On May 27, 2004, the court decided to free seven of the 17 imprisoned on sexual abuse charges. Those who were released had been in jail for up to three years. There was simply not enough evidence to keep them in prison. The lawyers of those released immediately began pleading for compensation for their clients who had endured years of emotional and physical suffering.

The trial resumed for another month until July 1, when the hearing was suspended pending deliberation. It took 15 hours for the jury to return a verdict. Theirry Delay was found guilty and received a 20-year sentence for sexually abusing nine children, "carrying out attacks on 6, renting out his 4 children and corrupting 12 children." The article further reported that Myriam was also found guilty of raping seven children, attacking 10 and "pimping her 4 boys and corrupting 11 other children." She received a 15-year sentence. David Delplanque and his former partner Aurélie Grenon were also found guilty on similar charges and were sentenced to six and four years respectively.

Surprisingly, despite the fact that Myriam, Theirry and Aurélie all admitted that the remaining six defendants were not involved in the rapes, the defendants were found guilty of "committing torture and barbaric acts," even though "the charges were never proven," an Expatica.com article reported. Catholic priest, Dominique Weil, who lived next door to the Delay family, received seven years for sexually abusing five children. According to a July 2 Yahoo News article, Delay's neighbor Franck Lavier was sentenced to six years in prison for raping his daughter-in-law and sexually mistreating four other children. The article further stated that his wife, Sandrine, was also found guilty of corrupting children and was sentenced to three years. Moreover, Theirry Dausque was sentenced to four years in prison, Daniel Legrand got a three-year prison sentence and bailiff Alain Marécaux received an 18 months suspended sentence, all for sexual abuse. The defendants' lawyers announced shortly after sentencing that they would appeal the court's judgment.

Alexandra Fouché of BBC News reported the verdict sparked a fierce public and media debate because many of the accusations had not been thoroughly verified prior to the trial and because most of the case was based on inconsistent and incomplete recollections of the children's experiences. Moreover, Fouché claimed that doctors who had examined the children could find no evidence of sexual abuse during physical examinations, which caused many to wonder if the abuse actually took place in some cases.

The problems evident during the trial process revealed that the French justice system was seriously flawed. A July 3 Agence France-Presse article reported that Justice Minister Dominique Perben recognized the "deep-seated problems in the justice system" and in response created "a working group to explore possible reforms of the investigation and detention process." Fouché stated that it is likely that the case will eventually be reassessed.