Teonna Monae Brown

Teonna Monae Brown, 19, pleaded guilty last month to first-degree assault and a hate crime in the beating of Chrissy Lee Polis, 22. The April attack drew national attention after a video went viral online, and it became a rallying point for transgender-rights advocates.

Brown, who tearfully apologized in court Tuesday, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with five years suspended, plus three years of supervised probation, as prosecutors sought. The maximum sentence for the crimes is 35 years.

Baltimore Sun

Polis was attacked on when she got into a confrontation with Brown and another female patron over use of the women’s restroom.

The second suspect, a 14-year-old who was charged as a juvenile in the same attack, admitted her role in juvenile court on July 1 and was committed to a locked facility, according to Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger.

“The whole incident is unfortunate and demonstrates the lack of knowledge and understanding, and discrimination against transgender people,” said Patrick Wojahn, board president of Equality Maryland. “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.”

Teonna Monae Brown

A 19-year-old woman whose beating of a transgender woman at a Baltimore-area McDonald’s earlier this year, has pleaded to the attack.

Teonna Monae Brown pleaded guilty in a Baltimore County courtroom to one court of first-degree assault and one count of a hate crime in the attack on Chrissy Polis, 22, according to Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger.

The beating on Monday, April 18, resulted when Polis got into a confrontation with Brown and a minor female patron after refusing to leave the women’s restroom.

The attack was videotaped and went viral online, with hundreds of thousands of views on numerous websites.

The video (below) shows Polis being kicked and punched in the head by Brown and the minor girl until she appears to have a seizure. While one employee and a patron try to intervene, others can be seen standing and watching, and some are laughing.

Warning: The video here is extreme violent:

Prosecutors said they will seek a prison term of five years when Brown is sentenced in September, reported the Baltimore Sun.

The girl who was charged as a juvenile in the same attack admitted her role in juvenile court on July 1 and was committed to a locked facility, Shellenberger said.

Teonna Monae Brown

A grand jury has indicted two female suspects on hate crime charges in the attack on a transgender woman at a Baltimore area McDonald’s last month.

The attack was captured on video by a now former McDonald’s employee, and shows the victim being kicked and punched in the head by the two females people until she appears to have a seizure.

Teonna Brown, 18, was indicted Monday on assault and hate crime charges in the attack on Chrissy Lee Polis at the restaurant last month. She is also charged with assaulting a customer and a McDonald’s employee who tried to intervene.

A 14-year-old girl is facing the same charges in juvenile court.

- Associated Press, via The Washington Post

The hate crime charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, which could be added to the 25-year maximum for the assault charge Brown already faces. Both suspects remain in custody.

Polis was attacked when she got into a confrontation with the two female patrons over use of the women’s restroom.

Brown was defending herself and maintains her innocence, according to her attorney, Timothy P. Knepp.

“She’s a very nice young lady who lives with her mom and is not the person the press has made her out to be,” Knepp said.

The video of the attack is here, you be the judge.

Baltimore Sun

The rally drew together representatives of transgender, civil-rights and faith-based communities in a call to action to stop violence against all people, reported the Baltimore Sun.

Chrissy Lee Polis was attacked when she got into a confrontation with two female patrons over use of the women’s restroom. Only one person, a 55-year-old woman tried to help Polis, others stood and watched the attack, some laughing, while an employee used his cell phone’s video camera to record the assault.

At the rally Monday night, the victim’s family thanked the woman who stepped in and tried to help.

“I’ll never forget you for this,” Renee Polis told Vicky Thoms, who was hit in the face as she stepped between Chrissy Polis and the two teens who were caught on video punching and kicking Polis, and dragging her by her hair until Polis appears to have a seizure.

Caroline Temmermand, one of the organizers of the rally, said, “We want that hatred and bigotry to end at any level that it shows up.”

Temmermand and other gay rights advocates at the rally say Maryland lawmakers need to pass laws that specifically protect transgendered people. A bill that would have provided such protections died in the Maryland State Senate earlier this month.

Teonna Monae Brown, 18, was charged with one count of first-degree assault and two counts of second-degree assault in the attack on Polis. A second suspect, a 14-year-old girl was also charged in the attack, but her name has not been released because charges were filed in juvenile court.

