Man Who Brutally Assaulted Pro-Life Advocate Only Gets Home Detention

A 28-year-old man who brutally attacked two elderly pro-life advocates outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Baltimore in 2023 has been sentenced to one year of home detention and three years of probation,

The light sentence is prompting outrage from pro-life groups who called the punishment a “slap on the wrist.”

Patrick Brice was convicted of two counts of second-degree assault and reckless endangerment for the May 26, 2023, assault on Mark Crosby, then 73, and Dick Schaefer, then 84, outside the Planned Parenthood Baltimore City Health Center on North Howard Street.

Video evidence captured Brice tackling Schaefer into a concrete planter, knocking him unconscious, and then attacking Crosby, who suffered permanent damage to his right eye, including a fractured cheekbone and shattered eye orbit requiring metal replacement.

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“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,” said Tom Brejcha, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Society, a pro-life law firm representing Crosby.

The attack occurred after Brice engaged in a heated exchange with Schaefer about abortion, during which Brice claimed he “snapped” after falsey perceiving a racial remark. Video footage shows Brice handing his drink to a Planned Parenthood escort before charging at Schaefer. As Crosby attempted to aid his friend, Brice punched him to the ground, straddled him, and kicked him in the head.

“We were in no position to defend ourselves,” Crosby wrote in a statement read in court by his attorney, Terrell Roberts. “To treat elderly folks with that kind of brutality is shocking.”

Despite prosecutors seeking a 10-year prison sentence, Baltimore Circuit Judge Yvette M. Bryant opted for home detention and probation, ordering Brice to complete anger management classes, undergo drug and alcohol screening, and remain in therapy. The decision followed Brice’s acquittal on two felony first-degree assault charges in a second trial, where Judge Bryant ruled prosecutors failed to prove intent to cause serious injury.

“What about my rights and my well-being?” Crosby shouted at Bryant as she left the bench, according to The Baltimore Banner.

Pro-life advocates expressed dismay at the sentencing, arguing it reflects a broader bias against their movement.

“A first-degree assault is committed when a person intentionally causes serious physical injury to another person. Here there was no dispute that Brice caused a serious physical injury to Mark Crosby,” said Roberts, Crosby’s attorney, calling the acquittal a “miscarriage of justice.”

The assault left Crosby with lasting vision and hearing loss, requiring extensive medical treatment.

A GoFundMe page established by Jay Walton, president of the Baltimore County Right to Life chapter, raised funds to help cover Crosby’s medical expenses.

“One of our volunteers, Mark Crosby, was brutally beaten on May 26, 2023, while he was praying in front of the Planned Parenthood in Baltimore City,” Walton wrote. “For years, Mark has prayed in front of the Planned Parenthood in Baltimore City to let the scared, young abortion-minded women know that they are loved, that their baby is loved.”

Brice apologized in court, but pro-life groups remain unconvinced, pointing to the severity of the attack and the lack of jail time as evidence of leniency.

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