Man caught on video attacking pro-life protesters gets slap on wrist by judge
A 28-year-old man who was caught on video attacking two pro-life activists outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Baltimore was sentenced this week to a year of home detention and three years of probation.
Baltimore Circuit Judge Yvette M. Bryant rebuffed prosecutors’ calls for a 10-year sentence against Patrick Brice, 28, after he was found guilty of two counts of second-degree assault and reckless endangerment in relation to the May 2023 incident, according to The Baltimore Banner.
"What about my rights and my well-being?" one of the victims in the attack, Mark Crosby -- who was 73 years old at the time -- reportedly shouted at Bryant on Thursday as she left the bench.
Brice said on May 26, 2023, he intended to debate Richard Schaefer – the other victim, who was 84 – about the concept of sin outside the Planned Parenthood facility, but then lost it after Schaefer made what he perceived to be a racial remark, The Baltimore Banner reported. Surveillance video showed Brice shoving Schaefer into a flowerpot and then assaulting Crosby when he rushed to his aid.
As part of his sentence, Brice must complete anger management classes, undergo drug and alcohol screening and remain in therapy, the website added.
It also said Crosby suffered permanent damage to his right eye as a result of the assault.
"This was not a minor altercation between two parties with differing views on abortion. It was a vicious, targeted assault on two senior citizens whose only ‘offense’ was praying for expectant mothers and offering life-affirming alternatives to abortion," Tom Brejcha, the President and Chief Counsel of the conservative law firm Thomas More Society, said in a statement.
"One of the victims was knocked unconscious. The other suffered broken facial bones and a lifelong eye impairment. This was an act of cowardice and cruelty, and sheer mayhem. This crime deserves far more serious consequences than a ‘get out of jail free’ card and a one-year home detention that amounts to nothing more than a slap on the wrist," he added.
Baltimore Circuit Judge Yvette M. Bryant rebuffed prosecutors’ calls for a 10-year sentence against Patrick Brice, 28, after he was found guilty of two counts of second-degree assault and reckless endangerment in relation to the May 2023 incident, according to The Baltimore Banner.
"What about my rights and my well-being?" one of the victims in the attack, Mark Crosby -- who was 73 years old at the time -- reportedly shouted at Bryant on Thursday as she left the bench.
Brice said on May 26, 2023, he intended to debate Richard Schaefer – the other victim, who was 84 – about the concept of sin outside the Planned Parenthood facility, but then lost it after Schaefer made what he perceived to be a racial remark, The Baltimore Banner reported. Surveillance video showed Brice shoving Schaefer into a flowerpot and then assaulting Crosby when he rushed to his aid.
As part of his sentence, Brice must complete anger management classes, undergo drug and alcohol screening and remain in therapy, the website added.
It also said Crosby suffered permanent damage to his right eye as a result of the assault.
"This was not a minor altercation between two parties with differing views on abortion. It was a vicious, targeted assault on two senior citizens whose only ‘offense’ was praying for expectant mothers and offering life-affirming alternatives to abortion," Tom Brejcha, the President and Chief Counsel of the conservative law firm Thomas More Society, said in a statement.
"One of the victims was knocked unconscious. The other suffered broken facial bones and a lifelong eye impairment. This was an act of cowardice and cruelty, and sheer mayhem. This crime deserves far more serious consequences than a ‘get out of jail free’ card and a one-year home detention that amounts to nothing more than a slap on the wrist," he added.
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