(Marissa Alexander) Florida woman sentenced to 20 years in controversial warning shot case

[alp227]

Source: CNN

Saying he had no discretion under state law, a judge sentenced a Jacksonville, Florida, woman to 20 years in prison Friday for firing a warning shot in an effort to scare off her abusive husband.

Marissa Alexander unsuccessfully tried to use Florida's controversial "stand your ground" law to derail the prosecution, but a jury in March convicted her of aggravated assault after just 12 minutes of deliberation.

The case, which was prosecuted by the same state attorney who is handling the Trayvon Martin case, has gained the attention of civil rights leaders who say the African-American woman was persecuted because of her race.

After the sentencing, Rep. Corrine Brown confronted State Attorney Angela Corey in the hallway, accusing her of being overzealous, according to video from CNN affiliate WJXT.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/11/justice/florida-stand-ground-sentencing/index.html

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The 2nd-most popular comment (38 likes, no registration required): "So the guy who shoots and kills someone is let go on stand your ground, after being told by the dispatcher NOT to pursue...yet the woman who goes in to retrieve her keys and shoots a warning shot is charged and given 20 years....it's time to take a look at those prosecutors."

[leftyohiolib]

1. the 1 percent is trying to get us to go at each other

trying once again to get the different races to fight amongst themselves and not against them

[cpamomfromtexas]

2. Something similar just happened in Collin County Texas

Paul Baileys drug addicted son was told to leave. He wanted to rob his father and get him out of the house.

How did he do it? In the middle of the night, he called 911 and told them his father was suicidal.

When the police did not announce themselves nor put on their lights and parked way down the street and banged on the door with the butt of their huge flashlight- Paul thought it was his son and fired into the Sheetrock about 7 feet up.

They interrogated him without counsel under (no shit) the patriot act.

Then while the police were still in his house, his son robbed him, went to Oklahoma, ran up his credit cards and attempted to buy a car in his fathers name.

The defense attorney didnt raise any defense whatsoever.

If you are poor you go to jail

[Pachamama]

3. Someone correct me if Im wrong, but I do believe the "Prosecutors" for these two separate cases are

....one and the same.....



Inconceivable......

[Baitball Blogger]

5. Someone please come and deliver us from this evil!

[Posteritatis]

10. ...Seriously? Christ on a flaming pogo stick. (nt)

[AnotherMcIntosh]

4. The CNN introduction ("Saying he had ...for firing a waring shot) is inconsistent with the described

facts.

She came up with a story, but it wasn't believable (or at least not believable by the jury which heard the case).

The CNN writer claimed that she was sentenced to 20 years "for firing a warning shot in an effort to scare off her abusive husband."

He may have been abusive, but she was outside of the house, she picked up her gun, and she then went into the house.

Should anyone give her a pass because of her gender? Or should anyone give her a pass because she is Black? She claims that she was being persecuted because of her race. Should anyone give her a pass because Trayvon Martin was a Black teenager who was shot by George Zimmerman who is not Black?

If not, what's the excuse? That a CNN writer wanted to accept her story?

It's MSM reporting.

[Chemisse]

6. What I don't understand is why anyone would get 20 years

for firing a gun that didn't hit anyone.

Maybe prosecutors argued that it was attempted murder and she is just a bad shot. Is 20 years fair for that? Possibly.

So the real issue here is that a jury did not believe that she was in fear of her life and/or that it was a warning shot. That could be because she was black, or because her story didn't hold up. It's hard to know without more details.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

9. CNN is not reliable. She went into the house with her gun and shot at her husband.

She missed. She said that she went into her house not to be confrontational but to get her keys to her car. She fired her gun, but not through the ceiling. Her bullet went through a wall. She, or the writer for the CCN story, called her shot "a warning shot." She also claimed that she was being prosecuted for her poorly aimed "warning shot" because she was Black.

She was offered a deal which she refused. She was given 20 years because she was unremorseful and arrogant. She thought that she could go into her house with a loaded gun, display anger, shoot her gun, and invent an incredible story.

[slackmaster]

15. Oh. That's different.

[Kencorburn]

17. We have a 10 20, life law in FL,

If you have a gun while committing a crime it is supposed to be an automatic 10 years
discharge a gun, its 20 years
harm someone with a gun its life.

