Jury convicts Liberia ex-leader's son

MIAMI, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- The son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor has been convicted by a Miami jury of charges of torture and conspiracy carried out in Liberia.

"Chuckie" Taylor, born in the United States as Charles McArthur Emmanuel, is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 9 following Thursday's verdict, the Miami Herald reported Friday.

He faces a possible life sentence for crimes committed between 1999 and 2003, when he led a Liberian military unit called the "Demon Forces" that beat, burned and beheaded Liberian civilians. The case was the first test of a 1994 U.S. law allowing the prosecution of citizens who commit torture overseas.

The jury convicted Taylor on eight charges of conspiracy, torture and carrying a firearm during a violent crime.

The Miami case took place at the same time Taylor's father, Charles Taylor, faces a war crimes tribunal at The Hague in the Netherlands.

"It is truly historic -- it's the first case of its type," U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta said outside the federal courthouse in Miami. "I very much hope that this will be a model for other cases to follow."

A Liberian minister told the BBC the verdict demonstrated that nobody can get away with horrendous crimes.