Patrick Brice to be retried for first-degree assault charges outside Planned Parenthood

Patrick Brice, of Baltimore, will be retried for a first-degree assault charge on Mark Crosby, the then-73-year-old abortion protestor Brice pushed, punched and kicked in the face in front of a Planned Parenthood facility in Baltimore May 26, 2023.

A Baltimore Circuit Court jury found Brice guilty Feb. 6 of two counts of second-degree assault and two counts of reckless endangerment for the attacks on Crosby and fellow pro-life demonstrator David Schaeffer, then 84, whom Brice pushed over a flowerpot. Brice was found not guilty of a first-degree assault charge for Schaeffer’s attack. The jury could not come to a decision on the first-degree assault charge for attacking Crosby.

Crosby spent three days at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center and visited the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson twice after the attack. He now has permanent eye damage from the severe facial injuries he received.

Sentencing for Brice’s guilty charges was to be decided March 20 but was postponed until Aug. 7 with the announcement of the new trial. The date for the second trial will be decided March 29, Crosby said.

“We were granted a new trial. It was a good day for me,” Crosby said. “We need to really prepare for the next trial.”

Email Katie V. Jones at kjones@CatholicReview.org

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