A man from California has been sentenced to 27 years to life in prison after being charged with making racist threats towards a pregnant Black woman, following an appeal for a harsher sentence by prosecutors.
Tyson Mayfield, aged 49, originally accepted a plea deal in 2019 which resulted in a five-year sentence, despite objections from the Orange County District Attorney’s office which later contested the lenient sentencing.
An appeals panel rejected the decision, and Mayfield was retried and convicted of making criminal threats with an enhancement for a hate crime.
“For six long years, we have relentlessly pursued justice in this case,” stated District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “Today, justice was finally served against an individual who has harbored hate for decades, and he will now spend decades in prison as a result.”
A message was left at the public defender’s office seeking comment.
The incident involved Mayfield threatening and using racial slurs against a woman who was eight months pregnant at a bus stop in Fullerton in 2018. She had to pepper spray him for her safety and sought help.
Authorities reported that Mayfield, who is white and has a swastika tattoo, had previous convictions for violent acts, including an incident where he punched a man while shouting a racial slur outside a supermarket.
In 2019, Orange County Superior Court Judge Roger B. Robbins extended a plea deal to Mayfield, based on the absence of a weapon or injury in the crime. However, both prosecutors and community advocates argued that Mayfield’s past convictions should have disqualified him from receiving such a deal.
