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A pregnant Black activist is struggling to reach full-term behind bars as she serves a four-year prison sentence for comments she made to police at Black Lives Matter protests, AP reports.
Activists and lawyers for Brittany Martin, 34, are looking to reduce her sentence after she was found guilty earlier this year of breaching the peace in a high and aggravated manner due to her "radical" remarks at a 2020 protest in Sumter, North Carolina.
With an upcoming due date in November, Martin's legal team will be asking a judge to reconsider her sentencing amid concerns of her and her baby's health as well as free speech and equal justice.
Videos presented in court show Martin chanting "No justice, no peace" in an officer's face during a protest on May 31, 2020.
Days later during another demonstration, Martin used stronger language but didn't lay her hands on any of the officers, according to the footage obtained by AP.
“Some of us gon’ be hurting. And some of y’all gon’ be hurting,” Martin told officers. “We ready to die for this. We tired of it. You better be ready to die for the blue. I’m ready to die for the Black.”
Jurors found Martin guilty of breaching the peace, which is typically only punishable by up to a $500 fine and 30 days in jail, investigator Tony Kennedy said.
However, prosecutors presented the charge as a "high and aggravated" crime, which carries up to a 10-year prison sentence.
“She’s in jail because she talked in America,” said Sybil Dione Rosado, Martin's trial attorney. “She’s a dark-skinned Black woman who is unapologetically Black and radical.”
Civil rights attorney and former state lawmaker Bakari Sellers will tell the judge next week that the sentence is unjust and "beyond the pale."
“The fact is you have people who stormed the Capitol, who led to the death of law enforcement, who tried to overturn an election and fracture democracy. And they’re getting two months, three months, six months,” Sellers said. “And Brittany Martin gets four years.”
As of July, Martin said she lost 12 pounds while incarcerated despite growing closer to her due date. The pregnant activist claims she's been harassed by guards and injured by fellow inmates.
According to her prison report, Martin sought eight outside medical appointments in the past two months.
Martin's sister says she's been caring for her children, who are "missing their mom"
“It’s been times in this prison where I have started giving up for a second, mentally and emotionally,” Martin said. “It seemed like the Holy Spirit just put that spoon in my mouth, like ‘Come on, you’ve got to eat. You’ve got to get up.’”
“I had to think about my babies. I had to think about my love for them, which is why I’m even in this situation,” she added.
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