NEW YORK (AP) - A Brooklyn man has been sentenced to 20 years behind bars for an assault on a transgendered woman that left her with severe brain injuries.

Prosecutors say 26-year-old Mashawn Sonds struck the victim, Kimball Hartman, in the head with a sheet of acrylic in October 2014.

He was convicted in December with assault as a hate crime.

Authorities say the victim was attacked while walking with a gay male friend in Bushwick.

Prosecutors say it was the first trial conviction secured by the Brooklyn district attorney’s Hate Crimes Unit created last year.