Thu. August 25, 2016
A judge on Wednesday sentenced a Georgia man to 40 years in prison for pouring boiling water on a gay couple.
Martin Luther Blackwell, 48, threw the scalding water on Marquez Tolbert, 21, and Anthony Gooden, 24, as they slept on the living room floor of the apartment Gooden shares with his mother, Kim Foster, who had been dating Blackwell for about a month at the time of the February 12 incident.
After deliberating for roughly 90 minutes, jurors found Blackwell guilty of eight counts of aggravated battery and two counts of aggravated assault, the AP reported.
Tolbert testified that Blackwell told him to "get out of my house with all that gay" after scalding him with the water.
Blackwell's attorney argued that his client was not homophobic but stuck in "old-school culture, old-school thinking" and felt disrespected by the couple's behavior.
Both men were hospitalized; Tolbert, who underwent a skin graft, for 10 days and Gooden for five weeks. Both testified Tuesday on the suffering Blackwell had put them through.
For the complete article (non-reader view with multimedia and original links),
Tap here.
Head to the local LGBTQ news, events, directory and people network at ChicagoPride.com