A man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for throwing boiling water on a sleeping same-sex couple. Martin Blackwell was convicted on multiple counts of aggravated assault and aggravated battery in an Atlanta courtroom Wednesday.


Anthony Gooden and his partner were asleep in their Atlanta apartment when Blackwell, the boyfriend of Gooden's mother, poured scalding hot water all over them.

Gooden was in the hospital for over a month. His partner, Marquez Tolbert, sustained second- and third-degree burns on his neck, back and arms. He spent 10 days in the hospital.

"The pain doesn't let you sleep. It's just, like, it's excruciating, 24 hours a day, and it doesn't go anywhere. I can barely think straight because the burning, the stinging is everywhere,” Tolbert told CNN affiliate WSB.

Blackwell, found guilty of two counts of aggravated assault and eight counts of aggravated battery, told police after the attack, "They'll be all right. It was just a little hot water on them." He didn't agree with the gay couple being in the house, even though the house wasn't his. It belonged to Gooden and his mother.

Gooden's mother had been dating Blackwell around three years at the time of the attack.