Baltimore — Zannay Laws was sentenced this week to 20 years in prison, suspend all but two years, with five years of probation for filming a violent armed robbery in Wyman Park. She pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit armed robbery. The State argued for 20 years, suspend all but five years, with five years of probation.
On September 12, 2016 at approximately 5:00 p.m., the victim was sitting on a bench in the Wyman Park Dell located in the 2900 block of North Charles Street. Three men and one woman approached the victim. The men surrounded him and Dakei Perry—who was among the group— asked where they could exchange foreign money.
The victim replied to the question, but was interrupted when one of the men placed a handgun to the victim’s head. The assailants demanded money and valuables. The victim was then sprayed with mace and cut with a knife.
As the robbery unfolded, Laws stood at a distance and filmed the crime on Facebook Live.
The assailants fled after taking the victim’s belongings. The victim was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital where he was treated for one laceration to his lower back another to his right arm.
Laws was later interviewed by investigators. During the interview, Laws confessed to arriving at the crime scene with the assailants, to filming the attack and posting it to Facebook Live, and to deleting the post shortly thereafter.
During the course of the investigation, the victim advised that the defendant was not a participant in the physical attack. As a result, the victim felt as though the ten months already served by the defendant for her involvement in the incident was sufficient.
Laws has been incarcerated since September of 2016.
