Mississippi veteran guilty of 14 child sex crime charges will spend 85 years in prison
Jacob Blair Scott, convicted of 14 child crimes after the military veteran admitted that he repeatedly sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl in Jackson County, will serve 85 years day for day in prison, a judge decided late Thursday.
Circuit Judge Kathy King Jackson also decided that Scott should pay $10,000 in fines.
“The evidence is overwhelming,” Jackson said. “It’s more evidence than I’ve probably ever seen (in a case). “
Scott, now 48 and dressed in a blue suit, was emotionless when, earlier in the day Thursday, a jury found him guilty of nine counts of sexual battery, four counts of touching a child for lustful purposes and one count of child exploitation.
The courtroom was packed as the verdict was read aloud. Multiple members of law enforcement were there to support the victim. Scott’s mother wept when the decision was handed down.
During closing arguments, District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath and Assistant District Attorney Justin Lovorn took aim at Scott for trying to blame his mental state, a failing relationship and even the victim for sexually assaulting the young girl, who became pregnant with his child.
The girl tearfully testified for over an hour about how Scott had sexually assaulted her at least 30 times over several months beginning in 2016 and ending in 2017 when she learned she was pregnant.
“He is going to come in here and tell you I’m in the trenches with my (companion) and it’s so bad that I’m going to stick my (genitalia) in her,” McIlrath said. “Are you kidding me?
“This is the first time in my 18 years I have ever seen anything so brazen and so vile,” McIlrath said of his attempt at a defense. “This is about blaming the 14-year-old. This whole trial was about humiliating the 14-year-old who had no choice” about what happened to her.
She talked about how Scott tried to highlight his military accomplishment to the jury calling it his “hail Mary” to try to get some kind of leniency from the jury.
McIlrath also blasted his defense of having a hard life for committing the crimes.
“Life is hard,” she said. “It’s hard for everybody. It is hard, right? It makes us who we are. It’s what you do when life is hard that matters.”
“If you don’t like your (your companion, leave) her,” she said. “If you don’t have sex…, you know there are options.
“You know what isn’t an option? Having sex with … (a 14-year-old girl).”
Scott committed the sex crimes in 2016 and 2017 and was supposed to turn himself in but faked his death in Orange Beach, Alabama, and was later caught in Oklahoma.
In the sentencing phase of the trial, Scott blamed his mental issues, post-traumatic stress, and other disorders for affecting his mental state when he committed the crimes. He pleaded with the judge to look at his medical record and how he was heavily medicated and suffering from depression and relationship problems that he said clouded his judgment.
“I was a good man,” Scott said “This ain’t who I am.”
McIlrath questioned his claims and pointed out that none of the health problems or stress was an excuse for assaulting a minor.
She pointed out that he never once apologized to the girl for what he had done.
She also talked about Scott’s elaborate plan at faking his death and going on the run.
“He wants everybody to think this 14-year-old child is this aggressive seductress that is pursuing him,” she said, but then tired to get her to end her pregnancy. “He can do the things he wants to do, and then when he does the things that cause him to be in trouble, well, it’s not his fault, it’s somebody else’s fault.
Before receiving his sentence, Judge Jackson told Scott she didn’t buy that his health and stress and the countless other issues made him do what he did. She called the sentence essentially a life term in prison.
This story was originally published June 2, 2022 at 1:01 PM.
