(Torrance, California) A California man who yelled gay epithets and beat a gay marriage supporter during the campaign against Proposition 8 last fall has avoided jail under a deal with prosecutors.
Joseph Storm, 23, has been ordered to attend a tolerance course and take anger management classes after pleading no contest to a charge of assault as a hate crime.
In addition, he was placed on probation for three years and ordered to perform more than 100 hours of community service.
At a preliminary hearing last December, the 22-year-old victim, whose name was being withheld for his own safety, testified that he was terrified he would die in the attack.
The victim said that he was wearing a “No on 8″ button and passed a sign in front of home with a “Yes of 8″ sign in front of it. The victim said that he gave the finger to the sign and was then attacked by Storm, who was coming down the street from the opposite direction.
The victim said Storm hit him with the sign, then with his fists and then began choking him.
During the attack, the victim testified, Storm yelled homophobic and racial slurs at him, although he is not African American.
The victim also said Storm told him that if he ever saw him again “it’s gonna be worse.”
Both Storm and the victim knew each other - they had attended the same high school, but both denied ever having prior contact.
After the attack ended, the victim said he went to the home of a neighbor, fearing Storm would discover where he lived if he went to his own home. A friend took him to the hospital.
The attack was one of a number of incidents reported by both sides in the Proposition 8 battle.
http://www.365gay.com/news/anger-management-class-ordered-in-prop-8-sign-beating/
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