A Georgia court got it right when they sentenced 26-year-old Jose Ismael Torres and 25-year-old Kayla Rae Norton to some hard time for waving guns and terrorizing 8 year old black children.
The incident occurred July 2015 in Douglasville, GA. Torres and Norton, as part of a larger group called ‘Respect the Flag,’ pulled up to the birthday party of an 8 year old black child with a convoy of at least 7 pickup trucks, waving confederate flags. As they drove by, the convoy hurled racial slurs and threats at partygoers. At one point Torres pulled out a shotgun and pointed it at the child’s family.
In court Monday, a judge decided to sentence Torres and Norton to a year greater than what the state was seeking. Norton was sentenced to 6 years on one count of violating Georgia’s street gang act and one count of making terroristic threats. Torres was sentenced to 13 years for three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, one count of terroristic threats and one count of violating the street gang act. The couple cried hysterically in court as their sentences were being read.
“The worst decision I’ve ever made in my life was to not walk away when I had the chance,” Norton said. “That is not me. That is not me. That is not him. I would never walk up to you and say those words to you and I am so sorry that happened to you.”
Torres and Norton were the last of the 15 people to be convicted.
Congratulations to the judge who saw this heinous hate crime for what it was.
