June 11, 2003

Wait Till He Gets to the Prison Showers

Price Found Guilty of Assault, Not of Hate Crime

EARLIER: Dorm beating defendant testifies: 'I was embarrassed'

A Fulton County Superior Court jury has found former Morehouse student Aaron Price guilty of aggravated assault and aggravated battery in the Nov. 3 beating of fellow student Gregory Love in a dormitory shower.

Later, the jury concluded that the incident was not a hate crime. Attorneys had argued for and against the proposition that the crime was motivated or aggravated by bias against someone thought to be a homosexual.

If the jury had decided the beating was a hate crime, Price could have received an additional five years on his sentence. He could get a maximum sentence of 20 years each for aggravated assault and aggravated battery.

Price expressed no emotion as the gulty verdict was read, but later wiped his face with a handkerchief.

The jury had deliberated for about two hours and 15 minutes in deciding his guilt on the assault and battery counts.

Posted by ronn at June 11, 2003 05:14 PM

Comments
Leave it to Morehouse to issue a weak blanket statement about not tolerating violence or intolerance of any form on their campus. That is crazy - I just graduated from there and man...the stories I could tell. Morehouse'll try and sweep this under the rug, but I think they're cat's out of the bag now. Posted by: karsh on June 11, 2003 11:46 PM
Ronn, I am giving this a link at Silver Rights. Posted by: J.G. on June 13, 2003 11:18 AM
I was surprised that the jury convicted on the serious charges. I am not worried (that much) about the hate crime acquital. I am not a fan of such legislation. Karsh, Morehouse is emblematic of many African American institutions: ineffectual and/or stuck in the past. J.G., I would be interested in the responses you get to the link and your post on the subject. Posted by: ronn on June 15, 2003 10:38 AM