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A Georgia Couple Is Headed to Prison for Making Racist Threats at a Kid's Birthday Party

The state doesn't have a hate crime law on the books, but the judge called it an act of "racial hatred."
Photo by Flickr user Maureen

A white man and a white woman are on their way to prison for their role in a racist attack at a child's eighth birthday in suburban Atlanta, the AP reports.

On Tuesday, Jose "Joe" Torres, 26, and Kayla Norton, 25, were sentenced to 13 years and six years in prison, respectively, for making terroristic threats and violating Georgia's Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act.

The couple, who has kids together but isn't married, was part of a demonstration with the group "Respect the Flag" in July 2015. The group of roughly 15 people decided to travel around Atlanta in a convoy of pickup trucks flying the Confederate flag just weeks after Dylann Roof gunned down nine black people in a South Carolina church. The convoy was nominally a rally to celebrate the history of the flag but devolved into a violent confrontation at a child's birthday party.

The group ended up in Douglasville—part of Douglas County west of Atlanta—where it happened upon an outdoor birthday party, where mostly African American celebrants were having a cookout as children played in a bouncy castle and ate snow cones. Respect the Flag members reportedly shouted racial slurs as they drove past, before circling back. On their second pass, the trucks stopped, and the members got out, threatening to "kill the party goers while repeatedly using derogatory racial slurs against them," according to a statement from the Douglas County District Attorney's Office.

Before the police arrived, Norton reportedly loaded Torres's 12-gauge shotgun and handed it to him. He then pointed it at the partygoers and made death threats, saying, "The little ones can get one too." Norton was accused of saying similar threats.

After the attack, the entire group was indicted as a street gang on terrorism charges. On Tuesday, both Norton and Torres were found guilty of violating the state's street gang act and making terroristic threats. Torres was also found guilty of aggravated assault.

Even though Georgia doesn't have a hate crime law on the books, Judge McClain said, "Their actions were motivated by racial hatred." He also banished the couple from Douglas County after they get out of prison.