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Woman sentenced to 20 years for filming assault

Posted at 8:21 PM, Jun 28, 2017
and last updated 2017-06-28 20:21:11-04

A Baltimore judge sentenced a woman to twenty years in prison for filming a violent robbery in Wyman Park.

Zannay Laws pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit armed robbery. The State argued for 20 years, suspend all but five years, with five years of probation. The judge sentenced her to 20 years in prison, suspend all but two years, with five years of probation.

READ MORE: Suspects identified, charged with attempted murder in Wyman Park Dell robbery

On September 12, 2016 Laws and three men approached a man sitting on a bench on the Wyman Park Dell and demanded money. The three men surrounded the 64-year-old victim, put a gun to his head, sprayed him with mace  and cut him with a knife. Laws stood back and filmed the assault while streaming it to Facebook Live.

The victim was taken to an area hospital where he was treated for lacerations to the his back and legs.

Laws later told investigators she filmed the attack and broadcasted it to Facebook Live before deleting it.

The victim told investigators that since Laws was not part of the physical attack, the ten months already served were sufficient punishment.

Laws has been incarcerated since September 2016.

"The sheer callousness and brutality of this incident is something that cannot be ignored and the sad and unfortunate reality is that when these young people elect to hurt others, especially innocent bystanders, they will be held accountable," said State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby.  "My thoughts and prayers are with this victim as he endures his journey to recovery."

As part of her sentence, Laws was ordered to complete a job training and life skills program called STRIVE, offered by the Center for Urban Families, and get her GED.