A Georgia man who threw boiling water on his partner’s son and his boyfriend as they slept was sentenced to 40 years in prison on Wednesday.
Martin Blackwell, 48, was found guilty of eight counts of aggravated battery and two counts of aggravated assault, according to the Associated Press. Marquez Tolbert, 21, and Anthony Gooden, 24, the son of Blackwell’s girlfriend, were left with severe burns that required surgery.
A truck driver, Blackwell stayed with his girlfriend and her sister in College Park when he was in town. Tolbert and Gooden were sleeping at the apartment after working an overnight shift at a warehouse on February 12, when Blackwell boiled a pot of water and poured it over the men as they slept in the living room.
“They were stuck together like two hot dogs … so I poured a little hot water on them and help them out,” Blackwell said to police, according to the Washington Post. “… They’ll be alright. It was just a little hot water.” His lawyer said he did it because he felt their behavior was disrespectful and that he often made inappropriate comments to members of the household – asking about their sex lives or using derogatory names.
“We’re not going back to when you get to treat people differently because of who they are,” prosecutor Fani Willis said.
The attack was premeditated, she said, as he selected a large pot and waited for the water to boil, giving him time to rethink his actions.
Fulton County superior court judge Henry Newkirk noted that it “takes a long time” for a pot of water to boil. “You were soulless, malicious and a violent person on February 12,” he said to Blackwell according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “You had so many outs, you had so many outs where the voice of reason could’ve taken over.” It took jurors about 90 minutes to deliberate and find Blackwell guilty.
The FBI said it had opened a hate crime investigation in March, but spokesman Kevin Rowson said Wednesday that the agency isn’t commenting on that probe, the AP reported. Georgia, one of the five states in America that does not have a state hate crime law.
In an emotional video with a local news channel, Tolbert said he thought the attack was fueled by hatred. “Why else would you pour boiling hot water on somebody?” He said he woke up flailing and screaming and that Blackwell screamed “Get out of my house with all that gay” after the attack.
Blackwell then threw them out of the apartment, and the two men wandered trying to find someone to help, the Washington Post reported.
The burns required both men to receive skin grafts and surgery. Tolbert was hospitalized for 10 days with burns on his neck, back, arms and legs. Gooden spent a month in the hospital and was in a medically induced coma for two weeks. A graphic photo shared by the Washington Post shows severe burns on his face.
“The pain doesn’t let you sleep. It is excruciating, 24 hours a day and it doesn’t go anywhere and it doesn’t dial down its just there,” Tolbert said in the video. A GoFundMe page, which shows images of Tolbert’s wounds, said he will have to wear compression garments for the next two years, avoid the sun and go to physical therapy as treatment. So far, the campaign has raised more than $70,000.
Tolbert told Project Q Atlanta that they never had problems with Blackwell before. “He seemed like a normal person. I had no idea anything like this would happen at all. This caught me completely by surprise. I didn’t know what was going on and I couldn’t believe the pain I was feeling at the time,” Tolbert said.
Blackwell never took the stand during the trial and appeared to show no reaction as the verdict was read. He had previously rejected a plea deal, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.
“I’m ecstatic,” Tolbert said to reporters. “I think justice has been served.”
- This article was amended on 25 August 2016 to correct the name of the person who poured the boiling water. It was Blackwell, not Gooden.