DOUGLASVILLE, GA — A Douglas County jury has convicted two people accused of waving Confederate flags, using racial slurs and carrying weapons, disrupting a black child's birthday party.

Jose Torres and Kayla Norton were members of Respect The Flag, a group that had been demonstrating in defense of the Confederate battle flag in July 2015 when they drove past the party. Their sentencing is set for February 27.

In a written statement, District Attorney Brian Fortner said people had tried to make the case about the defendants' First Amendment rights to display the battle flag. But in the end, he said, it wasn't about that at all. "Instead, 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," Fortner said. "Many people from all over this area were so alarmed by this behavior and fearful that something bad was going to happen that they called 911 to report it."

Fortner said that, after stopping at the child's birthday party, members of Respect the Flag pulled a shotgun and pointed it at party-goers, used racial slurs and threatened to kill people at the party. "I will simply not tolerate this type of behavior in our community," he said. "All of the charges were based on threats to kill others and the pointing of the shotgun. This is behavior that even supporters of the Confederate Battle Flag can agree is criminal and shouldn't be allowed."



Assistant District Attorney David Emadi emphasized the racial nature of the incident.

"This case was about the fundamental right that all people in our community have to live free from fear that at any moment they will be assaulted, threatened, and possibly killed simply because of the color of their skin," he said.

The incident happened in the aftermath of the June 2015 shooting deaths of nine worshipers at a black church in Charleston, S.C. The case focused attention on shooter Dylann Roof's obsession with the Confederate battle emblem and led to backlash against the public display of the symbol. Members of Respect the Flag had claimed that people at the Douglasville party threw rocks at them as they were driving by in a convoy, prominently displaying the flag.