Tampabay: Man gets house arrest, probation for hate crime

TAMPA -- A Hillsborough judge sentenced a 21-year-old Clearwater man to house arrest and probation Monday for attacking three men after a gay pride event last July.

Earlier this month, Devin Scott Angus pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated battery and battery with evidence of prejudice, a hate crime. He could have faced up to 30 years in prison.

Prosecutor John Terry asked the judge to give Angus a four-year prison sentence.

Instead, Hillsborough Circuit Judge Chet Tharpe sentenced Angus to two years of house arrest followed by four years' probation and 500 hours of community service.

The victims, all St. Petersburg men, were leaving a party at the Florida Aquarium when Angus confronted them in a Channelside parking garage.

Before attacking the men, Angus taunted them by dropping his pants and screaming obscenities. Sonny Gonzales received a head laceration, Stephen Hair suffered a skull fracture, a split sinus and a broken front tooth, and Scott Boswell got a split lip.

At the sentencing hearing Monday, Angus tearfully apologized to the victims, saying he was drunk when he attacked them and didn't know why he did it. He said he did not hate them.

The victims wanted Angus to serve prison time. In court, Gonzales showed the scar on his head that remained from the attack and described the lingering emotional trauma. He said he doubted he could attend another gay pride event for fear of violence.

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