78-Year-Old Gwinnett Man Convicted of Child Molestation

LAWRENCEVILLE, GA — A 78-year-old Gwinnett County man has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison for sexually molesting a young relative.

Joe Henry Davis was convicted by a jury Wednesday on charges of aggravated child molestation, aggravated sexual battery, incest and child molestation.

The charges stemmed from Davis's long-standing abuse of a female relative who is now 14.

On February 17, 2015, the victim told a therapist that Davis had molested her on about nine occasions.

The abuse began when she was 9 years old and continued until she was 12.

She said that in addition to repeatedly touching her inappropriately, Davis would ask her to remove her clothing and perform sex acts on her.

Detectives assigned to the case said Davis admitted to almost all of the acts his victim described.

Davis was roughly 73 years old at the time he began abusing the girl.

It took a jury just 14 minutes to return guilty verdicts on all charges against him.

Superior Court Judge George F. Hutchinson III sentenced Davis to life, with the first 30 years to be served without the possibility of parole.

According to a district attorney's office transcript, Davis responded to his sentence saying, "That's a death sentence for me."

"Yes, sir," Hutchinson replied. "I expect that it is."