Source: Julie Bennett / Getty
Two out of five people who were charged for their roles in the caucasity-slaying Riverfront Park brawl in Montgomery, Alabama, have received their sentences.
According to CNN, 48-year-old Richard Roberts pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault for his part in the viral fight that occurred in August, and he was sentenced to 32 days in lockup. Curiously, he gets to serve that time in increments on the weekends over the course of four months. One can only wonder how many Black convicts in Alabama have been given the option to treat jail like it’s a timeshare. Todd will also pay all costs associated with his case and perform 100 hours of community service.
Also sentenced was 21-year-old Mary Todd. (I know what you’re thinking: Her parents didn’t name her after Abraham Lincoln’s wife just so she could get herself arrested for crimes against slavery descendants.) Todd pleaded guilty to harassment as part of a plea agreement and was sentenced to anger management classes, which she has 90 days to complete. She also must pay court costs.
Now, obviously, folks are going to notice both convicts have been treated leniently by the court. Maybe that’s because white privilege is what white privilege does, or maybe it’s because the judge thought they’d already suffered enough after the whole world watched them bully their way into the receiving end of a massive smackdown. Either way, the sentences have been handed down and it is what it is. Now, there are three more defendants awaiting their days in court.
From CNN:
Three other defendants, Allen Todd, 24, Reggie Ray, 42, and Zachary Shipman, 26, had their cases continued.
The Todds and Shipman were each charged with one count of third-degree assault in the August 5 brawl in Montgomery. Roberts was charged with two counts of third-degree assault, and Ray was charged with disorderly conduct.
It’s interesting that Ray, the Black man who basically made the folding chair a symbol of Black pride after the brawl went viral, received disorderly conduct, the vaguest and typically the least serious charge out of them all. Meanwhile, Ray’s part in the brawl—along with that of Damien Pickett, the victim whose assault prompted the melee—appears to have inspired a few Halloween costumes this year.
Welp, ’tis the season!
SEE ALSO:
Videos Show Brawl At Montgomery’s Riverfront Park, And It Was A Glorious Day In Black History
Black People Have Been Having A Time With The ‘Fade In The Water’
