WATCH: Judge gives violent convict a pass to serve ‘sentence’ at home, not behind bars

A judge in Baltimore decided, effectively, to overrule a jury’s verdict of guilty for a man who brutally attacked and permanently injured two senior citizens advocating for life, and gave him a pass to go home as his trial ended.

That’s despite the fact that Patrick Brice, a “pro-abortion zealot,” was convicted by a jury of two counts of second-degree assault and two counts of reckless endangerment, and the possible sentence ranged up to 10 years in prison.

After all, he was on video, without provocation, slamming Richard Schaefer, 84 at the time of the attack, into a concrete planter, knocking him to the sidewalk unconscious, suffering cuts, bruises and head trauma, and then attacking Mark Crosby, 73 at the time, who rushed to help Schaefer.

Brice turned on him, punching him in the face, knocking him to the ground and kicking him in the head.

Both men suffered grave injuries, with Crosby sustaining facial fractures, broken fingers, head and neck injuries and permanent vision loss in one eye.

According to the American Center for Law and Justice, which represented Schaefer, the assaults were “a calculated act of violence by a younger man against two elderly citizens exercising their constitutional rights.”

So charges were brought and the jury convicted.

Then, however, Yvette M. Bryant, the Baltimore judge in the case, stepped in.

In a move that prompted outraged headlines, she gave him a pass to go home, a “slap on the wrist.”

She actually ordered him to a year of home detention, three years of probation and anger management lessons.

“No prison time. No real deterrent. Brice left the courthouse and went home the same day,” the ACLJ reported.

It’s a reminder, the legal team explained, “We must continue the work of defending pro-life advocates.”

The report said, “We witnessed a stunning example of how violent attacks on peaceful pro-life advocates are too often minimized or excused.”

Explained the ACLJ, “The leniency in Brice’s case is even more jarring when compared to how peaceful pro-life advocates have been treated under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. Just months ago, 23 pro-life activists – many elderly, some grandparents – were serving lengthy federal prison sentences for non-violent demonstrations before being pardoned by President Trump. Their ‘crimes’ consisted of peaceful protest and prayer in defense of unborn life. No violence, yet they were sentenced to hard jail time.”

But here, “a man brutally beat two elderly pro-lifers and will serve his ‘sentence’ from the comfort of his own home. The double standard is unmistakable: Peaceful pro-life expression is met with the full weight of federal prosecution, while pro-abortion violence is downplayed and excused.”

The reason?

“This is the abortion distortion in action – the bending of rules, the selective application of justice, and the diminished seriousness assigned to crimes committed against those who speak up for life. If the roles were reversed – if two elderly abortion supporters had been beaten unconscious outside a pro-life pregnancy center – would the outcome have been the same? Experience suggests otherwise,” the ACLJ said.

A lawyer for Crosby said the judge “was plainly wrong” and “should have known better.”

Multiple reports noted that the judge gave the convict nothing more than a “slap on the wrist.”