Rodlin Gravesande’s Acid Attack: Sentence, Appeal, and Recovery

The Rodlin Gravesande acid attack was an unprovoked assault in which Gravesande threw sulfuric acid into the face of 21-year-old Juanita Jimenez at Brooklyn’s Winthrop Street subway station on December 2, 2022. A Brooklyn jury convicted Gravesande of first- and second-degree assault in May 2024, and Justice Joanne Quinones sentenced her to 12 years in prison that June.¹

What Happened on the Subway Platform

Shortly before 1 a.m., Gravesande was riding a southbound 2 train in Brooklyn, yelling at passengers and threatening to push them off the train. Jimenez, on her way to a night shift as a personal care assistant at Kings County Hospital, was alarmed enough by the behavior that she began filming on her phone.²

When the train reached the Winthrop Street station in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Jimenez got off. Gravesande followed her onto the platform, exchanged a few words with her, and punched her in the head. As Jimenez tried to walk toward the stairs, Gravesande pursued her, threw a vial of sulfuric acid into her face, and fled.¹ The two women did not know each other. “We didn’t get into an argument, I didn’t know her, I didn’t have anything with her and it still occurred,” Jimenez later said.²

Juanita Jimenez’s Injuries

The acid caused second- and third-degree burns across the entire left side of Jimenez’s face. It destroyed part of her left nostril, severely damaged her lips, and destroyed a blood vessel under her cheek.³ She was first treated at Kings County Hospital, then transferred to the burn unit at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, where she spent a week undergoing multiple debridement surgeries to remove dead and infected skin.¹

Jimenez did not leave her home for eight months after the attack. She quit her hospital job because of post-traumatic stress disorder and began weekly therapy.³

How Gravesande Was Arrested

After the attack, NYPD officers patrolled the Winthrop Street station and posted wanted flyers.⁴ Gravesande had left New York for Atlanta. On January 3, 2023, the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team and the U.S. Marshals Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force tracked her to a home in southeast Atlanta and arrested her without incident. She was charged with assault with intent to cause disfigurement and assault with intent to cause serious physical injury, then extradited to Brooklyn.⁵ She was held at Rikers Island on $250,000 bail and pleaded not guilty.²

Conviction and 12-Year Sentence

The case was prosecuted in Brooklyn Supreme Court under Indictment No. 76597-2022. The lead first-degree assault charge was brought under New York Penal Law § 120.10(2), which covers assault with intent to seriously and permanently disfigure another person, a class B felony.⁶⁷

On May 14, 2024, a jury found Gravesande guilty of first-degree assault and second-degree assault. On June 18, 2024, Justice Joanne Quinones sentenced Gravesande, then 34, to 12 years in prison. First-degree assault as a class B felony carries a range of 5 to 25 years for a first-time offender.¹

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said the sentence held Gravesande accountable for “a frightening and random attack on an innocent woman.”¹²⁸

The Appeal

Gravesande filed an appeal of her conviction. On August 26, 2024, the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court, Second Judicial Department, assigned appellate counsel Patricia Pazner of Appellate Advocates to represent her. Court records indicate she is incarcerated at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility.⁹

Where Juanita Jimenez Is Now

By early 2024, Jimenez had undergone at least 16 surgeries and accumulated more than $60,000 in medical debt.² After she reached out to Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Carl Truesdale on TikTok, he offered to perform her remaining reconstructive procedures at no cost, a contribution valued at roughly $80,000. In January 2024, he performed a four-hour deep-plane cervicofacial rotation-advancement flap to rebuild her nose and lip area, followed about nine months later by a procedure to remove a keloid scar from under her chin.¹⁰

Jimenez has documented her recovery on TikTok and has heard from other burn and acid attack survivors seeking advice.³ She still struggles with PTSD and has not returned to riding the subway.⁸ On July 29, 2024, she graduated from Lehman College with a bachelor’s degree in biology, chemistry, and anthropology, and has said she is preparing for the MCAT with the goal of attending medical school.¹¹

1
Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office. Woman Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison for Unprovoked Acid Attack in Brooklyn Subway Station
2
New York Post. Woman Burned by Acid in Random Subway Attack Has 16th Surgery to Fix Face
3
People. Acid Attack Survivor Shares Recovery After Traumatic Experience
4
ABC7 New York. Woman Burned by Chemical Substance at Brooklyn Subway Station
5
Fulton County Sheriff’s Office. SWAT Arrest Release
6
FindLaw. People v. Rodlin Gravesande
7
New York State Senate. New York Penal Law Section 120.10
8
USA Today. NYC Acid Attack Victim Juanita Jimenez Recovery
9
New York State Courts, Appellate Division, Second Department. Decision and Order on Motion, People v. Gravesande
10
People. Acid Attack Survivor Reconstructive Plastic Surgery Transformation Results
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News 12 Bronx. Survivor of Acid Attack Shares Her Road to Recovery