News (USA)

No prison time for Army veteran who attacked gay men at Austin pride

No prison time for Army veteran who attacked gay men at Austin pride

AUSTIN — A U.S. Army veteran accused of assaulting two gay men during Austin Pride in 2012 has been sentenced to 10 years probation and 200 hours of community service after he pleaded guilty to assault charges on Wednesday.

Lambert Borgardt
Lambert Borgardt

KVUE-TV reports that Lambert Borgardt, 31, was indicted on two counts of aggravated assault in the October 2012 attack that was captured on surveillance video.

In the attack, Borgardt argued with the two victims who stopped at a pizza trailer on their way to a gay pride event, then punched each in the face.

The victims, Nick Soret and Andrew Oppleman, believe they were attacked because of their sexual orientation, but a grand jury decided not to charge Borgardt with a hate crime.

Oppleman lost nine teeth as a result of the attack and Soret suffered a fractured nose.

At his sentencing, Borgardt told the judge he wasn’t sure why he attacked the men, and apologized to the victims.

But Oppleman said he thinks the remorse wasn’t sincere. He said Borgardt showed “more remorse for the predicament and the situation he’s in” rather than “true remorse for what he did.”

KVUE-TV has more:

Borgardt faces a second trial next year on an aggravated assault charge from the same attack, and could be sentenced to one year in jail.

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