Case Scenario:
On July 25, 2015, Kayla Rae Norton and Jose Ismael Torres drove a pickup truck around Paulding and Douglas counties in Georgia as part of a "Respect the Flag" rally; the truck sported a number of large Confederate flags. They joined about a dozen other people in a convoy of trucks waving Confederate flags. Norton and Torres stopped their truck in front of a birthday party being held for an 8-year-old African American child, featuring a bouncy castle and a snow-cone machine. The pair hurled racial slurs in the family's direction, and then pointed a shotgun at the party guests, threatening to kill them. The couple also yelled threats at African American drivers and approached one vehicle with a gun. Law enforcement officials were later able to locate numerous posts and messages indicating that members of the group were white supremacists who discussed attending KKK rallies, joining Skinheads Nation, and making numerous derogatory remarks about African Americans as a whole.
The facts of the case were not in dispute, and after conviction in 2017, Torres was sentenced to 20 years, 13 of which must be served in prison, for aggravated assault, street gang terrorism, and terroristic threats. Norton received 15 years, with six to be served behind bars, for terroristic threats and street gang terrorism.
"Many people tried to make the case about simply flying the Confederate Battle Flag," Douglas County District Attorney Brian Fortner said in a statement. "This case was about a group of people riding around our community, drinking alcohol, harassing and intimidating our citizens because of the color of their skin." Judge McClain told the couple before handing down their sentences, "If you drive around town with a Confederate flag, yelling the 'N' word, you know how it's going to be interpreted." In all, 15 people were indicted for their part in the "Respect the Flag" rally.
The "Respect the Flag" incident occurred about a month after the Charleston church massacre where Dylann Roof killed nine black worshipers at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Could this incident have influenced the judge's sentence, and if so, should it have?