Man involved in Eastville motorcycle shooting gets charges expunged

By Linda Cicoira

A Cape Charles area man who was linked to the outlaw Titan’s Motorcycle Club and indicted on several violent charges in connection with a 2021 shooting in Eastville had his record expunged of all charges Tuesday in Northampton Circuit Court.

“It was the worst decision I ever made,” Edward Thornton Tayloe told Judge Lynwood W. Lewis Jr. about his involvement. In June 2023, he pleaded guilty to reckless driving in the incident. The rest of the charges, which included mob, gun, and wounding counts weren’t prosecuted.

Defense lawyer Robert Morecock said Tuesday that his client did not know the others had guns or plans to use them. “An outcome in a case that is plainly and obviously unjust … constitutes manifest injustice,” Morecock argued. “Everybody in town knew about it. This was a big splash” in the news.

The lawyer said Tayloe has had to deal with a neighbor’s civil lawsuit because of the allegations and complaints at a local school. Morecock said he could face future business issues for something he didn’t do.

The defense lawyer also called for expungement based on Commonwealth Attorney Jack Thornton’s words at the trial. “They don’t have any record,” said Thornton of Tayloe and another defendant. “They were not the shooter. The commonwealth does not believe they knew anything about the shooter.” Thornton admitted the resolution “does seem … light. But it is in the interest of justice that the court accept this. They are not guilty of these other offenses.”

Two counts of attempted malicious wounding, two counts of attempted malicious wounding by a mob, shooting at an occupied vehicle, intentionally shooting from a vehicle, and destruction of more than $1,000 worth of property were not prosecuted.  Those charges will now be stricken from the record. The victims, 36-year-old Timothy Pope, of Hampton, and 27-year-old Tyler Combs, of Cape Charles, were not injured.

Thornton said the shooter was 37-year-old Casey Lee Gillespie, of Delmar, Maryland. Gillespie pleaded guilty last year to maliciously shooting at a vehicle, shooting from a vehicle, destruction of more than $1,000 worth of property, destruction of evidence in a felony, reckless use of a firearm, and two counts of attempted unlawful wounding.

Thornton said the incident started outside of an Eastville nightspot and was possibly kicked off with an obscene gesture and gravel being slung at the motorcyclists by a vehicle that was leaving the parking lot. A chase ensued and eventually led to Tayloe’s motorcycle being in front of the vehicle and another man’s motorcycle being behind it to slow it down. The shots were fired from an SUV behind the rear bike. The bullets went into the first vehicle.

Initially, the commonwealth’s theory was that Stevens was the shooter, Thornton said. However, upon further investigation, it was determined that Casey Gillespie … fired the shots in an extremely dangerous way. He shot near Mr. Stevens and luckily did not hit him or Tayloe.”

     Thornton argued against the expungement on Tuesday.  The prosecutor said “this is a small community, expunging his record is not going to change that… the Commonwealth has not heard any manifest injustice here … He is still a successful businessman … any sort of anything may cause anything. These are issues that the public has a right to know.”

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