Two people have been jailed for their role in ruining a black child's birthday party with Confederate flags, racial slurs and armed threats.

Jose Ismael Torres, 26, will spend 13 years in prison and his partner Kayla Rae Norton, 25, is to serve six years for what a judge described as "actions motivated by racial hatred".

Assistant District Attorney David Emadi told the court in Douglas County, west of Atlanta, that the pair were part of a larger group that had gone on a drunken rampage in a pick-up truck with Confederate flags over two days in July 2015.

He said the group threatened African-American drivers and shoppers in Paulding and Douglas counties, yelled at them and walked up to one of their cars with a gun.

As part of the rampage, the group yelled racial slurs and death threats at people attending a birthday party for a black eight-year-old in Douglasville.


After the pair were convicted earlier this month, Douglas County District Attorney Brian Fortner said: "Members of the group pulled out a shotgun and pointed it at the victims.

"They used racial slurs and threatened to kill some of the party-goers.

"They even threatened to kill children at the party.

"This is behaviour that even supporters of the Confederate battle flag can agree is criminal and shouldn't be allowed."

Image: The group's actions came weeks after Dylann Roof murdered nine African-Americans

The group's actions came just a few weeks after white supremacist Dylann Roof had murdered nine African-Americans at a church in Charleston.

According to a report in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Superior Court Judge William McClain told Torres and Norton, who are not married: "Everywhere you went 911 call centres were flooded with calls."

He added that the actions of the pair were "motivated by racial hatred".

Norton was sentenced for violating Georgia's street gang act and one count of making terroristic threats.

Torres was sentenced on three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, one count of terroristic threats and one count of violating the street gang act.

Georgia does not have a hate crimes law.

Torres said nothing in court but cried as three of his relatives told the hearing he was a hardworking plumber, volunteer football coach and devoted father of three.

Norton, who is the mother of Torres' children, told the court that she accepted "responsibility for what I've done".

She told the court that she and Torres had attended both days of her group's rampage, adding: "The worst decision I've ever made in my life was to not walk away when I had the chance."

Judge McClain also banned the pair from entering Douglas County, west of Atlanta, after their release from jail.