The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
2 in flag case face 20 years in prison
Group disrupted birthday party amid heated national debate.
Two people who used Confederate flags, racial epithets and threats to disrupt an African-American birthday party in Douglasville could be sentenced today to up to 20 years in prison.
Kayla Rae Norton, 25, and Jose Ismael Torres, 26, were convicted this month of violating the state’s street-gang terrorism law and have been held without bond as they await sentencing. They are to appear before Superior Court Judge William McClain at 9:30 a.m. today.
The two are the last of 15 people charged in the confrontation, which took place in Douglasville in July 2015. Weeks before, the Charleston church massacre prompted a nationwide debate
about the flag’s role in public life.
The decision to indict Norton and Torres under the street-gang statute was unusual, but Douglas County officials said it was appropriate.
“Members of the group pulled out a shotgun and pointed it at the victims,” Douglas County District Attorney Brian Fortner said in a statement. “They used racial slurs and threatened to kill some of the party-goers. They even threatened to kill children at the party. This is behavior that even supporters of the Confederate battle flag can agree is criminal and shouldn’t be allowed.”
Assistant District Attorney David Emadi said the case did not hinge on First Amendment rights — as some flag supporters have asserted — or the right to fly the battle flag. Emadi said the case is “about the fundamental right that all people in our community have to live free from fear that at any moment they will be assaulted, threatened and possibly killed simply because of the color of their skin.”
Georgia has no hate crimes statute.
Norton will be sentenced on one count of violating the street gang act and one count of making terroristic threats. Torres will be sentenced on three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, one count of terroristic threats and one count of violating the street gang act. The aggravated assault charges carry up to 20 years for each count and the street gang act carries between five and 20 years, said Emadi. A terroristic threat conviction is punishable by up to five years in prison.
The confrontation began on a sunny afternoon on which two groups of people gathered to celebrate two very different occasions. Melissa Alford was hosting a child’s birthday party at her house in Douglasville. Not far away in Paulding County, Torres and the others were attending a “Respect the Flag” rally.
On June 17, less than a month earlier, white supremacist Dylann Roof killed nine African-Americans at a historic black church in Charleston. Roof, who was sentenced to death for his crime, brandished the battle flag in several photographs that came to light after his arrest. He said it had been his intent to kill black people and start a race war.
In the immediate aftermath of the massacre, states across the South began removing Confederate flags from municipal buildings and spaces. Those removals triggered a backlash from flag proponents, who rallied around their embattled symbol. Into that climate Torres, Norton and the 13 others left their rally, flags streaming from their convoy of pickup trucks, and happened upon Alford’s party. The ensuing confrontation was captured on cellphone video.
Alford told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution at the time that “if they want to make a statement that these flags mean something to them, I’m OK with that. But you’ve got to do it right. You can’t go around just blatantly terrorizing people.”
Thomas Charles Summers, 46, was part of the convoy and pleaded guilty to terroristic threats and battery charges. He is now serving a four-year prison sentence, Emadi said. Lacey Paul Henderson II, 38, also pleaded guilty to terroristic threats and is serving a two-year sentence.
Others pleaded to misdemeanor offenses; some, who Fortner said were “minimally involved,” were put into diversion programs requiring them to do community service.
Jeffery Wigley of Dallas, Ga., was placed in such a program, though he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week that he had not begun his service.
Wigley, 28, said the incident “got blew up way bigger than it was.” He said no one in Alford’s group appeared to be afraid, though they did seem angry.
He said he views the Confederate flag as a Christian flag, one that celebrates his ancestors who served in the Confederate army. It’s an emblem that he said means a lot to him and one he still believes should be flown.
“The Civil War was not about slavery,” Wigley said. “It was about independence and states rights. I believe we need truthful education in that area. There’s a lot of ignorance out there.
“I think black folks have been told it’s a flag of hate, but they don’t know the true history. They need to be educated and read up on it.”
Asked whether he would be open to hearing the perspective of African-Americans who had studied history and who believe the flag to be a divisive symbol, Wigley said he would.
“I would listen to what they had to say and understand their point of view, but I’d hope they’d listen to mine.”