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.