California man sentenced to 27 years for making racist threats against pregnant Black woman

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SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A California man was sentenced Friday to 27 years to life in prison for making racist threats against a pregnant Black woman after prosecutors appealed an earlier, lighter sentence, officials said.

Tyson Mayfield, 49, pleaded guilty in a court-offered deal in 2019 to get a five-year sentence that the Orange County District Attorney’s office opposed and later appealed.

An appeals panel rejected the decision, and Mayfield was retried and convicted of making criminal threats with an enhancement for a hate crime.

“Over the last six years we have fought and fought and fought for justice in this case,” District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement. “Justice was finally served today against a man who spent decades hating others, and now he will spend decades behind bars where he belongs.”

A message was left at the public defender’s office seeking comment.

Mayfield was accused of threatening and yelling racial slurs at a woman who was eight months pregnant at a bus stop in Fullerton in 2018, prompting her to use pepper spray to protect herself and run for help.

Authorities said Mayfield, who is white and has a swastika tattoo, had prior convictions for attacking bystanders, including punching a man outside a supermarket while yelling a racist slur.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Roger B. Robbins made the offer to Mayfield in 2019, noting no weapon was used or injury caused during the crime. Prosecutors and community advocates said Mayfield shouldn’t have been eligible for the deal because of his prior convictions.