Stand Your Ground ...Except when....

[Evergreen Emerald]

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/11/justice/florida-stand-ground-sentencing

Alexander said she was attempting to flee her husband, Rico Gray, on August 1, 2010, when she picked up a handgun and fired a shot into a wall.

She said her husband had read cell phone text messages that she had written to her ex-husband, got angry and tried to strangle her.

She said she escaped and ran to the garage, intending to drive away. But, she said, she forgot her keys, so she picked up her gun and went back into the house. She said her husband threatened to kill her, so she fired once.

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This case appears to be truly self defense. He came to her home. He attacked her. She was defending herself.

No justice.

[Travis_0004]

1. Didn't Joe Biden reccomend firing warning shots?

[FreakinDJ]

2. No she left and then re-entered with a gun

That and she discharged a weapon with small children in the home got her in trouble.

Had she simply walked over to the neighbors house and reported spousal abuse none of this would have happened

[JustAnotherGen]

3. But sometimes

All you've got is a gun. Zimmerman could have gotten in his car and driven away - or gone to one of his neighbor's homes for assistance too. He chose not to - and like her - all he had was a gun. Or so he says . . .

[Evergreen Emerald]

4. but, unlike Zimmerman: this was HER home.

Castle doctrine...No duty to retreat...he threatened to kill her.

Seems as if the law is applied selectively.

[hack89]

5. She retreated to a safe area, got a gun, and then went and confronted her husband

that's what got her in trouble. If she had stayed in the garage until things calmed down she would have been ok.

[JustAnotherGen]

7. Ever been stalked?

I have - we call him Screwy Proposal Man in my circle. She did the right thing. It's the only thing that "type" of man understands. An obsessive, woman hating man who believes his "object" does not exist outside of him only stops with a wake up call.


She gave him a wake up call. When she gets out - I bet he stays far far away from her.

[hack89]

9. Using a gun to solve problems like this is asking for trouble

especially when you going looking for a confrontation with a gun in your hand.

She should have stayed put. Or opened the garage door manually and walked away.

[JustAnotherGen]

11. He was in her house

It would seem he is the one that went looking for trouble.

In my situation - my brother is still laughing at me for grabbing a paring knife and the phone and hiding in the bathroom - and leaving my rifle and .38 in the bedroom. "What were you going to do? Peel him to death?"

[hack89]

13. There are two sides to this story

his story is different from hers. The jury apparently believed him.

In any case, she made a poor choice.

[JustAnotherGen]

6. Exactly

But I don't think the above poster picked up on that. All she really had was a gun . . .

[FreakinDJ]

10. The above poster "Got it" you missed the memo

[JustAnotherGen]

12. No I didn't

[FreakinDJ]

8. She got the gun and re-entered - that proved intent

Zimmerman's excuse was he legally carried at all times on Neighborhood Watch

[Lurks Often]

14. She was not living in the house when the incident occurred, he was.

When I first heard about this case I was as outraged as everybody else, enough to do some research.

According to the state's case Marissa Alexander went to the house where her husband was living, thinking he wasn't home to get some clothes and other possessions. She pulled her car into the garage and closed the garage door. She encounters the husband with their two children. She then leaves the house, goes into the garage and re-enters the house and fires what the defense called a warning shot, which impacted at the same height as the husband.

1. Warning shots are illegal, first you either fear for your life or you do not. If you do not fear for your life, then you have no right to discharge the firearm. If you DO fear for your life, then you shot the person attacking you. Additionally warning shots are usually considered reckless, because you do not know where the bullet is going to end up and your are responsible for that bullet. Meaning if you fire a warning shot and hits and kills a person walking down the street you are going to jail for manslaughter.

2. Alexander claimed that she went out to her car and tried to leave, but the garage door, which had worked just minutes before, would not open.

3. Alexander was offered a plea bargain that would have have seen face no additional jail time other then the time she had already served. Alexander and her attorney declined.