Florida woman's "Stand Your Ground" Plea Rejected; faces 20 Years

[TruthLies]

No Bail Given






"Marissa Alexander faces a mandatory minimum sentence of twenty years in prison after being convicted in 2011 of three counts of aggravated assault with no intent to kill or harm. In 2010, during an argument with her second husband at their home in Jacksonville, she fired a bullet into the ceiling of their home. Alexander asserted that she fired the weapon to ward off an attack from her husband. Alexander shot no one nor was anyone injured during the incident.

During Marissa Alexander’s trial, a motion to invoke Florida’s stand-your-ground law on her behalf was denied by Circuit Court Judge Elizabeth Senterfitt. Since February 2011, Marissa Alexander, the mother of three children, has been behind bars."

http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_c2#...e-rejected.cnn

http://ideas.time.com/2012/04/30/whe...xid=gonewsedit

[soulflower]

"Alexander shot no one nor was anyone injured during the incident."

It's insane that she could be facing 20 years for this incident. Florida is such a backwards state...

[ivanbalt]

In Florida, the mandatory minimum for firing a gun while committing a crime is 20 years. It seems Alexander has been abandoned by battered-spouse laws, mandatory minimums and “Stand your ground”, which is turning our country into a confusing maze of shooters, some protected, some not. “Stand your ground” laws are haphazardly applied, shielding some and abandoning others, inconsistent about whether or not people have a duty to retreat when they fear for their life. This is unconscionable. When laws are not uniformly applied, civilization is on the verge of breaking down.

I guess it's only "stand your ground" if you hit someone?

[bwlewis1964]

If kill a person, you get to go home?

[crabsnbeer]

Is this part of the war against women?

[Calamari]

If kill a person, you get to go home?

One less witness, I guess. Yay Florida!

[Jeebus]

If only the husband would have "honor killed" her.

Then Calamari and it's ilk would have supported it.

[TruthLies]

Is this part of the war against women?

Maybe So

[TruthLies]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobile...n_1504428.html


http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/11/justic...ing/index.html

Alexander, 31, scheduled to be sentenced on Friday, was convicted by the same state attorney's office prosecuting the killing of Trayvon Martin,the unarmed teenager shot to death in February by a neighborhood watch volunteer. Both cases have stirred controversy surrounding Florida's Stand Your Ground gun law, which allows citizens wide discretion in using deadly force to defend themselves. Alexander invoked the law in her unsuccessful defense to aggravated assault charges filed against her in August 2010. Neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman is using it against the second-degree murder charge he faces in Martin's death.

[sigmalady]

I wonder what evidence was presented to the jury that isn't included in the article. Did she have a previous record?

[soulflower]

You couldn't pay me to move to Florida. Repubs can have that state

[betamanlet]

From what I read, she left, then returned.

Also, she fired the gun in the direction of the room her kids were in.

[Wizard777]

If kill a person, you get to go home?

In a cruel twist of fate if you shoot your home you have to go to jail. Florida needs to legalize the Richard Pryor Defense. He was once arrested for shooting his car. He said, It's my car and I should be able to shoot it if I want to. The same goes for this woman. It's her home and she should be able to shoot it if she wants to.

[Calamari]

Not if she is black.

[Gopher]

She was sentenced to 20 years. She rolled the dice. She was offered 3 years and decided to take her chances with a jury. Like the original judge, they didn't buy her defense either. They convicted her after deliberating for 12 minutes. She was her own worst enemy. Her actions after posting bond completely undermined her claimed defense.

[CIB]

She was sentenced to 20 years. She rolled the dice. She was offered 3 years and decided to take her chances with a jury. Like the original judge, they didn't buy her defense either. They convicted her after deliberating for 12 minutes. She was her own worst enemy. Her actions after posting bond completely undermined her claimed defense.

Well, honestly, unless there is evidence she tried to kill her hubby or the kids, I think even three years was too much. I think one year might be fair and she could have contemplated how stupid it was to discharge a gun in the house where your children reside when you aren't even being attacked. So I'm against this sentence, and I would have been against more than one year. At the end of the day unless they are charging her with attempted murder , no one was hurt, so it should be a relatively minor punishment.

That being said, you are right she was her own worst enemy. What's worse is how intellectually dishonest or deficit some people on this thread are. Surely they know that her actions would not be covered under "SYG" whether she was white or not because she deliberately armed herself and put herself in danger, and, farthermore, was the initial agressor AS FAR AS DEADLY FORCE or POTENTIALLY DEADLY FORCE was concerned, and that is all that really matters. In the case of George Zimmerman if Trayvon attacked him first and was doing something that he could reasonably construe as being a danger to his life (such as suffocating him or pounding his head in the ground repeatedly) he walks; if that's not the case, esp if Zimmerman initiated the attack, then he should and almost certainly will go to jail.

Here's a nice post from a famous lawyer that explains some of this stuff as it applies to Floridas SYG law:
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2012/4/12/194725/132

People should really familiarize themselves with this and also some basics of the laws of self-defence for "Stand Your Ground" and self defence are different and are both defences that George Zimmerman can and probably will use. Here's some basic info on self-defense laws from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-de...(United_States)

[SalisburySage]

No Bail Given






"Marissa Alexander faces a mandatory minimum sentence of twenty years in prison after being convicted in 2011 of three counts of aggravated assault with no intent to kill or harm. In 2010, during an argument with her second husband at their home in Jacksonville, she fired a bullet into the ceiling of their home. Alexander asserted that she fired the weapon to ward off an attack from her husband. Alexander shot no one nor was anyone injured during the incident.

During Marissa Alexander’s trial, a motion to invoke Florida’s stand-your-ground law on her behalf was denied by Circuit Court Judge Elizabeth Senterfitt. Since February 2011, Marissa Alexander, the mother of three children, has been behind bars."

http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_c2#...e-rejected.cnn

http://ideas.time.com/2012/04/30/whe...xid=gonewsedit

A complete travesty of Justice.

[bmore_ken]

First the disclaimer: I don't agree with a 20 year sentence for what she did since no one was hit. Now my post:

Her 36-year-old husband Rico Gray was arrested in 2009 for attacking her and sending her to the hospital, after which she got a restraining order against him. In a 2010 deposition, Gray said,

Why is she still living with him to begin with?

[Cetshwayo]

It's going to be interesting to see how many liberal groups support her. Most liberal groups are against guns and gun owners so if this lady was a true victim she'll receive no support. However if she has a bad record and really did deserve the verdict and sentence then just like Free Mumia Abu Jamal she'll become a liberal superhero. I hope George Cloony has a fund raiser for her. Please donate and thank you for your support.

[TruthLies]

Did she stand her ground?


Last Friday, Jacksonville mother Marissa Alexander was sentenced by a Florida judge to 20 years in prison for firing what she says was a "warning shot" into the wall after a physical altercation with her husband, Rico Gray.

The case has set off yet another controversy involving the state's "stand your ground" law, which is under intense scrutiny after the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in February. Critics, including Congresswoman Corrine Brown (D-Fla.), are crying foul.


http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_1...nd-her-ground/