A nearly decade-old clip of a crying defendant saying “that’s not me” after she was convicted of a hate crime is going viral, offering a glimpse into a racist’s identity unraveling in the face of real consequences.
In the resurfaced footage, Kayla Rae Norton of Georgia, then 25, sobbed and shook her head “no” as she addressed her victims in a Douglas County courtroom before her final sentencing.
She simultaneously accepted responsibility for her heinous actions and, in the same breath, denied them. Now, viewers are looking back and debating whether she was showing genuine remorse, being manipulative, or just plain delusional.
In 2015, Norton and her partner at the time, Jose “Joe” Torres, went on a racist rampage against a Black family celebrating their 8-year-old’s birthday with a cookout and a bouncy castle in their Douglasville yard. Armed with shotguns and traveling in a convoy of pickup trucks that had been terrorizing the neighborhood, Norton and Torres pointed weapons at partygoers, hurled a barrage of slurs, and waved Confederate flags.
“I do accept responsibility for what I’ve done. I know I was in the wrong,” Norton told Hyesha Bryant, who testified on behalf of the victims. Norton then turned to the packed courtroom and said, “But I want you all to know that that is not me. That’s not me, that’s not him. I would never walk up to you and say those words to you, and I’m so sorry that that happened to you.” Torres, with whom she shares three kids, sat hunched next to her, crying and shaking.
Bryant showed remarkable grace, offering the couple forgiveness. “I’m not a mean-spirited person,” she told them, “I don’t have hate or anger in my heart.”
A Georgia couple terrorized a Black family at a child’s birthday party.
— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) May 7, 2026
Confederate flags. Racial slurs. Guns. Death threats.
Joe Torres got 20 years.
Kyla Norton got 15.
This is what accountability looks like when the system works. pic.twitter.com/NUgdtc4mkt
They were both found guilty of terroristic threats and violating Georgia’s Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act — at the time, Georgia did not have a stand-alone hate crime statute. Torres was convicted of additional aggravated assault charges.
Superior Court Judge William McClain sentenced the couple to a combined 19 years in prison: 13 years and seven years’ probation for Torres, and six years with nine years’ probation for Norton. Both were never to set foot in Douglas County again.
Though the clip has been framed on social media as an example of “what accountability looks like,” the truth is not so clear-cut. Norton was paroled on September 27, 2019, after serving about two years in jail, or one-third of her time.
Though her dramatic sentencing made headlines, news of her release flew under the radar. According to local station 11Alive WXIA, one of her victims only found out she had been freed when she saw Norton walking on the street, though District Attorney Ryan R. Leonard stated that all victims had been notified in writing.
According to the outlet, she was to remain under the supervision of the Department of Community Supervision until her sentence ended on February 2, 2023. Torres continues to serve out his sentence at the Jefferson County Correctional Institute in Georgia.
