
Ramona Taylor had hardly begun her first profession, nursing, when she decided upon a second, law.
After four grueling years of nursing school, Taylor entered law school for three even more challenging years. A Philadelphia native, she earned her law degree in 1982 from the University of Pennsylvania and nursing's loss became the legal profession's gain.
Taylor, 38, has worked as an assistant commonwealth's attorney in Virginia Beach since July 1989. For the past two years, she has prosecuted cases in the juvenile division.
``In the fall of '78, I decided to attend law school. I visited schools and took the Law School Aptitude Test,'' said Taylor. ``It was a toss-up at first between law school and med school. I didn't want to take any more science courses though, so that made my decision easier in favor of law.''
Other reasons presented themselves as she worked at a medical/surgical hospital for 18 months. Taylor found working with patients fulfilling, but she found nursing limiting in other respects.
``I found nursing somewhat frustrating, because I couldn't think,'' she said. ``Why did I need a bachelor's degree to follow the doctor's orders? And you can't do anything in a hospital without the doctor's orders.
``In nursing, things were clear-cut, black-and-white and rules-oriented. There is always a right answer in medicine.
``Law is really different - ambiguous, ever-changing, open to interpretation, subjective. It's a difference illustrated by a comparison between liberal arts and science,'' Taylor said.
Because of the difference, Taylor found that she had to learn a new way of thinking.
``I never stopped studying between nursing school and law school - I started preparing for the LSAT - but I had to retrain my mind. And the volume of work in law school was tremendously heavy,'' she said.
Taylor had maintained a perfect 4.0 grade point average during her last two years of nursing school at the University of Pittsburgh. She had graduated from Girls High, a competitive, college-preparatory high school in Philadelphia.
The second oldest of five siblings raised by a divorced mother, Taylor had always been reliable, hard-working and independent. She wanted a profession in which she could best use those traits.
``I was always interested in criminal law, from the prosecution side,'' said Taylor. ``My mother struggled to raise us. I saw how hard she had to work to provide. I have no tolerance for those who violate other's rights.''
After receiving her juris doctor degree, Taylor clerked for a trial court judge in the Court of Common Pleas in Montgomery County, Pa. She worked as a staff attorney and a supervising staff attorney in the state's Superior Court. And she spent five years working for the U.S. Department of Immigration and Naturalization Service in Newark, N.J.
``I didn't especially like northern New Jersey, didn't feel it was a safe place to raise a family,'' she said of her decision to move south in 1989.
She set her sights on South Hampton Roads and applied to each of the commonwealth's attorneys offices and several law firms, finally landing the job in Virginia Beach.
``I like the South,'' Taylor explained. ``The people are friendlier; the pace is slower.''
Taylor, who plans to wed in December, stays busy in court and at home, raising Cara, her 9-year-old daughter by her first marriage. Taylor's two younger sisters live with her, too.
``I like juvenile cases. I get a chance to make a difference, to effect change when people need it most,'' said the one-time social work aspirant.
Her case work involves juveniles who are either the victim or perpetrator of a crime.
Janee Joslin, another assistant commonwealth's attorney who's worked with Taylor in the Virginia Beach office for 18 months, called her a ``no-nonsense'' prosecutor who is ``tough as nails.''
Taylor enjoys the respect of adversaries as well as colleagues. Richard Brydges has opposed her in court.
``She has the ability to see both sides of the case and assess it fairly,'' said Brydges. ``If she's right, she'll stick to her guns. If there's margin to negotiate, she will take that into consideration also.
``Ramona is a delight, a pleasure to work with,'' Brydges added. ``She realizes our business is adversarial not always confrontational.''
Between February and August of this year Taylor prosecuted six homicides, half of which resulted in guilty pleas and the others in jury trials. Four of the victims in the six cases involved preschool children.
Taylor said her most disappointing cases are those that involve sexual abuse and those in which the accused walks free.
Her most satisfying prosecution, Taylor said, was seeing Antoine D. Poarch, also known as Kenneth Pendarvis, get convicted of beating to death his girlfriend's 3-year-old son. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Most of her casework, however, involves less serious charges.
``The cases in juvenile court are usually more rehabilitative than punitive,'' Taylor explained. ``They involve family issues, domestic problems, things that my earlier training help me with.''
Taylor hopes to remain in juvenile justice, albeit in a different position. She would like to move from the bar to the bench and become a judge someday. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by GARY EDWARDS
A former nurse, Ramona Taylor, 38, has worked as an assistant
commonwealth's attorney in Virginia Beach since July 1989.
by CNB