Three years after David James “DJ” Bell and his partner Daniel Fair were brutally beaten at their South Salt Lake home, they saw four of their assailants sentenced to time behind bars.
In July 2008, a group of neighbors accused Bell of kidnapping two young children who had wandered over to the gay couple’s home while their parents were partying next door. The angry neighbors broke into the gay couple’s home, shouting anti-gay slurs and beating Bell and Fair with a frying pan, heavy salt shaker and a flat-screen television.
Bell was charged with kidnapping but was acquitted in 2009.
On Monday, Ricky Peace, Ieti Nuusila and Ieti Mageo were sentenced to up to five years in prison after pleading guilty to third-degree felony counts of burglary, aggravated assault and riot. Lulu Latu, a mother of one of the children, was sentenced to one year in jail.
After the sentencing, Bell told reporters, “I’m finally feeling like I’m at peace.”
