Abortion Distortion on Full Display at the Trial of a Monster Who Violently Assaulted Two Elderly Pro-Life Advocates

“It’s a child!” – Richard Schaefer

“F--- that nonsense!” – Patrick Brice

On May 26, 2023, Patrick Brice brutally attacked two men – our client, Richard Schaefer (then 84), and Mark Crosby (then 73) as they peacefully stood in front of the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic on North Howard Street in Baltimore City, Maryland, doing what they could to save the unborn.

Brice approached Mr. Schaefer and initiated a conversation that quickly turned confrontational. Without warning, Brice violently slammed Mr. Schaefer into a concrete planter, rendering him unconscious. Brice then turned his aggression toward Mr. Crosby, who had run to Mr. Schaefer’s aid, striking him in the face, knocking him to the ground, and forcefully kicking him in the head.

Who Is Richard Schaefer?

Mr. Schaefer is a soft-spoken gentleman who is not only passionate about the protection of innocent preborn human life but all of creation. Five days a week, for two hours each day, he stands in front of the Baltimore City Planned Parenthood. While there, he also feeds a flock of 40 sparrows who follow him from his car until he reaches the Planned Parenthood clinic in Baltimore City. He is also a friend to many of the homeless in the area, whom he knows by name, and tries to aid.

What brings him to Planned Parenthood is the knowledge that his presence has the power to save precious babies. This knowledge comes directly from women who have shared that he is the reason they chose not to have an abortion – why their baby is alive.

A Senseless, Brutal Assault

One day, Mr. Schaefer was in front of Planned Parenthood as usual. The only other people present were Mr. Crosby and three young Planned Parenthood escorts. A tall (6'5") young man, later identified as Patrick Brice, approached Mr. Schaefer and pointed at Mr. Crosby (who held a sign in the street). He asked, “Why?” perhaps wanting to know why they were in front of Planned Parenthood. Brice then pointed to the Planned Parenthood escorts and said, “They are good people trying to help people.”

Brice was clearly agitated and demanded, “I want you to name me verses that separate [the sin of abortion] from the sins that we all commit,” to which Mr. Schaefer replied, “Well, we all are sinners.”

Brice stated, “God’s grace covers everyone,” to which Mr. Schaefer replied, “Yes, through salvation in Jesus Christ.” Brice continued his tirade and began using vulgarity to make a point about sin.

Mr. Schaefer responded, “Okay, we’re done,” and turned away. Brice stepped back as though to leave, pointed at Mr. Schaefer, and ordered him to “quit bothering vulnerable people who walk [into Planned Parenthood].”

Mr. Schaefer responded passionately, “It’s a child!”

At that statement, Brice dropped the water bottle he was holding and rushed Mr. Schaefer, tackling him into a concrete planter and brick wall, knocking both Mr. Schaefer and the planter to the ground, rendering Mr. Schaefer unconscious. Mr. Crosby, witnessing the attack, rushed to Mr. Schaefer’s aid.

Brice then forcefully knocked Mr. Crosby to the ground and punched him in the head. After grabbing his water bottle, Brice stood up and aggressively kicked Mr. Crosby in the head at point-blank range. Brice then looked at Mr. Crosby lying on the ground and walked away from the carnage, shouting, “F--- that nonsense!”

The ACLJ Defends Mr. Schaefer

On behalf of the ACLJ, I represented Richard Schaefer throughout the legal process that culminated in a two-day trial of Brice. Brice was charged with six counts: first-degree assault, second-degree assault, and reckless endangerment of our client. Brice was also charged with first-degree assault, second-degree assault, and reckless endangerment of Mark Crosby.

During the trial, both Mr. Schaefer and Mr. Crosby took the stand, and video footage (including audio) of the attack was presented to the jury. Members of the jury gasped, and some covered their eyes in horror at the violence displayed on the video and the photos of Mr. Crosby’s disfigurement after the attack.

In the defense attorney’s opening statements, he admitted to the jury that his client attacked Mr. Schaefer and Mr. Crosby. He also admitted that it was probably second-degree assault. But he then claimed that Brice was triggered by the two elderly white men and provoked into the attack because one of them allegedly made a derogatory statement about Brice.

The defense presented no evidence in the case, only an inflammatory argument to divert the jurors’ attention from the facts. From opening to closing arguments, the defense did everything, as the prosecutor succinctly pointed out to the jury, to “deny, diminish, and distract.”

