'Small' KKK Rally Planned For Sunday In Douglasville

DOUGLASVILLE, GA — What authorities are describing as a small protest by the Ku Klux Klan has been scheduled for Sunday at the Douglas County Courthouse.

Sheriff Tim Pounds is urging residents to stay away and ignore the protesters, who are upset about sentences handed down this week to two people who disrupted a black child's birthday party by waving weapons and Confederate flags.

"Sheriff Pounds says that everyone has a constitutional right to peacefully assemble and engage in free speech and is asking that the community allow them to come, protest, and leave without incident," the sheriff's office said Friday afternoon in a Facebook post.

"Sheriff Pounds says that the Klu Klux Klan is just looking for an audience and he is encouraging everyone to avoid the courthouse on Sunday so that their words fall on deaf ears, an 'empty parking lot.' "

Law enforcement officers will be on hand to handle the situation if anything does arise, the post said.

On Monday, Superior Court Judge William McClain sentenced Jose Ismael Torres, 26, to 20 years, with 13 to be served in prison, and Kayla Rae Norton, 25, to 15 years with six years to serve. He also banished both of them from Douglas County upon the completion of their sentences.

The pair, who both wept openly as their sentences were announced, were convicted earlier this month of violating Georgia's street-gang terrorism law, among other crimes.

On July 24-25 of 2015, the two joined a group called Respect the Flag in what became a two-day, alcohol-fueled spree in Douglas and Paulding counties, during which they waved Rebel flags, hurled epithets and threatened several African-American citizens with weapons, including a shotgun.

Upon discovering the child's birthday party, members of Respect the Flag pulled a shotgun and pointed it at party-goers, used racial slurs and threatened to kill people at the party.

The incident happened in the aftermath of the June 2015 shooting deaths of nine worshipers at a black church in Charleston, S.C. The case focused attention on shooter Dylann Roof's obsession with the Confederate battle emblem and led to backlash against the public display of the symbol.

Photos courtesy Douglas County Sheriff's Office