A Minneapolis, Minnesota man who pleaded guilty to attacking a trans woman at a light rail station in February was sentenced to jail and probation on Monday.
FOX 9 in Minneapolis reported that Keaten Morris, 19, was sentenced to 365 days in a Hennepin County Adult Corrections Facility and three years of probation after agreeing to plead guilty to third-degree assault.
He had faced first-degree aggravated robbery, but the charge was dropped as part of the deal.
Morris is also required to go through a chemical dependency treatment program as soon as an opening becomes available.
Judge Peter Cahill said before the sentencing that Morris would have been released after the sentencing because of the amount of time he served, but because he violated terms of a conditional release, he received jail time, the news station reported.
Metro Transit police officers responded to a call on the morning of February 27 that a woman was lying on the ground near Lake St. Station, with “visible brain matter.”
When officers arrived, they found the victim suffering from a serious injury on the back of her head and bleeding, along with multiple other injuries.
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Police reviewed surveillance video that showed three people push a woman down the stairs at the train station before assaulting her while she was on the ground.
Two of the attackers boarded a train and got off four stops later, police said.
The men, Morris and Kevin York Jr., 23, were in possession of a woman’s clutch containing the victim’s possessions, along with other bags.
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Both men were arrested and charged with first-degree aggravated robbery and third-degree assault, both felonies. The third person was not identified.
Both York and Morris faced up to 35 years in prison and $45,000 in fines, though those penalties could have increased had investigators found evidence proving the attack was driven because the victim was transgender.
Ultimately, neither man faced charges of a bias attack.
York also pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced later this week.
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