Fourth District Court of Appeal courthouse in Santa Ana

A California appeals court reversed a trial court's decision to lower a third-strike defendant's sentence to five years for a hate crime against a Black pregnant woman at a Fullerton, California, bus station.

The trial court reduced Tyson Theodore Mayfield's sentence of 25 years to life because he pleaded guilty early in the proceedings, and he did not pose a danger to society or use a weapon during the crime, where he repeatedly called a woman the "n-word" and threatened to make her "drop her baby." The woman was able to flee to a nearby cafe and call the police. The crime is one of several violent acts Mayfield committed against minorities.

In an opinion filed Tuesday, a panel for California's Fourth District Court of Appeal said it were shocked by the circumstances of the case, which Orange County Superior Court Judge Roger Robbins presided over.

"The members of this panel have enjoyed long careers in the practice of law," wrote acting Presiding Justice William Bedsworth on behalf of Associate Justices Richard Fybel and David Thompson. "We've seen enough to make it difficult to shock us. But not, as it turns out, impossible."

Robbins dismissed a prior strike conviction that occurred in 2005, reducing Mayfield's number of strike's to two. The appellate panel noted the discretion afforded to trial courts regarding criminal sentencing, but found Robbins' reasoning for striking the defendant's prior conviction, which primarily relied on the circumstances involving the most recent hate crime against the pregnant woman, did not withstand scrutiny.

"We are always loath to reject the exercise of such discretion," Bedsworth wrote. "But this is not a close call."

Acting Presiding Justice William Bedsworth of California's Fourth District Court of Appeal.

The panel pushed back against Robbins' suggestion that, because Mayfield did not use a "tangible weapon," the crime was less severe.

"The result was an eight-month pregnant woman running for her life—and the life of her unborn child—from declarations of overt and despicable intent," the justice wrote. The threatening language and expletives toward a pregnant woman "demonstrates a danger to society as clearly as displaying a knife or a screwdriver."

Mayfield committed 18 offenses during the 20-year period leading up to the crime against the pregnant woman in 2018. In 2006, he said epithets at a nonwhite couple after they said they didn't have any spare change and punched the man to the point where he needed eight stitches and had trouble eating and talking for a period of time, according to the opinion. In 2017, he asked a Turkish man with dreadlocks for a light, and when the man said he didn't smoke, Mayfield called him the "n-word" and began punching him. For that incident, Mayfield was convicted of a felony hate crime, which the trial court "inexplicably" reduced to a misdemeanor and sentenced him to a year in jail, the panel said.

"When the defendant's criminal behavior is driven by racist attitudes, greater punishment is generally deemed warranted on the basis such conduct inflicts unique harm to both the individual victim and society as a whole," they wrote.

The court found that Mayfield's prior convictions show he is willing and able to physically harm victims, and that nothing in the record says he wouldn't have done the same to the pregnant woman if she wasn't able to run away and call the police.

Although Robbins decided that Mayfield saved the state some expense by pleading guilty early in the case, the appellate court found Mayfield's status as a "'revolving door' career criminal" nullifies those savings.

"Any expense saved the state by his plea would likely be re-incurred with interest if he gets out in five years and there are still bus stops," Bedsworth wrote.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, who appeared repeatedly in front of Robbins to argue against the reduced sentence, said the decision echoes the outrage he expressed to the trial court for allowing "such an evil person the opportunity to continue to victimize innocent people because of the color of their skin."

"The abuse of discretion and the complete disregard by the Court of the traumatic impact this crime had on the victim—a young, pregnant woman who literally ran for her life and the life of her unborn child—is nothing less than tragic," Spitzer said in a statement. "She begged the Court to give the defendant more than five years behind bars and the Court ignored her. Thankfully, the Orange County District Attorney's Office heard her and so did the Fourth District Court of Appeal."