Jun 13, 2003  |  By: RYAN LEE  | COMMENTS     

ATLANTA — A trio of Fulton County prosecutors convinced a jury that former Morehouse College sophomore Aaron Price was “an angry student with a baseball bat who viciously attacked and almost killed his fellow college classmate,” who was “wet, naked and defenseless.”

But the jury disagreed with prosecutors that anti-gay bias motivated Price’s attack on fellow student Gregory Love, depriving the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office of a full victory in the first trial involving Georgia’s three-year-old hate crimes law.

The seven-man, five-woman jury deliberated two-and-a-half hours on Wednesday before finding Price guilty of aggravated assault and aggravated battery in the Nov. 3 attack in a dorm hall bathroom on the Morehouse campus.

Less than an hour later, after the second phase of the trial that focused on the hate crime charge, the jury returned a not guilty verdict after a 15-minute deliberation.

Fulton County Superior Judge Jerry Baxter sentenced Price to two 10-year prison sentences to run concurrently. The charges carried a maximum sentence of 40 years; the hate crime charge could have added five years to the sentence.

“What I’ve listened to is the victim being put on trial for three days,” Baxter told Price, who cried along with family members when a bailiff read the guilty verdict earlier in the day.

Kellie Hill, an assistant district attorney who cross-examined Price during a contentious portion of the trial on Tuesday, said in an interview after the trial that despite the lack of a conviction on the hate crime charge, the prosecution was a success.

“The message is out there that these cases will be prosecuted,” said Hill, who was joined during the trial by Holly Hughes and Tamara Ross.

“The overall trial itself is tragic,” Hill added. “I don’t think this young man has yet realized the severity of his actions.”

One of Price’s attorneys, Woody Sampson, said the hate crime acquittal was no consolation for Price, whom he called “very emotional.” Under state law, Price must serve at least nine years before he’s eligible for parole.

Sampson said he and Price’s other attorneys, Tony Axam and J. Kevin Franks, will meet with the Price family before deciding whether to appeal the verdict.

The three-day trial marked the first time Price or Love spoke publicly about the events that occurred in the first-floor bathroom of Brazeal Hall last November. That Sunday morning, Price, 19, and Love, 20 — strangers at the time — were both preparing for church.

Testimony by the two men during the three-day trial described two versions of how the incident unfolded.

At about 10 a.m., Price had been showering for five minutes when Love entered the unlit bathroom. On his way to the last shower stall, Love said he glanced into Price’s stall, believing it was his roommate.

Love, who said he is not gay, said he was not wearing his glasses or contact lenses and had difficulty identifying the figure in the shower stall. Upon realizing Price was not his roommate, Love said he apologized, entered the stall next to Price’s and believed the incident had ended.

“He quickly became enraged, stating I was gay and he hates Morehouse College and all these fags,” Love testified on Monday about Price’s reaction to the encounter.

Price agreed that Love said he was sorry for the mistake, but testified that while showering, the 6-foot-2. Love began to verbally harass him and continued to look into his stall.

“He kind of hoisted himself on the wall and I could see his eyes,” said Price, who is 5-3. “He said I better shut up, or he was going to kick my ass.”

Love denied threatening Price, who admitted going to his room, grabbing a wooden youth-sized baseball bat, returning to the bathroom and confronting Love, who was still showering.

“I felt I needed to go tell him — he said he was gonna kick my ass — he can’t just order me around like that,” Price said.

He testified that he poked Love’s shower curtain with the 26-ounce bat, and then Love “charged out at me,” punching Price’s bottom lip.

Price and his attorneys argued he swung the bat in self-defense.

Love told jurors Price re-entered the bathroom without announcing his presence, swung the bat over the shower curtain and struck him in the back of the head. When he turned ...