A Hopkinsville man has pleaded guilty to damaging religious property, after destroying a marble statue at a local Catholic church earlier this year.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, 27-year-old Marley R. Taylor admitted to using an axe to decapitate a statue of Mary holding baby Jesus on January 28 and 29. Taylor told investigators he believed people were worshiping the statue, which had been hand-carved from marble and imported from Italy.
Taylor pleaded guilty to one count of damage to religious property. He will be sentenced on March 10, 2026, and faces up to three years in prison and $35,935 in restitution if the court accepts the plea agreement. There is no parole in the federal system.
Federal officials strongly condemned the act.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said the “violent destruction of religious property due to hatred for another’s faith is both intolerable and un-American.”
U.S. Attorney Kyle G. Bumgarner added that “no attack on the exercise of religion—regardless of faith—will be tolerated in the Western District of Kentucky.”
FBI Louisville Special Agent in Charge Olivia Olson said Taylor’s actions violated a key principle of the nation—“the freedom of all to express religious beliefs afforded under the U.S. Constitution.”
Hopkinsville Police Chief Jason Newby thanked federal partners for their support and said local and federal agencies will continue working together to ensure residents can live safely and freely practice their beliefs.
In early February, Taylor was charged after investigations into video portraying damage to the stone statue of the Virgin Mary and Christ, as well as a metal deer statue at St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church.
The statues were in memory of a deceased parishioner and a past priest.
