Hate crime charges dropped against white protester who spat on Black woman
Jenny Goldsberry
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A Connecticut court has dismissed hate crime and other charges against a white woman who spat on a Black woman during counter-protests at the state’s capitol in 2021.
Yuliya Gilshteyn faced several charges, among them, the hate crime of deprivation of rights, stemming from an altercation between herself and the victim, Keren Prescott.
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Gilshteyn was protesting COVID-19 restrictions on the day of the the altercation, while Prescott attended the same event on the behalf of Black Lives Matter. The two would later confront each other, with Gilshteyn spitting in Prescott’s face. The heated exchange was caught on camera and later went viral across social media.
Gilshteyn’s charges were dismissed as the result of her completion of 100 hours of anti-hate training. Hartford Superior Court Judge Sheila Prats provided the option, which she referred to as “accelerated rehabilitation,” because it was Gilshteyn’s first offense. Still, Prats called it a “despicable” incident.
Prescott responded to the dismissed charges, calling it another example of when “the justice system has failed me.”
“The justice system is failing Black and brown people,” Prescott told Prats Friday. “This is being spit on once again.”
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Connecticut’s Division of Criminal Justice originally charged Gilshteyn with criminal attempt to commit assault in the third degree, reckless endangerment in the first degree, and risk of injury to a child, all of which were dismissed.
In 2021, the year of this incident, Connecticut reported a total of 58 hate crimes against people, with over 70% reported as racially-motivated. This was not considered an increase from 2020, but an increase from 2019.