Man convicted in racist 2019 acid attack in Milwaukee

[Eugene]

2019 DU thread: A US citizen says he had acid thrown in his face after being told to go back to his country

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Source: Associated Press

Man convicted in racist 2019 acid attack in Milwaukee

April 29, 2022

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A jury has convicted a white Milwaukee man who was accused of throwing acid on a Latino man’s face during a racist attack in 2019.

Clifton Blackwell, 64, was found guilty Thursday of first-degree reckless injury, with a dangerous weapon, as a hate crime. He faces up to 20 years in prison at his sentencing May 18.

The jury rejected Blackwell’s argument that he acted in self-defense after arguing with Mahud Villalaz over street parking in November 2019 in Milwaukee. He accused Villalaz, who suffered second-degree burns, of being in the country illegally and invading the United States.

Blackwell was waiting for a bus when he told Villalaz that he had parked his truck illegally in a bus stop zone outside a restaurant, prosecutors said. The two could be seen on surveillance video, but not heard, and Blackwell could be seen retrieving an aluminum bottle from his satchel.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/crime-united-states-milwaukee-hispanics-hate-crimes-d7aa9a47b235caa9f4958aa3472eb5b2


FILE - Clifton A. Blackwell, accused of throwing acid on a Latino man’s face during a racist attack, appears in a Milwaukee County Court in Milwaukee on Nov. 6, 2019. Blackwell, 64, was found guilty Thursday, April 28, 2022, of first-degree reckless injury, with a dangerous weapon, as a hate crime. He faces up to 20 years in prison at his sentencing May 18. (Mike De Sisti/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP, File)