can be tried in a U.S. federal court , as long as the person is a U.S. national or is present in the United States , regardless of nationality . Calls to Taylor 's defense attorneys were not immediately returned . Prosecutors had asked for Taylor to be sentenced to 147 years . Taylor was born in Boston , Massachusetts , but he moved to Liberia when his father was named president . Prosecutors said Taylor became the leader of the Anti-Terrorist Unit and the Liberian National Police while his father was president . The two groups are accused of abducting , torturing and killing people . From 1999 to 2002 , Taylor committed torture and allowed others to commit torture , prosecutors said . Taylor and his associated burned victims with molten plastic , lighted cigarettes , candle wax and an iron . Some were severely beaten with firearms , cut and stabbed and shocked with an electric device , prosecutors said in an indictment that superseded the initial indictment from 2006 . In the initial indictment , Taylor was charged with one count of torture , one count of conspiracy to torture and one count of using a
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor Sr. was sentenced Friday to 97 years in prison for charges including torture and conspiracy , according to a federal court in Florida . The U.S.-born son of Charles Taylor Sr. , pictured , moved to Liberia when his father became president . U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga sentenced Charles `` Chuckie '' Taylor Jr. , 31 , in a Friday morning session that lasted four hours , according to a court document . Altonaga cited Taylor 's `` sadistic , cruel and atrocious past , '' saying it `` constituted unacceptable , universally condemned torture , '' The Miami Herald reported . `` The lengthy prison term handed down today justly reflects the horror and torture that Taylor Jr. visited upon his victims , '' said Matthew Friedrich , acting assistant attorney general of the criminal division . Taylor , also known as Charles McArthur Emmanuel , was convicted October 30 of torture , conspiracy to commit torture and firearm charges . His case , tried in Miami , was the first brought under a 1994 U.S. law saying those accused of committing torturous acts overseas