An Atlanta man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison after he was found guilty on Wednesday after he threw boiling hot water on a gay couple, Anthony Gooden and Marquez Tolbert, as they slept.
The man, Martin Blackwell was convicted of 10 counts – two counts of aggravated assault and eight counts of aggravated battery – in the February attack on the gay couple.
The jury deliberated for about 90 minutes after the brief trial and returned with the guilty verdict. Prosecutors have said that on the night of the attack, Blackwell filled the largest pot in his home with water and set it to boil before tossing it on Gooden and Tolbert, who were sleeping and who had been dating for about a month.
The couple had been staying with Gooden’s mother, who was dating Blackwell.
“You were soulless, malicious and a violent person [during the attack],” Fulton County Superior Court Judge Henry Newkirk said to Blackwell Wednesday before sentencing him, according to the AJC.
Prosecutors argued that Blackwell was motivated by homophobia.
Tolbert testified at trial that Blackwell grabbed him after the
