Air Force vet wants to change location in child sex crimes case
A man from Moss Point who allegedly faked his own death to avoid jail on alleged child sex crimes charges is asking for a change of venue for his trial due to pre-trial publicity.
In addition, lawyers for Jacob Blair Scott, 44, are asking a Jackson County judge to ban media from filming or photographing part of the trial, arguing Scott could not get a fair trial if the action is allowed.
The Sun Herald has provided video and camera coverage of various criminal trials since a decision of April 2013 by the Mississippi Supreme Court allowing electronic coverage in criminal and civil cases in circuit courts as well as coverage in chancery and county court proceedings.
The rule also allows camera coverage of Supreme Court and state appeals court action.
A judge has the discretion to limit, terminate or prevent such electronic coverage, although it is generally granted as long as the media files the request on time and obeys the rules of the court.
Scott’s lawyers argue that he has the right to be alerted to any media requests for video and camera coverage of his proceedings.
In motion to move trial to another county, defense attorneys Victor Carmody Jr. and Tangi Carter say Scott cannot get a fair trial in Jackson County because publicity about the case has tainted everything potential pool of jurors, which all lawyers claim have probably already “pre-tried”.
A child sex crime suspect on the run
Scott’s case, however, made local and national news after authorities said he faked his own death in Orange Beach, Alabama, in July 2018, and went into hiding.
The military veteran fled just days before pleading guilty to child sex crimes that could ultimately send him to life in prison. A grand jury has indicted Scott with 14 counts of child sex crimes, including one count accusing him of filming the underage girl in sexual acts.
On January 29, 2020, advice led to Scott’s capture at a campsite in Antlers, Oklahoma, less than 24 hours after the US Marshals named him one of the 15 Most Wanted Fugitives and hours after his case was made the headlines of Investigation Discovery Pursuit ”with John Walsh.
Scott was using the name of a former colleague at Chevron’s Pascagoula refinery when he fled.
Scott sues sheriff, deputies, medical staff
Since being held in Jackson County Jail, he has filed a lawsuit against Jackson County Sheriff Mike Ezell, various jailers and the doctor and nurse of VitalCore Health Strategies, the company that provides health care services to the prison, and other anonymous defendants.
He alleges his rights were violated, claiming that jailers and medical staff denied him a standard level of care for certain pre-existing conditions and denied him some of his basic needs.
Scott suffers from ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease.
He says he usually takes medication for the illness, but the prison doctor and nurse repeatedly denied him the medication he needed.
Since he has run out of medicine, Scott says prison staff have repeatedly denied him essentials, like extra toilet paper, to help him cope with problems caused by the lack of medicine.
Scott also reported that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Scott filed the lawsuit on his own behalf in federal court in Gulfport.
The Sheriff’s Office and VitalCore Strategies have yet to respond to the allegations and the lawsuit is ongoing.
Scott is expected to appear before Jackson County Circuit Judge Kathy King Jackson later this month for a hearing on his plea to move his criminal trial to another county.