A 23-year-old Philadephia woman pleaded guilty Thursday morning to assaulting an NJ Advance Media reporter who was covering a sentencing in Middlesex County Superior Court this past August.

Trudy A. Smith admitted she attacked reporter Taylor Tiamoyo Harris, and pulled her hair while yelling at her during the sentencing of Smith’s brother, Tejay Johnson, a former Rutgers football player who’d pleaded guilty to a string of armed robberies.

For the simple assault charge, Smith took a plea deal for entry into the conditional dismissal program, which allows first time defendants charged with certain municipal offenses to have their charges dismissed after a successful year of probation.

During the disposition hearing, Harris took the stand and addressed Smith.

"Instead of choosing to attack me from behind while I wasn’t looking, you could have come up to me in the hallway to talk to me about the article or what I was doing,” Harris said. "But when you make assumptions and poor, childish, timid and weak decisions like you did August 3, 2018, eventually you will have to come face to face, woman to woman, and deal with whatever those consequences may be.”

Smith responded with a tearful apology, explaining she acted out after seeing her brother be sentenced to 15 years in prison, and vowed to learn from her actions.

The judge commended their exchange, and wished both women the best.

“This exchange doesn’t happen everyday in this court room, and the court learned something as well,” Judge Mary Casey said.

In August, Harris, who had obtained permission from the court to photograph the sentencing for a news story, said she was sitting facing forward in the courtroom when Smith, seated behind her, stood up, pulled Harris’ hair and struck her in the face.

Harris said she heard Smith yelling just prior to the attack, asking why Harris -- who 30 to 40 minutes before had stood to take the photographs -- was in the courtroom. Sheriff’s officers pulled Smith away.

Harris was on assignment for NJ Advance Media, which provides content to both NJ.com and its affiliated newspapers, including the Star-Ledger.

The case was initially dismissed due to a scheduling mistake in which none of the witnesses, or Harris, were properly notified and did not show in court. During a hearing in February, Casey said she would reopen the case.

Sophie Nieto-Munoz may be reached at snietomunoz@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her at @snietomunoz. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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