A man was found guilty of murder, rape, aggravated assault and aggravated sodomy Monday in the death of an Atlanta LGBT activist.
Donte Lamar Wyatt broke into 37-year-old Catherine Montoya's home in East Atlanta and killed her in April 2015. DeKalb County authorities have said Wyatt raped the victim and strangled her with a scarf.
The jury deliberated about half an hour before convicting him, according to the district attorney's office. He was also found guilty of a subsequent break-in.
Wyatt was given four life sentences, plus 41 years, from Superior Court Judge Asha Jackson. The first three life sentences are without parole.
“This was a horrific, unspeakable crime, and he deserves nothing less than to spend the rest of his life in prison,” District Attorney Robert James said. “We want to assure them that he will never, ever be able to do this to anyone else.”
Police have said he stabbed his wife in Henry County before driving to DeKalb and attacking Montoya, a member of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
In a separate case, he allegedly strangled his cellmate at the county jail and scraped out his eyeballs.
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