Defense Attorney Uses Abortion Distortion Tactic

This is a clear-cut case of an unprovoked attack on two elderly men who were standing peacefully on a public sidewalk. However, the defense used abortion distortion to turn the victims into the villains of the story, and it was effective.

The defense told the jury that the attack shouldn’t have happened and neither man “deserved what happened to them” – even though what Mr. Crosby and Mr. Schaefer were doing was “antagonizing.” After all, it is “Baltimore City,” and somebody “snapped on them.”

Then he went further, arguing that Brice “didn’t mean to hurt them that bad” and that it was the jury’s “absolute right” to find Brice innocent of all the charges – despite video evidence and an admission that Brice, indeed, attacked Mr. Schaefer and Mr. Crosby.

The defense further claimed that women don’t go to Planned Parenthood for just abortions, but women with ectopic pregnancies seek care there as well. He asked the jury to imagine if it were their wife or daughter who had an ectopic pregnancy and needed to go to Planned Parenthood for help. But to get help, she had to walk by these old men “who try to hand her pictures of chopped up little baby fetuses.”

These “loons,” the defense claimed, were only in front of Planned Parenthood to “harass women” by saying the “most vile things” to them. He told the jury that “only” old white men who believe that women can’t make decisions for themselves stand outside of Planned Parenthood to harass women.

To be clear, none of the defense’s claims were in the evidence presented, nor did they occur on the day of the attack. In addition, several pro-life women – who also go down to that very Planned Parenthood clinic to protest abortion and inform other women that they do have choices – were in the courtroom, so the defense’s claims were problematic.

“It’s a Child!”

“Where is the compassion?” the defense asked the jury.

Then he claimed that Mr. Schaefer “said something” to Brice that caused him to react the way he did.

True, Mr. Schaefer did say something for which Brice attacked him – but it was not the kind of remark the defense made it out to be: It was the truth about the humanity of the babies who are killed every day inside Planned Parenthood.

“It’s a child!”

When an abortion is performed, it takes the life of a child. The world tries to sugarcoat the fact that each abortion takes at least one human life. Pro-abortion advocates claim that getting an abortion is like “going to the dentist” or getting a minor medical procedure done.

Yet we all know that if people stood outside of dental clinics with signs to protest cleaning plaque from our teeth, the defense attorney of a man who brutally assaulted two of those protestors would gain nothing from the jury by asking, “Where is the compassion?” of the protestors for the people getting their teeth cleaned.

Where, indeed, is the compassion for the baby being killed? Why are we not shocked and horrified? Why do we not gasp when the word abortion is uttered?

Why should it be less shocking when abortion protestors are attacked and beaten, instead of more egregious? They were, after all, attempting to save innocent human lives. Wouldn’t a jury be more inclined to reach a quick, harsh verdict to convict someone who beat up two men because they were trying to save a helpless newborn from being murdered?

Nevertheless, the defense alluded that a mitigating factor in this brutal assault was that the victims were old, white men protesting and trying to stop the death of babies inside the womb.

But even the defense attorney could not escape the fact that the beings inside of women seeking abortions are indeed babies.

Our society is calloused to abortion; the act is done out of sight. We cannot see the innocent babies’ faces or hear their anguished cries. When the horrific results of abortion are forced before our sensibilities, we look away. We excuse abortion.

God Calls Us To Save the Unborn

When pro-life advocates speak the truth about abortion – the intentional murder of babies in the womb – some shout, “F--- that nonsense!” and try to silence them.

But we must never be silent. We cannot turn off our sensibilities. We must confront the horror of abortion and do everything in our power to put an end to it.

Compassion demands it of us.

It’s a child!

Abortion destroys, and compassion has no role in abetting that destruction. Whether acknowledged or not, abortion also harms the mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts, and uncles of those babies.

God gives each of us different gifts and abilities, and it is our obligation to use those gifts well. And there is a role for every one of us in the fight to end abortion and protect the most vulnerable among us: precious babies in the womb.

Thankfully, at the conclusion of the trial, Brice was found guilty of four charges, with the jury hung on the charge of the first-degree assault of Mark Crosby. With sentencing anticipated in March, Brice faces the prospect of substantial prison time. Each of the second-degree assault charges carries up to 10 years in prison, and the judge could order them to be served consecutively, meaning that Brice faces up to 20 years of prison time on the assault charges.

Brice’s guilty verdict sends a message that violence against those who use their voices to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves will not be tolerated.

At the ACLJ, our attorneys will always use the abilities that God has given us to vigorously defend life and our clients, those, like Mr. Schaefer, who speak up to protect preborn lives.