Pro-Lifer Beaten Outside Of Planned Parenthood Surprised After No Verdict On Key Charge

An elderly pro-life sidewalk counselor who was brutally beaten outside of a Baltimore Planned Parenthood said he would be willing to go back to court after a jury declined to convict his attacker of first-degree assault.

Mark Crosby told The Daily Wire this week that he would be willing to have his case go to trial again after a jury convicted 28-year-old Patrick Brice of multiple lower assault charges while not reaching a verdict on the more serious first-degree assault charge. Brice was caught on video beating then 73-year-old Crosby and 80-year-old Richard Schaefer back in 2023 outside of a Planned Parenthood building.

Last week, a jury in Baltimore convicted Brice on two counts of second-degree assault and two counts of reckless endangerment while not coming to an agreement on the first-degree assault charge after a two day trial. A first degree assault conviction could have carried 25 years in prison.

Crosby told The Daily Wire that he was surprised that Brice was not convicted on the first-degree assault charge, saying that the surveillance video posted during the trial seemed to have an impact on the jurors.

“Some of the jurors were actually moaning and one was crying, and they were looking away, gasping at his attack on us,” he said.

The footage shows Brice tackling Schaefer into a large potted plant after a heated exchange. Crosby then ran over to help Schaefer before he was forced to the ground. The man in the video punches Crosby in the face and kicks him in the head.

“I call it attempted murder. If you watch the video, he actually is straddling me and he hits me double fisted,” Crosby said.

Crosby was treated after the attack for a fractured bone in his face, blindness in one eye, head and neck pain, two fractured fingers, and bruising on his arms and legs.

“Whether we want to retry it, we’ll see,” he said, saying it would be up to the legal team at the Thomas More Society. “I’m willing to retry it even though it’s a major stress for me.”

He added that the “result is probably better than nothing,” but would wait to see when Brice is sentenced on March 20. A maximum sentence for second-degree assault could be up to 10 years in prison and a $2,500 fine.

Crosby believed that one of the reasons for the attack was because he and Schaefer had been effective in convincing women to turn to a nearby crisis pregnancy center. He previously told The Daily Wire that both men have frequently returned to the Planned Parenthood. He said Schaefer still stood outside five days a week and that he would be “back in action” after the trial ended.