142, 143 (1) (834 SE2d 139) (2019) (a trial court is obligated to sentence a defendant pursuant to the statute in effect at the time he committed the offense). 0000027251 00000 n 361 Ga.App. In order to establish that his trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective, Torres must show that his attorneys performance was deficient and that he was prejudiced by the deficient performance. This Court affirmed the five-year sentences imposed for each terroristic threat, concluding that each threat suggest[ed] the death of the husband and wife. Id. The decision to conduct a rigorous investigation led to a successful outcome that best served our community., Jose Torres (credit: Douglas County DA Facebook page), Despite or perhaps because of the Douglasville PDs initial reluctance to arrest any Respect The Flag members, the Southern Poverty Law Center launched an investigation almost immediately after the July 2015 incident. 5D164395 Decided: February 02, 2018 0000018120 00000 n Torress counsel stated: As I understood the question, they were asking about the 18page document. We disagree. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. After the jurors returned to deliberate, the trial court asked counsel whether counsel had any concerns or objections. The court then stated: Im going to slowly and carefully define those offenses for you. The trial court recharged the jury as to elements of a crime, the States burden of proof, and the definitions of the charged offenses. at 247 (2) (citation and punctuation omitted). According to trial counsel, he did not believe that a general demurrer would be meritorious because the defense "knew what [they] were dealing with" and "knew who those specific people were. The Judge Criticized Douglasville Police For Not Arresting Anybody at the The punishment currently prescribed for a terroristic threats conviction reads as follows: OCGA 16-11-37(d)(1). Despite the many news articles with such misleading headlines as Couple sentenced to prison for disrupting birthday party with Confederate flags, Douglasville District Attorney Brian Fortner specified, in a statement posted on the Douglas County District Attorneys Office Facebook page, that the flags had nothing to do with the legal penalties doled out to Torres, Norton or other members of the Respect the Flag group. Torres first asserts that the trial court abused its discretion by failing to completely answer a question posed by the deliberating jury. Jose Torres & Kayla Norton: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. Other members of Respect the Flag pleaded guilty and received lesser sentences. Its inexplicable to me that you werent arrested by the police that day.. Widner, 280 Ga. at 677(2), 631 S.E.2d 675 (citation and punctuation omitted). Id. %PDF-1.4 Debevoise Is Ready. Dyer v. State, 167 Ga.App. This claim therefore fails. In order to establish that his trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective, Torres must show that his attorney's performance was deficient and that he was prejudiced by the deficient performance. Here, Torres failed to establish deficient performance. >> Poole v. State, 326 Ga.App. In addition, at no point did the jurors ask for additional instructions either during or after the recharge. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 687 (III). (WXIA), A metro Atlanta couple will be spending years behind prison bars after they were convicted of yelling racial slurs at a group of people celebrating a child's birthday party. Instead, the trial judge inadvertently applied it to the drug trafficking charge pursuant to section 893.135(1), Florida Statutes (2015). All right?" They caused so much mayhem, McClain said, 911 call centers were flooded with calls. Get a roundup of the most important and intriguing national stories delivered to your inbox every weekday. Jose Ismael Torres, 26, and Kayla Rae Norton, 25, (pictured above) were first arrested and convicted earlier in the month under a street gang terrorism law for the 2015 incident. 0000000017 00000 n A man and woman in Douglas County, in Georgia, have each been given double-digit sentences for their part in crashing an African-American childs birthday party, in what the judge said was a hate crime. ", Count 4 of Torres's indictment alleged the essential elements of the offense, tracked the language of the terroristic threats statute, and sufficiently placed Torres on notice of the crime with which he was charged and against which he was required to defend. Norton was sentenced to 15 years, with a minimum of six to serve. Stewart v. State, 246 Ga. 70, 72(2), 268 S.E.2d 906 (1980); accord Poole, 326 Ga. App. WebGet free access to the complete judgment in Torres v. State on CaseMine. IE 11 is not supported. You didnt take a plea because you thought you were gonna get off. The court responded: I respectfully disagree, and I told yall ahead of time what I was going to do, and there was no issue, and this is sort of an afterthefact objection, as far as thats concerned. Copyright 2023, Thomson Reuters. Dyer v. State, 167 Ga. App. The Daily Report is honoring those attorneys and judges who have made a remarkable difference in the legal profession. Stokes v. State, 355 Ga. App. ! Barnes v. State, 305 Ga. 18, 23(3), 823 S.E.2d 302 (2019) (citation and punctuation omitted). Well blow the head off the little bastards. We disagree. Our Compliance bundles are curated by CLE Counselors and include current legal topics and challenges within the industry. That is not me. She is a two-time James Beard Award finalist and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Contact an Account Specialist [emailprotected] | +1-855-808-4530 (Americas) | +44(0) 800 098 86009 (UK & Europe), Perkins Coie Lays Off 58 Business Professionals, Cravath Set for English Law Debut with Shearman Double Partner Hire, Early Reports: 2023 Am Law 200 Financials, Proskauer Lands Cooley Strategy Leader in New C-Suite Role, AI Has Gone Mainstream. As he sentenced the duo, judge McClain castigated them for their behavior. . The statute at that time contained no misdemeanor provisions. Summers is serving four years in prison and Henderson is serving two. /Prev 100447 Each attorney is granted unlimited access to high quality, on-demand premium content from well-respected faculty in the legal industry along with administrative access to easily manage CLE for the entire team. See id. Hyesha Bryant, who was with her 3 children at the party, accepted the apology. Torres and Norton were sentenced on one count each of making terroristic threats and violating Georgias street gang act; Torres was also convicted of three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided. Elizabeth Dalia Racine , Sean Garrett , Aimee Fatemeh Sobhani , for Appellee. At the conclusion of the recharge, the trial court stated, I think Ive answered your questions. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). Site Map, Advertise| Jose Angel Fuentes Gago . Torres could not admit the conduct alleged in Count 4 and still be innocent of making terroristic threats. Jose Ismael Torres, 26, will spend 13 years in prison; Kayla Rae Norton, 25, is to serve six years, Atlanta news outlets report. See Maynard v. State, 355 Ga. App. Rebel Flag Fans Face Gang Charge for Crashing Black Kids Party, Confederate flag group charged with terroristic threats. Citations are also linked in the body of the Featured Case. The bond hearing is set for Monday morning. Credit: Photo provided by Ceciley Pangburn. Jose Ismael TORRES, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. >> (Getty). Torres must satisfy both prongs of the Strickland test, and if he is unable to satisfy one, we need not examine the other. To meet the second prong, there must be a reasonable probability that, absent counsels errors, the outcome of the trial would have been different. But then Alford thought of the reasons Norton was in court: the convoy of pickup trucks with Confederate flags, the vile racist epithets, the loaded shotgun leveled on her friends and family, the threats to blow childrens heads off. Specifically, Count 4 of Torres's indictment was sufficient to apprise him that he was charged with making the terroristic threats against persons attending a party at 9037 Campbellton Street. Long Waits, Short Appointments, Huge Bills. A jury found Jose Ismael Torres guilty of making terroristic threats, criminal street gang activity, and three counts of aggravated assault. According to court testimony, Kayla Rae Norton, 25, and Jose Ismael Torres, 26, were acting as part of a group that called themselves Respect the Flag. On July 24 and 25, 2015, the group rode through Douglaston, Georgia, in pickup trucks that were flying American, military and Confederate flags. Jose Ismael Torres, 26, and Kayla Rae Norton, 25 reportedly parents of three children were found guilty earlier this month of violating the states street-gang terrorism law. See Bryant v. State, 306 Ga. 687, 689 (1), n. 2 (832 SE2d 826) (2019); Christian v. State, 347 Ga. App. Docket Number: A21A1148: Decision Date: C. J., MCFADDEN, P. J., and SENIOR APPELLATE JUDGE PHIPPS . Widner, 280 Ga. at 677 (2) (citation and punctuation omitted). Dynamically explore and compare data on law firms, companies, individual lawyers, and industry trends. Most of the flag group members were sentenced to misdemeanors or put into diversion programs. Two others had earlier pleaded guilty to similar charges and received lesser sentences. Related: Rebel Flag Fans Face Gang Charge for Crashing Black Kids Party. We likewise find that Torres's threat to shoot the victims in this case suggested the death of the victims, and his five-year felony sentence would be lawful even under the current version of the statute. Officers and supervisors at the scene determined that it was prudent to get both sides of the story and gather more evidence, rather than making hasty decisions that ultimately could have jeopardized the case. q Douglas County Assistant District Attorney David Emadi recounted the moment when Torres leveleda gun at birthday party guests in her front yard. District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District. Hood v. State, 292 Ga.App. The indictment closely tracked the language of OCGA 16-11-37(b),2 which states that "[a] person commits the offense of a terroristic threat when he or she threatens to [c]ommit any crime of violence [w]ith the purpose of terrorizing another[,] or [i]n reckless disregard of the risk of causing the terror." 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