A Georgia couple was sentenced to prison Monday after being found guilty of making armed threats against African-American birthday party attendees while riding in trucks with a Confederate flag-waving group.
Jose “Joe” Torres was sentenced to 20 years and Kayla Norton got 15 years for the July 2015 incident. Torres, 26, is expected to spend at least 13 of his 20 years in prison, while Norton will spend six of 15 in prison.
Torres was convicted on five counts: three counts of aggravated assault, one count of making terroristic threats, and one count of violating Georgia’s Street Gang Terrorism and Prevent Act, CNN reported.
Norton, 25, was convicted on two counts: one count of making terroristic threats and one count of violation of Georgia’s Street Gang Act.
“Many people tried to make the case about simply flying the Confederate Battle Flag,” Douglas County District Attorney Brian Fortner said in a statement, CNN reported. “This case was about a group of people riding around our community, drinking alcohol, harassing and intimidating our citizens because of the color of their skin.”
“The convoy of trucks passed by the victim’s residence where the victims were grilling hot dogs and hamburgers while hosting a child’s birthday party featuring a bouncy castle, snow-cone machines, and a DJ,” the district attorney’s office said in a post on Facebook. The Confederate flag-waving convoy then yelled racial slurs and got out of their vehicles to issue death threats.
“This was a case where these people pulled out a shotgun and threatened to kill people at a party, including children,” Fortner said, according to The Huffington Post.
Torres and Norton were said to have been part of a smaller group that “threatened to kill the party goers while repeatedly using derogatory racial slurs against them,” the Facebook post said.
"Torres, who had retrieved a shotgun from his vehicle, pointed his shotgun at the group of African-American partygoers and stated he was going to kill them while his co-defendants stated that 'the little ones can get one too,' referring to the young children at the party," the district attorney’s office added.
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