SHREVEPORT (AP) — A Shreveport man has been sentenced to 23 years for gay bashing.
William Payne was sentenced Monday in state district court, just days after pleading guilty to attacking a man with a pool cue.
Payne apologized for attacking John Skaggs inside a downtown Shreveport club in January. He told the courtroom he was high and drunk the night he whacked Skaggs in the head with a plastic pool cue.
Skaggs suffered horrific facial injuries.
Payne was sentenced to 18 years for aggravated assault and five years for the hate crime.
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