MARYLAND – Teonna Monae Brown, 19, who pleaded guilty last month to first-degree assault and a hate crime in the beating of transgender woman Chrissy Lee Polis, 22, at a McDonalds restaurant, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, with five years suspended, plus three years of supervised probation.
The April attack drew national attention after a video went viral online, and it became a rallying point for transgender-rights advocates
The Baltimore Sun reported that Brown tearfully apologized in court and asked for a second chance. “My mother didn’t raise me like this,” Brown said before her lawyer asked the judge for probation only. “I would really like to apologize to the victim.”
Baltimore County Circuit Judge John Grason Turnbull II called Brown’s attack on Polis “absolutely outrageous behavior” and said the prosecutors’ sentencing recommendation was “more than reasonable.”
However, many transgender advocates have condemned the sentence as being too lenient.
Patrick Wojahn, board president of the Equality Maryland Foundation said, “The whole incident is unfortunate and demonstrates the lack of knowledge and understanding, and discrimination against transgender people. If anything, five years may have been too short of an amount of time for the attack and the amount of hatred that was shown in the incident.”
According to The Sun, Vicky Thoms, 55, a bystander who was punched in the face when she tried to intervene in the beating, attended the sentencing. Afterward, she said she did not know if justice was served, but hoped that Brown and others would take away a message about the world needing more love and less violence.
After the sentencing, Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger said that, “It was very important that even though this defendant has no criminal record, that she receive substantial time in jail.” He said the violence of the repeated assaults warranted it.