But I live in Florida, so this woman who's baby was not even a month old when she fired a shot into a wall, to protect herself gets 20
and this guy gets 15.
http://m.jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/422234/charles-broward/2012-05-04/jacksonville-man-gets-15-years-death-cohort-home

Though what he did was deplorable, the fact that they could even charge this man with murder is befuddling.

[PatrynXX]

18. 20 years for an abuse case makes no sense

this particular case was totally on race and probably would be looking down some angry people except for the fact that the parents of Trayvon have said they don't want violence. But now it's gonna be a tinder box situation. just takes one.....

[AtheistCrusader]

22. Because Florida has a law with a mandatory 20 year minimum specifically for this.

A warning shot is considered prima facie evidence you are not in fear for your life, because you must turn the muzzle of the firearm away from the person you believe to be a deadly threat, and then fire your weapon. Without a credible fear for your life, this turns into a felony in which you discharged a firearm. Which hits the 20 year level of the 10-20-Life law.

The logic of the law, as intended, is that warning shots are extremely dangerous (and in this case, could have been lethal if one of the kids had gone upstairs instead of out the front door while she was in the garage) to innocent bystanders.

The warning shot becomes an exercise of deadly force, when you are not in fear for your life, to the court. Again, it is viewed this way, because the law assumes you are not in fear for your life, if you are willing to turn the weapon away from your attacker.

Yes, it sucks. Worse, she was honest, and told the police she fired a warning shot. This is an example of YOU DO NOT TALK TO THE POLICE WITHOUT A GODDAMN LAWYER. If she had told them NOTHING, which would have been her right under the 5th amendment if she had exercised it, it would have been on the state's head to prove that was a warning shot, and not a clean miss; which would have been easily within the defense's wheelhouse to prove was justifiable.

It does not matter if you did the right thing. It does not matter if you are purely innocent. DO NOT TALK TO THE POLICE. PERIOD. GET A LAWYER.

And do not live in fucking Florida, or New Hampshire, or any other stupid assed state that has this law.

And DO NOT FIRE WARNING SHOTS. PERIOD. No self-defense instructor in the land will endorse it. Warning shots go center mass. If the threat goes away, great. Stop firing. NEVER EVER FIRE A WARNING SHOT. NEVER. If you are in fear for your life, put lead on target. Warning shots get other people killed, could get you killed, and could rob you of your freedom, and make YOU the criminal. In a perfect world, it would be great if a show of force could end a conflict like this without taking a life. But as things are, that warning shot is often dangerous to innocent bystanders, and our laws are miles and miles from perfect.

[Texano78704]

32. Good to know info

Thanks!

[Cass]

36. Very informative post, thanks! nt

[Cerridwen]

12. She tried to leave through the garage. The garage door was not working.

She grabbed a gun and went back into the house in order to get out of the house (get her keys?). He threatened her...again. She fired, grabbed the children then went to the cops then the hospital. There are hospital records. he's on the record of saying he has abused all of his "baby mommas" except one. he has also changed his story at least once.

The reporting on this is all over the place. The details are selective depending on preferred slant/spin.

link.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

13. I wonder why the jury didn't see it that way.

This, from your link, probably didn't help:

A few months after Alexander was released on bail on orders to have no contact with Gray, she got into an altercation with him at his home that gave him a black eye, Corey said. Alexander was charged with battery.

“Instead of her trying to work toward a resolution, about four months into this thing, claiming to be so afraid of this man, she went barging to his house and attacked him,” Corey said. “So it didn’t show much of her being remorseful of what happened and being a peaceful person.”

[Cerridwen]

14. The family said she went to have him sign insurance papers.

I have no idea why juries do what they do. Because the prosecution had better jury selection? Because they don't like women and/or blacks? Because there's something being left out of all the confusing stories that are being broadcast? Because women who 'hit' back are routinely punished for not being lady-like? Because the defense put on a lousy case? Pick one, several, none, or find some more.

Hell, maybe for the same reason zimmerman wasn't arrested right away.

[AtheistCrusader]

26. She got burned for being an honest person.

She tried to do the right thing. She tried to end the situation without killing anyone. She told the police what she did, specifying she fired a warning shot.

