A rapper who attacked three people near a gay nightclub in Brooklyn last year has been convicted of assault, menacing, and weapons-related charges stemming from the incident, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced on November 21.
A group of friends opted to stop at a nearby Crown Fried Chicken restaurant after leaving the Langston Club on Atlantic Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant in the early morning hours of March 5, 2017 – and that’s when things took a horrifying turn. James Thomas, also known as Mousey Baby, walked into the Fulton Street restaurant at around 4:30 a.m., screamed at its patrons, many of whom had just left the club, and slashed one man in the face. He then left the establishment, but it didn’t end there: as two others were trying to enter, he threatened one man with a knife and stabbed another twice before fleeing the scene.
The man who was slashed ended up needing 18 stitches on his face, while the stabbing victim was hospitalized and also required stitches.
“This defendant viciously assaulted three innocent men for no reason,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “Such brutal violence cannot be tolerated, and today’s verdict holds him accountable and delivers justice for the victims.”
The case was investigated by the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force, and Thomas, 34, was originally charged with a hate crime, but that charge was dismissed during the trial, according to the DA’s office. Surveillance video footage showed Thomas screaming at patrons, but it was not clear what he said because there was no sound available. He was found guilty of first-degree assault, second-degree menacing, and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He will be sentenced on December 12 and is facing 33 years behind bars.
According to the DA’s office, even if he had been convicted of a hate crime, it would not have added time to his sentence because the maximum time for that is 25 years.