According to police, Brown was arrested last July for allegedly attacking a mother after a dispute inside the same McDonald’s.

Police have not yet determined whether there is sufficient evidence to prosecute the attack as a hate crime.

Teonna Monae Brown

Baltimore County police have charged an 18-year-old woman in the brutal attack on a transgender woman at a local McDonald’s restaurant on April 18.

The Baltimore Sun reports:

Teonna Monae Brown of the 2000 block of Kelbourne Road in Rosedale was charged in the attack on Chrissy Lee Polis. The incident was videotaped and went viral online late last week, with hundreds of thousands of views on various websites.

The video shows Polis, 22, being kicked and punched in the head by two people until she appears to have a seizure. While one employee and a patron try to intervene, others can be seen standing and watching, and some are laughing.

Brown has been charged with one count of first-degree assault and two counts of second-degree assault. She was arrested Friday and is currently in custody at the Baltimore County Detention Center on $150,000 bond.

Polis was attacked on when she got into a confrontation with two female patrons over use of the women’s restroom. The second suspect, a 14-year-old, girl has also been charged in the attack, but her name has not been released because charges were filed in juvenile court.

According to police, Brown was arrested last July for allegedly attacking a mother after a dispute inside the same McDonald’s.

Police have not yet determined whether there is sufficient evidence to prosecute the attack as a hate crime.

Chrissy Lee Polis, 22, said she had a sex-change operation to become a woman, and that this isn’t the first time she’s been picked on physically because of her gender identity, reported the Baltimore Sun.

Watch the Baltimore Sun interview here:

Polis was attacked on April 18, when she got into a confrontation with two female patrons over use of the women’s restroom.

A 14-year-old girl has been charged as a juvenile in the attack and charges are pending against an 18-year-old woman.

Update: Police have also charged Teonna Monae Brown, 18, with one count of first-degree assault and two counts of second-degree assault in the attack on Polis.

In a statement on Saturday, franchise owner Mitchell McPherson said, “My first and foremost concern is with the victim,” the Baltimore Sun reported.

“I’m as shocked and disturbed by this assault as anyone would be. The behavior displayed in the video is unfathomable and reprehensible.”

The video of a beating the Rosedale restaurant went viral Friday, garnering hundreds of thousands of views on websites and prompting the fast-food giant to issue a statement condemning the incident.

A police report identified the victim as Chrissy Lee Polis, 22, who appears identical to Christopher Lee Polis, according to Smoking Gun.

Equality Maryland said the victim is a transgender woman and called on state Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler to step in and investigate the case as a hate crime.

“No person ever deserves to be a victim of violence regardless of their gender identity or presentation. We encourage the State’s Attorney General to investigate this as a hate crime based on gender identity,” said Chuck Butler, Equality Maryland Board President, in a statement on Friday.

The 14-year-old girl has been charged as a juvenile in the attack and charges are pending against an 18-year-old woman.

Update: Police have also charged Teonna Monae Brown, 18, with one count of first-degree assault and two counts of second-degree assault in the attack on Polis.

The beating on Monday, April 18, resulted when the woman got into a confrontation with female patrons and refused to leave the women’s restroom.

At least one McDonald’s employee yelled at the two women to stop attacking the customer, however none of the workers attempted to intervene in the attack or prevent the women from dragging the victim across the restaurant floor.

Warning: The video here is extreme violent:

According to the Smoking Gun, the video was captured by Vernon Hackett, a McDonald’s employee, and uploaded to various social media accounts.

In a Facebook posting, Hackett, claimed, “that was not a female that was getting beat up… that was a man… He was dressed lik a woman.”

McDonald’s on Friday released a statement regarding the beating, saying, “We are shocked by the video from a Baltimore franchised restaurant showing an assault. This incident is unacceptable, disturbing and troubling.”

Baltimore County police said officers were called to the restaurant at 6315 Kenwood Avenue, in Rosedale Md, around 8 p.m. Monday after getting reports of a fight, and said they found a 22-year-old woman who appeared to be having a seizure, WBAL-TV reported.

The police report identified the victim as Chrissy Lee Polis, 22, who appears identical to Christopher Lee Polis, according to Smoking Gun.

