Heavy sentence for Confederate flag-waving pair who intimidated black family birthday
A Georgia judge sentenced a weeping man and a woman to spend a combined 28 years in prison for their roles in a 2015 Confederate flag display that disturbed a group of black people attending a child's birthday party.
Defendants Jose Torres, 26, and Kayla Norton, 25, were convicted earlier this month of charges that include making "terroristic threats" during the confrontation in Douglas County near Atlanta, which occurred at a time of heated national debate about a flag that many consider a symbol of racism.
Norton burst into tears and begged for leniency and forgiveness from the family, telling the court, "that is not me."
Jose Torres (left) and Kayla Norton (right) were sentenced to a combined 28 years in prison. Source: Fox5
"I want you all to know that that is not me. That is not him," Norton told the victim Hyesha Bryant.
"I would never walk up to you and say those words to you and I am so sorry that that happened to you."
The pair were among several people accused of intimidating a black family at a 2015 children's birthday party. Source: YouTube
Standing in court, Ms Bryant told Norton and Torres, "I forgive you. And to your family I'm sorry it had to come this far."
Georgia Superior Court Judge William McClain sentenced Torres to serve 13 years in prison, and Norton to serve six years in prison, Douglas County District Attorney Brian Fortner said in a phone interview. Both face probation after their release, and were banished from Douglas County.
Attorneys for Torres and Norton could not immediately be reached for comment.
The pair were found guilty of making 'terroristic threats'. Source: YouTube
Norton told the victims 'that was not me' during the sentencing. Source: Fox5
The sentences were a year longer than prosecutors had asked for, said Fortner, noting the crimes went beyond disagreements over the battle flag used by the pro-slavery South during the US Civil War, which some defend as part of its heritage.
"This was a case where these people pulled out a shotgun and threatened to kill people at a party, including children," he said.
The convoy of trucks bearing the Confederate flag cruised the black family's gathering after the Charleston shooting. Source: YouTube
The incident played out during heightened debate over the symbolism of the flag, triggered by the racially-motivated shooting deaths of nine black churchgoers in Charleston in South Carolina weeks earlier.
Prosecutors said witnesses attending the birthday party, featuring a bouncy castle and snow cone machine, testified that people in a convoy of trucks displaying the flag shouted racial slurs as they drove by, stopping next to the party.
Victim Hyesha Bryant said she forgave the pair and apologised to their families. Source: Fox5
Torres was accused of pointing a shotgun at the predominately black partygoers and threatening to kill them, prosecutors said in a news release. Norton loaded the shotgun and gave it to him, they said.
The pair faced some of the most serious charges out of 15 members of the group "Respect the Flag" indicted over the incident, Fortner said.
Two others facing similar charges pleaded guilty and were sentenced to lesser prison sentences.
