During the first day of testimony, Gregory Love told jurors that he mistakenly looked into a shower stall occupied by Aaron Price because he thought his roommate was in the stall.

Price, 19, has been charged with aggravated assault in connection with the attack seven months ago. He is also being tried under a state hate crime law because prosecutors said the assault occurred because he thought the victim was making a homosexual advance.

Love told the jury in Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter courtroom that Price grew angry after Love looked into the shower.

"He quickly became enraged and began yelling and screaming that I was gay and that he hates Morehouse College because of all these fags," said Love, who added that Price went to his dorm room and returned fully dressed and armed with a baseball bat. "After he ripped the shower curtain down, he pulled me out of the shower and continued bashing my head."

Price's attorney told jurors that his client did not intend to physically attack the victim.

"He went to his room and he got a bat not with the intention of going down there and beating Gregory Love to death or beating him down or inflicting any type of harm on Gregory Love," attorney Woody Sampson said, "But with the intent to tell Gregory Love this is where I live (and) I have to come down to this shower every day and you're not going to be messing with me."

It was expected that Price was going to plead guilty late last week and avert a trial but he apparently changed his mind. After being informed of the decision, the judge began the jury selection process.

Love suffered a fractured skull during the November incident. Authorities have said the beating stemmed from an alleged glance Love made into a shower stall occupied by Price, who was said to have interpreted the look as a sexual advance. Love has told authorities that he wasn't wearing his glasses and looked into Price's shower because he thought it was his roommate.

Fulton prosecutors are trying the case as a hate crime, meaning the judge can tack on an additional five years to Price's sentence for aggravated assault if he is convicted, unless he is given the maximum penalty of 20 years. The law also requires those convicted to serve 90 percent of their sentences.

After the incident, Price was expelled from Morehouse for the attack, which roiled the campus. Some students said the school had not done enough to encourage tolerance on the campus or addressed homophobia among students.

 

 

The prosecution and defense have rested their cases in the Morehouse College beating trial, and Fulton Superior Court jurors are scheduled to hear closing arguments Wednesday morning.

Former sophomore Aaron Price is accused of attacking fellow student Gregory Love in a dormitory shower in the state's first hate crime trial. Price faces a maximum of 20 years on each charge if convicted of aggravated assault and aggravated battery.

District Attorney Paul Howard is prosecuting the case as a hate crime, which could add as much as five years to a sentence.

The prosecution claims Price attacked Love because he suspected Love was a gay student making sexual advances.

In defense testimony, Price admitted that he was "scared and embarrased." when the shower incident occurred Nov. 3. "I was naked in the shower. What could I do?"

Price is accused of attacking Love, a music and political science major, after Love entered a shower area being used by Price. After the encounter, Price acknowledged that he went to his room to get his 26-inch Little League baseball bat but only for his own defense. He claimed that when he returned and tapped with the bat on Gregory Love's shower stall, the taller and larger Love charged him.

Price admitted hitting Love in the head and knocking him down but insisted he hit him only once.

Price denied Love's testimony on Monday that he shouted "faggot" and homesexual slurs, and Price insisted, "I was scared. He's charging at me. He's bigger than I am."

Price admitted in an intensive cross examination by Assistant District Attorney Kellie Hill, that he got his bat because "I was still upset. . . He [Love] violated me by looking at me."

"Did you say you felt that he was sexually aggressive?" Hill asked Price.

Price hedged, saying at first, "I don't know." He later acknowledged using the word "sexually aggressive" in a letter written with the assistance of relatives to Morehouse officials.

The jury is expected to hear closing arguments before Fulton Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter at 9 a.m. Wednesday.