The civil rights group Equality Maryland has identified the McDonald’s victim as a transgender woman. Board President, Chuck Butler, issued this statement on Friday:

“A member of our community was recently the victim of senseless violence. Equality Maryland is saddened that in this day and age, bigotry and discrimination against transgender individuals continue, especially in our own backyard.

“No person ever deserves to be a victim of violence regardless of their gender identity or presentation. We encourage the State’s Attorney General to investigate this as a hate crime based on gender identity. We are encouraged that McDonald’s is working with local police to investigate this incident, and hope that the company will follow-up with appropriate disciplinary action against any employees involved.”

A 14-year-old girl has been charged as a juvenile in the attack and charges are pending against an 18-year-old woman.

Update: Police have also charged Teonna Monae Brown, 18, with one count of first-degree assault and two counts of second-degree assault in the attack on Polis.

Jill Carter (left) and Tiffany Alston

Delegates Jill Carter (D-Baltimore) and Tiffany Alston (D-Prince George), want school funds restored in Gov. Martin O’Malley’s budget plan before they will vote for the gay marriage bill. The two skipped a morning vote, and forced House leaders to delay a second.

The Baltimore Sun reports:

Legislation to recognize same-sex marriage, which sailed to relatively smooth passage last week in the state Senate, hit unexpected turbulence in a key House committee on Tuesday, when two of the bill’s co-sponsors staged a walkout rather than vote in favor of it.

House leaders spoke at length to the two Democrats … but as the House Judiciary Committee ended its work for the day, the impasse remained.

“Right now we are waiting to see what the issues are surrounding the bill,” said House Speaker Michael E. Busch, who met with Judiciary Committee members throughout the day. It was unclear whether the committee would try again Wednesday to vote on the measure.

Carter said said she is “absolutely” willing to take a hit for withdrawing her support on gay marriage if it makes a larger point about her favored issues. She said she wants to draw attention to city education funding cuts and to her own bill about child custody in divorces, two issues she said are “more important, or at least equally important.”

“I’m trying to leverage the vote to get something for my constituents,” she said.

Alston, a newly elected member, said she now feels torn about the proposal itself, calling it a “deeply personal issue.”

“I need time to think it through,” Alston said. “I need time to pray.”

Last week the bill passed the Senate in a close vote of 25-21, but passage in the House of Delegates is at risk. The measure’s key sponsors said they believe they are at least 8 votes shy of the 71 needed for passage.

Fred Phelps

The father of a U.S. Marine killed in Iraq has been ordered to pay $16,510 to a family that protested his son’s funeral in Maryland.

Albert Snyder sued members of the Westboro Baptist Church because they waved signs saying “God hates the USA,” “Matt is in Hell” and others bearing anti-gay slurs at the 2006 funeral of his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq.

A federal jury in Baltimore awarded Snyder $11 million in damages in 2007, saying the group from Topeka, Kan., intentionally inflicted emotional distress on the family. The award was reduced to $5 million and was eventually overturned after an appeal by church group leader Fred Phelps.

Now, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered Snyder to pay $16,510.80 to Phelps to cover the cost of their appeals.

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments on the case.

Snyder told the Baltimore Sun he’s received about 3,000 e-mails from people who planned to contribute to the payment. The American Legion is also asking people to donate, and has collected over $5,000 in under 18 hours.

Phelps and his children have been called the “most hated family in America” because they picket funerals with signs reading “God Hates Fags” and “Thank God for dead soldiers,” among others.

Jason Mattison Jr., a 15-year old openly gay sophomore at the Vivian T. Thomas Medical Arts Academy in Baltimore, was found dead last week at his aunt’s house. He had been raped, gagged with a pillowcase and stabbed repeatedly in the head and throat. Then his body was shoved into an upstairs closet at the house.

Police have arrested 35-year-old Dante Parrish and charged him with first degree murder.

Police say Parrish, a family friend who had previously spent 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in 1999, admitted to killing Jason. Parrish is being held without bail.

An overflow crowd spilled out of the sanctuary and into the vestibule of a West Baltimore church Wednesday morning for Jason’s funeral.

Full story at the Baltimore Sun.