Last Monday, a North Dakota man admitted to assaulting two Black girls during an altercation in 2021 and was sentenced to two years in prison. According to The Forum, Larry Wayne Baldner, 74, used a racial slur during the incident.
He was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to aggravated assault. Baldner and the two Black children clashed in September 2021 on a shared driveway of a duplex where the White man was staying. According to the criminal complaint, a group of children were playing basketball in the driveway when Baldner approached them and told them to leave his property.
Following the incident, an 11-year-old girl told police that the children were playing on the driveway because they had been given permission to do so. According to the complaint, Baldner slapped the girl, who was also a neighbor, in the face during the confrontation. The convicted White man is also accused of using a racial slur, which he denies.
The girl’s sister was also present during the altercation. In addition to slapping the 11-year-old, Baldner choked her and grabbed her hair and neck, according to the complaint. Prosecutors also claimed that Baldner struck the girl’s sister in the face.
In a sentencing brief, prosecutor Joshua Traiser stated that Baldner allowed his anger to get the best of him, adding that he did not behave as an adult during the confrontation. Traiser also wrote that Baldner bullied the girl by taking advantage of his size.
“Baldner unnecessarily belittled the children by using racial epithets at the time of his attack,” Traiser wrote, per The Forum. “A significant term of incarceration is necessary to hold Baldner accountable and to send a message that this court and this community takes racialized violence seriously.”
Asking the court for a lighter sentence, Baldner’s attorney, Erica Skogen Hovey, wrote that her client erred by assuming the children were not supposed to play basketball in the driveway. Hovey also highlighted contradicting reports that showed Baldner acted in self-defense.
Hovey stated that a deep brain stimulation device had been inserted in Baldner’s brain, adding that authorities did not rule out if his actions were partly caused by his condition. The brief also stated that a neuropsychological evaluation Baldner underwent highlighted gradual memory loss that may have played a part in the incident.
The brief also claimed Baldner was heavily provoked. “Mr. Baldner could have reasonably believed that he was legally justified to use force to defend himself and his property against danger of imminent unlawful bodily injury or to prevent or terminate an unlawful entry or trespass in or upon his premises,” Hovey wrote.
However, Traiser stated that though Baldner took responsibility for what he did, a pre-sentence investigation implied he had no regrets. “Baldner repeatedly minimizes his own conduct and attempts to shift blame to the victims,” Traiser wrote.