Sophia Rosing, the former University of Kentucky student who physically assaulted and shouted racial slurs at a Black student, has pleaded guilty to several charges, according to news reports.

On Monday, Aug. 12, Rosing, 23, pleaded guilty to four counts of fourth-degree assault as well as one count of disorderly conduct and public intoxication in Fayette County Circuit Court, according to the WLEX-TV.

Sophia Rosing accused of racism

On Nov. 6, 2022, Rosing, who is White, was accused by police of physically assaulting and repeatedly shouting racial slurs at Kylah Spring, who is Black, at the campus residence hall where Spring worked, USA Today reported. The incident was caught on video and went viral on social media.

University of Kentucky police responded to the scene and said in a police report cited by the Herald-Leader that Rosings appeared “very intoxicated” and resisted arrest, adding that she kicked an officer and bit the officer’s hand. She was later permanently banned from campus.

“As a community working to prevent racist violence, we also must be committed to holding people accountable for their actions,” University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouoto said in a statement at the time, according to USA Today.

Mediation

The guilty plea arose out of a mediation in which Rosing’s attorney, Fred Peters, said, “A lot of things got said, apologies were made and we worked it out,” the Herald-Leader reported.

Rosing, he claimed, “has had a lot of time to think about what she has done, and she wrote a nice letter of apology.”

Moving forward for Kylah Spring

Spring addressed the guilty plea on Monday, telling WLEX-TV that she forgives Rosing but states that the process hasn’t been easy.

“I forgive her more so for myself,” Spring told the outlet. “I was raised not to hold grudges, I was raised that we give people forgiveness because God forgave us. It’s a hard thing for me to come to terms with, but in the end, I want to live a life where people can say I was a kind and forgiving person.”

Spring has founded The Spirit & Grace Project to provide support to other Black women attending colleges and universities where White people are the majority, reports WLEX-TV.

Rosing faces up to a year in prison. She is scheduled to be sentenced October 17th.

The body of Navy veteran Jarvis McIntyre has been reportedly found in a Texas park after he was reported missing two weeks ago.

McIntyre, 26, was reportedly last seen running in John James Park on June 8 and he was heard in a 911 call saying he was being chased by a “racist”, his mother told local outlet KENS5.

McIntyre’s mother, Monikki Williams Tippet, told the outlet that a body found days later at the San Antonio park had tattoos resembling those on her missing son.

Tippet says she and her family believes someone hurt her son because he was Black and gay.

“I want answers now. I want this person found,” she said, adding that her son “didn’t deserve this. They took my baby’s life for no reason.”

McIntyre is from St. Louis, Texas and had flown to San Antonio to visit his two sisters during his birthday weekend.

He was supposed to return home on Sunday 9 June, but he tragically never made it home.

On Monday June 17, Maryland’s governor issued pardons for more than 175,000 marijuana convictions.

This initiative comes almost two years after Maryland voters approved a constitutional amendment legalizing recreational marijuana for people 21 and older.

Maryland marijuana convictions pardons

The pardons by Gov. Wes Moore will forgive low-level marijuana possession and certain paraphernalia charges, the governor’s office said – noting it was possible for a person to have more than one conviction pardoned.

“This is about changing how both government and society view those who have been walled off from opportunity because of broken and uneven policies,” Moore said at a signing event Monday.

Disproportionate impact

The governor described his executive order as “the most sweeping state-level pardon” in the country’s history.

Acknowledging the disproportionate impact the issue has on Black and brown people, the event coincided this week with Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the US, The Washington Post reported.

Maryland marijuana convictions pardon stats

The executive order will result in the pardons of more than 150,000 misdemeanor convictions for simple possession of cannabis and more than 18,000 misdemeanor convictions for use or possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia, the governor office said. About 25% of those convictions stem from the city of Baltimore.