2 Texas men get 15-year sentences for torture of gay man
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Two Texas men have received the maximum 15-year sentences in federal prison after pleading guilty to federal hate crime charges in the March 2012 torture of a gay African-American man in Corpus Christi.
Ramiro Serrata Jr. and Jimmy Garza were sentenced Wednesday in Corpus Christi by Senior US District Judge Hayden Head. Both men must pay the victim $10,800 in restitution, serve three years of supervised release and register as sex offenders. Both pleaded guilty last September.
Garza, who is 33, and Serrata, who is 23, admitted luring the man to an apartment and, for three hours, punching, kicking and assaulting him with various weapons, including a frying pan, a battery-filled sock, a belt and a broomstick. They taunted him with racist and homophobic epithets.
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