Former Boy Scouts Leader Sentenced in Child Molestation Trial

(Photo Harry Brett Taylor. Gwinnett County Jail mug shot)

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Harry Brett Taylor, the former Boy Scouts leader, who was accused of molesting and shooting photos of more than a dozen children more than six years ago, was convicted and sentenced in Gwinnett County Thursday.

Taylor, 50, of Lawrenceville, was sentenced to two life terms, plus 10 years, according to a Gwinnett Daily Post report. Taylor was accused of abusing 17 victims, including his own children, between 1995 and 2008, the newspaper reported.

He was arrested in 2008 after a boy told police he was sexually assaulted by the former library board member and Partnership Gwinnett volunteer. Other victims then came forward.

Prosecutors said many of Taylor’s victims were photographed during the alleged abuse. Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter said many also were “rendered unconscious” during the attacks, the Post reported.

The Post reported Taylor’s case had been bogged down in the courts until Thursday’s bench trial in front of Superior Court Judge Melodie Snell Conner, who found him guilty on all but one of 32 counts filed against him.

WSB-TV reported relatives of victims spoke out about the case before the sentencing. “I want you to live the rest of miserable life out in fear, terror and pain that you inflicted on my children,” one parent said.

Taylor reportedly waived his rights to a jury trial, leading to Thursday’s verdict. His attorneys expect to appeal the verdict and sentence; any appeal would have been waived if he had pleaded guilty to the charges, the Post reported.

Read more on this case:

• Former scout leader sentenced to life in prison (WSB-TV)
• Ex-Boy Scout leader found guilty of molesting, photographing 17 children (GDP)
• Supreme Court rules, but high-profile molestation case remains in limbo (GDP)