In June, a judge acquitted Patrick Brice of first-degree assault over a brutal assault he carried out against 73-year-old pro-life worker Mark Crosby in front of a Baltimore Planned Parenthood in May 2023.
It was good news for the attacker as he awaited his sentencing, since the acquittal lessened the possibility of jail time.
‘It’s not equal justice under the law.’
Crosby’s attorney Terrell Roberts — retained by the Thomas More Society to assist Crosby amid deliberations — told Blaze News in June that the judge’s acquittal was the “most ridiculous decision I’ve seen in a long while.”
All the reasons why were captured on surveillance video outside the abortion facility.
Brice — a decades-younger male who Crosby estimates stands well over six feet tall and weighed about 250 pounds — reportedly was arguing with Crosby’s fellow pro-life worker, Dick Schaefer, about abortion that day.
Suddenly Brice is seen on video charging at Schaefer and tackling the 84-year-old backward into a large flower pot.
RELATED: Justice for elderly pro-lifer beaten to a pulp outside Planned Parenthood takes brutal turn
According to WBAL-TV, a witness said Schaefer was out cold “for several minutes.”
As you might expect, Crosby — dressed in a blue and white “pro-life” T-shirt — runs over to help his friend.
But Brice is standing directly in Crosby’s path.
And Brice easily knocks the 73-year-old down to the sidewalk and punches Crosby in the head.
Then Brice rears back his right foot and kicks Crosby in the face before finally walking away.
YouTube age-restricted the Baltimore Police video of the attack on Schaefer and Crosby — which may give some indication of its gut-wrenching nature — so you can only view it there.
Here’s a local video report, though.
Local pro-life advocate John Roswell told LifeSiteNews at the time of the attack that Crosby’s “plate bone in his upper right cheek is completely fractured” and that he “is bleeding from some unidentified area behind his eye, and the bone eye orbit is completely shattered and will have to be replaced with metal” as a result of the brutal beatdown.
Crosby told Blaze News that he was blind in his right eye “for nine days” after the attack, that he spent three days at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, that he was “spitting blood,” and that a piece of his iris is missing.
He also told Blaze News he still experiences foreign body sensation, which is a “feeling that something’s in your eye and you can’t get it out. But I can live with that. Babies are being murdered. I give it up for them.”
A few weeks after the attack, police released surveillance images of the culprit, but it wasn’t until over a year later — July 1, 2024 — that police finally arrested Brice. He was indicted on charges of first-degree assault, second-degree assault, and assault on an elderly person 65 and over, according to the American Center for Law and Justice. He was released on his own recognizance, Catholic Review said.
The criminal trial for Brice took place in February 2025 in Baltimore Circuit Court. Brice’s attorney — assistant public defender Matthew Connell — argued that his client didn’t intend to cause serious physical injury, which is needed to support a conviction for first-degree assault, the Baltimore Banner reported.
Connell also called Schaefer and Crosby “old white men” who say “the most vile things” to women and see themselves as “religious martyrs,” Catholic Review reported. He also said Brice “didn’t mean to hurt them that bad” and “made a mistake,” the Banner reported.
The jury convicted Brice on two counts of second-degree assault and reckless endangerment for his attacks on Schaefer and Crosby, the Banner said, adding that jurors acquitted Brice on one count of first-degree assault against Schaefer.
However, the jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict on the first-degree assault charge for Brice’s brutal attack on Crosby — knocking him to the ground, punching him in his head, and kicking him in his face while he was on his back on the sidewalk.
Crosby was then left waiting for justice.
‘Legally absurd’
The opportunity came — and went — during June’s retrial of Brice’s first-degree assault charge for his attack on Crosby. Circuit Judge Yvette M. Bryant — who presided over February’s jury trial — presided again during the bench retrial, and she acquitted Brice of first-degree assault, the Banner said in a separate story.
Her reason? The paper said the judge concluded that it was all about Crosby’s intent. Does video of the attack show him rushing over to help his friend? Or does it show 73-year-old Crosby running over to fight Brice — a bigger, taller 20-something who had just knocked Schaefer out cold?
The Banner said Bryant agreed that Brice’s attack against Crosby was unjustified — but disagreed with the prosecution’s contention that it was unprovoked.
“How can you claim a 73-year-old man provoked a man who just knocked out an 84-year-old man? It’s legally absurd,” Roberts remarked to Blaze News at the time, adding that “any judge would have to find him guilty based on the video.”
Crosby added to Blaze News that Bryant stated in court that he could have “gone around Brice to help Dick Schaefer” rather than taking a path directly to his friend to give him aid. “So she’s blaming me. … I’m the bad guy.”
A frustrated Crosby also told Blaze News at the time that “now the pro-abort movement will know this, and violence will continue against us.”
Brice’s sentencing took place Thursday.
What happened at the sentencing?
During the hearing, Roberts read Crosby’s victim impact statement, which said, “Due to the brutality of the attack, I respectfully call for the court to impose a lengthy sentence of imprisonment for the defendant in this case.”
That didn’t happen.
Brice got no jail time. Instead, Judge Bryant ordered him to spend one year on home detention and gave him three years’ probation, the Banner reported in a separate story.
In addition, Brice must complete anger management classes, undergo drug and alcohol screening, virtually attend Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings, and remain in therapy, the paper said.
Blaze News spoke with Crosby and his attorney, Roberts, following Brice’s sentencing. As you might expect, both were upset about it.
Roberts said that “clearly justice was not done here. The sentence for this kind of criminal act should be jail time without any question.” He added that Brice’s attack left “permanent” injuries and that “he fled the scene, leaving Mark and Dick lying on the ground.” But instead of jail time, Brice was “walking out without any kind of punishment. It’s shameless. And it pretty much means it’s open season for any pro-life person working” in front of Planned Parenthood.
Crosby told Blaze News that after the judge handed down her sentence and was walking out the courtroom door, he “screamed out” at her, asking, “What about my well-being?”
He added that the Brice’s sentence includes a lot of “easy stuff” and that “it’s not equal justice under the law.” Crosby noted that he’s hoping the federal government will look at the case.
But despite his disappointment, Crosby added to Blaze News that he “couldn’t ask for a better gift” than “shedding my blood on the bricks in front of Planned Parenthood and suffering pain for Jesus and the babies.”
Crosby also said since the attack, “wonderful things have happened — along with the not-so-wonderful things — but there’s no greater joy than saving one of God’s beautiful babies from being murdered. It’s a great feeling when people come up and say thank you for counseling them — and that their babies are alive and well.”
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