Clifton Blackwell gets 10 years in prison for 2019 hate crime acid attack

A man who disputed his victim's perceived immigration status before splashing drain cleaner on his face was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison.

A Milwaukee County jury convicted Clifton Blackwell, 64, of first-degree reckless injury, with a dangerous weapon, as a hate crime, in April, rejecting his claim he acted in self-defense. It was the first convictions for a hate crime in Milwaukee County in recent memory.

Blackwell will also be supervised for five years after he is released.

Circuit Judge Jean Kies imposed the penalty the state recommended, after telling Blackwell she expected he would at least apologize to the victim, Mahud Villalaz, who was in court.

In his statement, Blackwell said "He still scares me." Blackwell argued he was a good candidate for probation because he had a perfect record while on pre-trial monitoring for three years.

In his written statement to the court, Villalaz had not requested any prison time for Blackwell, just acknowledgement he was wrong. In a brief interview with reporters after the hearing, Villalaz said he felt justice had been served, and he'd have something positive to tell his young sons about the whole incident.

Villalaz's attorney, Craig Mastantuono, said in a written statement he hopes Blackwell comes to realize what he did was wrong and that racial violence and hatred for immigrants have no place in America, a country of immigrants.

"Unfortunately, as we saw in the tragic killings in Buffalo this week, hate crime is real and rising in our country, stoked by political leaders and media personalities who spread fear and encourage people to act out," Mastantuono said. "That happened here, and is happening across the country."

Assistant District Attorney Jessica Bellows said the 10-year prison term was necessary to protect the public because, "no rehabilitation will fix his hateful mindset."

Defense counsel Michael Plaisted argued two to three years would be sufficient punishment, but that any prison would likely be a life sentence for Blackwell, who his attorney said suffers from poor physical and mental health.

Plaisted called his client a lonely man with beliefs of his own design, not one belonging to any hate groups or subscribed to their theories. He said Blackwell didn't intend to hurt anyone, but did.

In Wisconsin, "hate crime" refers to extra punishment that can be imposed on someone convicted of a crime when the victim was targeted based on race, religion, color, disability, sexual orientation, national origin or ancestry. In Blackwell's case, he faced a maximum prison term from 15 to 20 years.

Milwaukee County prosecutors have charged the hate crime enhancer in other cases, though it often gets dropped as part of a plea bargain or other resolution of the case. District Attorney John Chisholm could not immediately recall on Wednesday the last time a defendant was convicted of a hate crime in the county.

Blackwell and Villalaz were strangers on Nov. 1, 2019, when Villalaz parked his truck on South 13th Street outside a Mexican restaurant, in the bus lane. Blackwell, who was waiting for a bus, told Villalaz he was parked illegally.

The men had an animated discussion that was recorded -- without sound -- on surveillance video. Blackwell reached into his satchel, took out a metal bottle and removed the cap during the exchange.

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Villalaz moved his truck across Cleveland Avenue. On his way to the restaurant again, he and Blackwell had another, more heated encounter that ended when Blackwell splashed the bottle's contents on Villalaz's face.

Villalaz, 43, suffered second-degree burns, and the vision in his left eye is affected to this day, he testified. He admitted to jurors he was angry at Blackwell for calling him illegal, and telling him he "invaded" Blackwell's country and should "go back."

Villalaz emigrated from Peru more than 20 years ago and has been a U.S. citizen since 2013. He said he finally called Blackwell a "racist (expletive)" but that he was not angry enough to want to hurt someone.

During his testimony, Blackwell denied making the remarks about immigration status, though admitted saying "Why don't you obey the laws of my country?" as a "verbal jab" when Villalaz at first didn't want to move his truck. He said he saw Villalaz ball his fist and take at an "attack stance" before splashing the drain cleaner toward him.

Blackwell said he carried the bottle with him for self defense when he had to leave home at night.

He said he didn't try to help Villalaz or stick around after Villalaz ran into the restaurant because he feared others would then come after him. Instead, he walked several block away to a different bus stop.

Kies told Blackwell his victim was a better American than him.

"America is a melting pot. He did everything right. He came to this country, became a citizen, worked hard, did everything by the book," she said to Blackwell. "But you stereotyped him because of his national origin."

Before trial, Bellows tried asked to use Blackwell's old writings, from a computer seized when he was arrested, as "other acts" evidence of his hateful prejudice, to prove motive for the 2019 attack.

Kies ruled most of the writings were too old, irrelevant and prejudicial, but allowed Bellows to bring up a few of them once Blackwell decided to testify.

Contact Bruce Vielmetti at (414) 224-2187 or bvielmetti@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ProofHearsay.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee man sentenced to 10 years for 2019 hate crime acid attack