A Dallas County jury handed down a 75 year prison sentence Thursday for Bobby Singleton (pictured, on left) for brutally beating and robbing Jimmy Lee Dean (pictured, on right) in what prosecutors say was an anti-gay attack.

The jury found Singleton guilty as charged Wednesday of aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony punishable by five to 99 years in prison.

The 75-year sentence means Singleton will serve a minimum of 37 1⁄2 years before he’s eligible for parole.

But even though prosecutors played recordings of jailhouse phone conversations in which Singleton repeatedly used the word “faggot“ in talking about the robbery, the defendant maintained that Dean’s attack wasn’t fueled by antigay hate.

Singleton’s co-defendant, 33-year-old Jonathan Russell Gunter, was sentenced in March to 30 years.

Dean, 43, said afterward that he was satisfied with the sentence, following an emotional four-day jury trial in Dallas County’s 194th District Court.

Tags: Dallas, Hate Crimes, Texas

Filed under: Around the Nation, Texas