News / Society

Man who poured boiling water on gay couple not charged with hate crime by police. The FBI says it is considering filling federal hate-crimes charges.

There were reports on the gay couple in Georgia who had boiling water poured on them while they were in bed together last month.

Martin Blackwell was charged today with two counts of aggravated battery for the attack, which gave the couple second- and third-degree burns and required extensive skin grafts.

Blackwell is not being charged with a hate crime by police, though, because Georgia currently doesn’t have any bias-crime statutes. (Neither do Arkansas, South Carolina, Wyoming or Indiana—and 15 other states with have hate-crime laws don’t include sexual orientation or gender identity as motives.)

The FBI has stated it is investigating the incident as possible federal hate crime, however, under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

There are currently GoFundMe pages set up for both Anthony Gooden and Marquez Tolbert to help offset their massive hospital bills.