Young Lee, the Pinkberry frozen yogurt chain co-founder and former kick boxer, was sentenced on Friday to seven years in prison.
A jury had found the 49-year-old guilty last year of beating a homeless man, Donald Bolding, because of his tattoo, which Lee claimed was disrespectful, reports Reuters. He used a tire iron to beat up the man and was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, which came with a special allegations for the injuries Bolding suffered, which were a broken arm and cuts to the head.
The special allegations added three years to the normally four year maximum sentence for the assault, a Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office spokesman said.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Lee, his fiancee and others were in the car when Bolding flashed a tattoo depicting stick figures having sex at them. Lee left initially, but returned with an accomplice and they beat the man up.
Bolding has filed a personal injury lawsuit against Lee, who also allegedly threatened a witness, but prosecutors declined to seek charges.
Judge Henry J. Hall said in court that Lee's attack was "horrendous" and fairly merciless." He continued, "what this case boils down to at the end of the day, is nothing more or nothing less than a savage attack on a defenseless person," which might have had a different outcome had people not intervened.