Former deaf school aide to spend 7 years in prison

Clarence Taylor III convicted in November of 2 of 7 sex abuse counts 

Clarence Taylor III walks into the courthouse during his trial.

 ELLICOTT CITY, Md. —A judge sentenced a former aide at the Maryland School for the Deaf on Friday to 30 years in prison, suspending all but seven years, for sexual assaulting two girls at the school. 

Clarence Taylor III was convicted in November of two counts of sexual abusing students at the school's Columbia campus.

Taylor was also order to not go near the school's campuses in Columbia or Frederick and he must complete a lifetime registration as a sex offender. Prior to the sentencing, Taylor asked the judge for home detention, telling the judge, "I'm not guilty of this crime. It didn't happen. The crime I know I'm being falsely accused of, your honor, please be flexible and let me be home with my family."

Prosecutor asked for a total of 20 years for two counts of sex abuse of a minor, claiming a psycho-sexual evaluation diagnosed Taylor as a pedophile and narcissist.

Prosecutors said Taylor never took accountability.

"I'm thinking that he's not thinking and facing reality, but that's his defense, how he can cope with this," said Howard County State's Attorney Dario Broccolino. "As to the sentencing, I would just say, I'm a little disappointed."

Defense attorney Brandon Mead said, "The basis for them listing him as a pedophile is solely the convictions. That's it. If he wasn't convicted, he wouldn't be classified as pedophile. That's it. There was nothing else in his background, in his history, nothing that would indicate pedophilia."

Prosecutor said Taylor, who is also hearing impaired, inappropriately touched seven middle-school girls over a three-year period while he was a student life counselor at the school. The girls said the abuse happened between 2008-2011 when they were between the ages of 10 and 13.

Taylor denied touching the girls when he testified at trial, but during a police interview, he admitted to accidentally touching them on the breasts and buttocks.

The jury in the case came back with a split verdict. Aside from the two guilty counts, it found him not guilty on one count of sexual abuse but couldn't reach a verdict on four others.

The prosecution told 11 News after the trial that it plans to bring the four cases that weren't decided back to trial in May. The defense said it plans to appeal the conviction.