Most people don't know this is a crime in that state. (And others)


Never talk to the police without a lawyer present. No matter how pure, and righteous, and innocent you may be. You will lose every time.

[AtheistCrusader]

23. Because the jury is instructed that a warning shot is prima facie evidence you are not in fear for y

our life.

A warning shot requires you turn the firearm away from the person that you perceive as a threat. That is assumed, by the laws of the land to automatically prove you are not justified in using deadly force, because you are not firing at the threat.

So instead of a lawful self-defense, it becomes a felony in which you discharge a firearm.


Felony with a firearm and shot fired? In florida, automatic 20 years under their 10-20-life law.


It's absolute bullshit, but it is the law, and this is precisely why self defense instructors beat the drum: NO WARNING SHOTS. NEVER. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES.

You will get fucked every time, even if you do it safely. Even if it was the right thing to do. DO NOT fire warning shots.

[tru]

21. she went into the house to retrieve her property, apparently. n/.t

[FreeBC]

7. Stand Your Ground (if you're white)

[baldguy]

29. +100

[tawadi]

8. You gotta be kidding me

[L0oniX]

11. WTF!

So now we have to pay over $35,000 a year for 20 years to her in jail? ...for that? WTF!

[Bladian]

16. Details are missing.

She went outside the house, got her gun, came back inside. Then pointed the gun at the husband and fired a shot a few inches to the right of his head as he was begging for his life. The fact he was supposedly begging for his life and she chose to fire the shot that close to him is odd to me.

[pacalo]

19. "Details are missing" -- and you seem to be filling them in.

...fired a shot a few inches to the right of his head as he was begging for his life. The fact he was supposedly begging for his life...

If you read the same account as I did, he had threatened to kill her, then came the warning shot. Apparently, he kept coming at her when she fired the fatal shot.

[AtheistCrusader]

24. He's still alive.

He was never shot at all.

This became a crime because she fired a warning shot. Aggravated assault. Sentence modified because she was carrying or used a firearm in the commission of that felony.

It's a terrible damn outcome, but correct per the letter of the law.

Solution: Governor pardons her. Law needs to be adjusted by the state legislature to allow for a warning shot, which can save lives. (Or, if done wrong, can kill a bystander)

[pacalo]

28. Wow, that's the first I've heard that.

Then, this case & its verdict are really confusing. She shouldn't be in jail at all.

[SunSeeker]

20. 20 years is insane, and the prosecutor way over-charged.

We'll see if she shows the same zeal in the Trayvon Martin case. Of course, Zimmerman hired a good attorney, something this woman could not afford to do.

[AtheistCrusader]

25. The prosecutor has no choice. The Judge has no choice. The jury has no choice.

Well, the jury could have nullified it, but the judge probably would have to declare a mistrial.

The law in that state is extremely clear. Do not fire warning shots. They are assumed to prove you felt safe enough to turn your gun away from the threat to fire in a safe direction.

When the prosecution establishes that there is no threat, since you fired in a safe direction instead of at the threat: you win a felony, modified to 20 years by the 10-20-Life law in Florida.

[SunSeeker]

34. The prosecutor always has discretion whether and for what to charge.

At least that's the law in CA. Do you know of some law that takes away prosecutorial discretion in FL?

[AtheistCrusader]

27. There is nothing wrong with the prosecutor on this case.

(There IS a problem with Wolfinger on the Zimmerman/Martin case)

There is a problem with the LAW, and also, honest people need to STOP TALKING TO THE COPS WITHOUT A LAWYER PRESENT.

Never fire a warning shot. Not in Florida. Not in New Hampshire. Not in a whole shitload of states. You will get burned. (Though, you will get less burned in most, than this woman did in Florida, because of Florida's 10-20-life law.

[valerief]

30. Well, she is a second-class citizen after all.

[Lurks Often]

31. To the people reading this thread

Forget your conspiracy and racism theories and read the responses by Atheist Crusader. His posts clearly explain why this woman was charged.

[lonestarnot]

33. Past time! Jury nullification education should be given to every juror.

These laws suck ass!

[Skittles]

35. sorry, wrong thread!