Man convicted of child sexual assault loses appeal

A Jackson County man has lost his appeal to have his conviction on sex charges overturned.

Jacob Scott was sentenced in 2022 to 85 years in prison. He was convicted of four counts of touching a child for lewd purposes, nine counts of sexual assault and one count of exploitation of a child. He was also convicted of faking his death in Alabama later that year and sentenced to 21 months in prison for that crime.

He was accused of abusing a then-14-year-old girl from 2016 until she became pregnant in 2017 and told her sister what had happened.

Scott then fled Jackson County in 2018 and faked his death. He was found and arrested in Oklahoma in 2020.

He was tried in Jackson County in 2022. The court denied his change of venue, finding no evidence to support the request.

Scott appealed the circuit court’s decision, saying he was denied a change of venue and the verdict should be overturned.

The appeals court found no reversible error on the part of the Jackson County Circuit Court and affirmed the conviction and sentences.

Jacob Scott