Leif Le Mahieu (@leif_lemahieu) video screengrab / X
A man who assaulted two elderly pro-life men outside a Planned Parenthood in Baltimore in 2023 was sentenced Aug. 7 to one year of home detention and three years of probation. Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 10 years in prison.
In a news release, Tom Brejcha, president and chief counsel of legal nonprofit Thomas More Society, called 28-year-old Patrick Brice’s sentence a “get out of jail free” card and “a slap on the wrist.”
“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,” Brejcha stated. “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.”
As CatholicVote previously reported, Brice assaulted Dick Schaefer, then 84, and Mark Crosby, then 73, after engaging in an argument with them as they prayed outside a Planned Parenthood facility. According to video footage of the incident obtained by FOX News, Brice shoved Schaefer into a planter, then tackled Crosby to the ground when he tried to intervene. Brice punched Crosby and kicked him in the head.
Baltimore police arrested Brice more than a year after the attack, and he was charged with first-degree felony assault, two counts of second-degree assault, and two counts of assault on elderly people aged 65 and older.
In February 2025, a jury found Brice guilty of the counts of second-degree assault and two counts of reckless endangerment. Baltimore Circuit Judge Yvette M. Bryant acquitted him of the charge of first-degree assault in June.
According to The Baltimore Banner, Bryant was also the judge who issued Brice’s sentence. In addition to the year of home detention, he is required to complete anger management classes, undergo drug and alcohol screening, accept any recommended treatment, and continue therapy.
The outlet also reported that Crosby’s attorney, Terrell Roberts, read a statement on his client’s behalf, which said that Brice’s actions showed a “gross disregard for the law and human decency.”
“We were in no position to defend ourselves,” Crosby stated. “To treat elderly folks with that kind of brutality is shocking.”
Brejcha expressed solidarity with Crosby and Schaefer, stating the release, “When our justice system fails to hold perpetrators like Brice fully accountable, it sends a dangerous message that pro-lifers can be attacked with impunity.”
He added that the sentence endangers peaceful protestors and “undermines the rule of law and the right to free speech.”
“No one should fear being beaten on the sidewalk for simply standing up for the most vulnerable among us,” Brejcha continued. “Violence must never be tolerated, excused, or minimized, especially when it’s politically motivated. Justice was not served in this case, and we must continue to fight until all peaceful pro-life voices are protected.”
