Pregnant Activist Incarcerated For Remarks Made During BLM Protest Pleas To Reduce 4-Year Sentence

An activist in South Carolina, who has been serving a 4-year sentence due to a verbal encounter with cops during a BLM protest in 2020, has pleaded to reconsider the jail term after her health deteriorated due to pregnancy, reports said.

Brittany Martin, a 34-year-old Black woman, was arrested from Sumter after making aggravated remarks at police during the racial justice protests in June 2020.

"I'm willing to die for the Black, are you willing to die for the blue? This is just a job for you. This is my life," Martin allegedly told the police officers during the protest, prompting the cops to arrest her, Business Insider reported. Martin's lawyers said she was not "physically violent or threatening" during the protest.

The 34-year-old is now expecting her baby later this year. Amid this development, she is experiencing several health complications, including weight loss, her lawyer said.

"She has had preterm labor, she's had several events where she had to be taken on an emergency basis to the hospital," her attorney Sybil Dione Rosado told CNN.

In a memo pleading to reconsider Martin's sentencing, the lawyers affirmed the reduced jail term "will allow her to seek and receive the prenatal care she needs to sustain what has been a high-risk pregnancy, plagued by complications." They also revealed that the medical care Martin is currently receiving is "insufficient to address the needs" of her "fragile pregnancy."

According to reports, while in jail, Martin was also shifted to solitary confinement after she refused to cut her dreads. After a recent visit, the lawyers claimed she had scratches on her face and a bloody eye.

"She's spending four years in jail and pregnant and struggling for the life of her baby because she's loud and Black. It's an absolute travesty of justice," Rosado added.

Martin was indicted on charges of aggravated breach of peace, instigating a riot, and five counts of threatening the life of a public official. She was sentenced to 4 years in prison in May after the court found her guilty on one count of high and aggravated breach of peace.