That's how long Teonna Brown, the 19-year-old who beat transwoman Chrissy Polis in a Baltimore-area McDonald's while an employee videotaped and giggled, is going to spend in prison. Brown's 14-year-old accomplice--who is also Internet-famous thanks to the YouTube posting of the brutal video--remains in juvenile detention.
According to Baltimore's WJZ, Brown tearfully told the court she was sorry: "My mother did not raise me like this. I would really like to apologize to the victim, Miss Chrissy Polis."
Miss Chrissy Polis, who had a seizure during the beating and continues to have them along with flashbacks and a deep sense of terror and anxiety, doesn't forgive Brown. In a letter to the court, she said just that.
Given that Brown's mother didn't raise her like this and she did "this" anyway, I'm not so confident that prison will teach her anything but more transphobia. But maybe, just maybe her sentence for a hate crime and first-degree assault will tell other B-girls how ridiculous, how pitiful, how wasteful, how dangerous, how dehumanizing it is to beat another being because of who they are. And maybe Chrissy Polis, who is now fighting for restitution from McDonald's, will get some measure of peace.