Jury Convicts Man on 14 Felony Counts in USC Sexual Assaults : Courts: He faces more than 76 years in prison for attacks on two students and a separate rape attempt.

A Los Angeles jury found convicted rapist Willie Damone Taylor guilty Monday on 14 felony counts stemming from sexual assaults on two USC roommates in 1990, attacks that terrified students on the campus.

The panel also convicted Taylor of the attempted rape of a West Covina woman in 1989.

Jurors said they were struck by similarities in the three cases. In each instance, testimony indicated that Taylor stalked the women for several days, then sneaked into their homes and tied them up before assaulting them. On his way out of his victims’ homes, Taylor stole jewelry, money and other items.

The jury deadlocked on charges related to an alleged rape of a third USC student on Sept. 16, 1990, just 10 days before the roommates were attacked in their off-campus apartment. Although that case was similar to the other three assaults, jurors said that the absence of Taylor’s fingerprints at the scene and inconsistencies in the victim’s testimony caused some of them to lean toward not guilty verdicts.

Wearing a blue seersucker suit and ankle shackles, Taylor, 30, shifted slightly in his seat as the verdicts were read, but otherwise displayed no reaction. Afterward, he admitted to a previous rape and two other earlier convictions--a criminal history that, under state law, could raise his total sentence to more than 76 years.

No friends or relatives attended the verdict reading. Taylor’s court-appointed attorney, William L. McKinney, said the defendant’s mother had sat through most of the trial, which began in mid July.

McKinney said he had prepared Taylor for the guilty verdicts based on the strength of the evidence against him. McKinney’s defense relied primarily on raising the specter of doubt through small inconsistencies. For example, he noted that Taylor had a teardrop tattoo near one of his eyes--a mark, the attorney insisted, that none of the victims had reported.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Marc Debbaudt quizzed jurors outside the courtroom on what led to their deadlock on the other USC assault. Debbaudt said he has not decided whether to seek a retrial, which could result in an added 86-year sentence.

“I would’ve liked to seen a verdict on the other count, because that would’ve ensured that he would never, never get out of jail,” Debbaudt said.

But Debbaudt added that asking rape victims to come forward and testify a second time has to be weighed against the personal toll it takes on them. “All the victims, especially as the trial approached, had to dredge up . . . their old emotions,” he said. “It’s pretty hard to go through it once, not to mention a second time.”

Sentencing on Monday’s convictions will not take place until after a Sept. 15 hearing, when Superior Court Judge Bernard J. Kamins is to decide whether to retry Taylor on the remaining rape charge.

Monday’s guilty verdicts involved charges of rape, sodomy, robbery, burglary and attempted rape and sodomy.

Outside the courtroom, jurors said they were pleased to learn that Taylor could spend most of his life in prison. They had been worried about their personal safety, they said, because he had committed the crimes within days of being released on parole. Taylor also had threatened his victims with death if they reported the assaults.

The first USC victim allegedly was raped 11 days after Taylor was paroled from prison, where he had served 10 months on a parole violation of prowling and giving false identification to a police officer. The West Covina woman, a 40-year-old receptionist, was attacked within three weeks of Taylor’s parole after serving 2 1/2 years of a six-year sentence for the rape of a Long Beach woman.