A jury has convicted an Atlanta truck driver accused of pouring boiling water over two gay men seriously burned as they slept in February.
The jury Wednesday find Martin Blackwell guilty of eight counts of aggravated battery and two counts of aggravated assault, according to the Associated Press.
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Blackwell was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
The 48-year-old wasn’t charged with a hate crime because Georgia is one of five states that do not have hate crime statutes. An FBI spokesman told Reuters that federal investigators are considering whether to charge Blackwell with a federal hate crime.
Blackwell, who dates the mother of one of the victims, told police he attacked the men because he was disgusted by their relationship, said Reuters.
Blackwell, came in the house and saw the two men lying next to each other.
He went to the kitchen, filled a pot with water and set it to boil which later he poured the boiling water over them, The Washington Post reported.
“I woke up to the most unimaginable pain in my entire life, ” Tolbert said, sobbing frequently during his testimony, according to the AP. “I’m wondering why I’m in so much pain. I’m wondering why I’m wet. I don’t understand what’s going on.”
Tolbert told WSBTV Blackwell then allegedly yanked him off the mattress and yelled, “Get out of my house with all that gay.”
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