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malaise

(269,176 posts)
Thu Sep 26, 2013, 06:16 PM Sep 2013

Great News: Marissa Alexander, Woman Sentenced To 20 Years For Firing Warning Shot, Gets New Trial

Her lawyer is coming up on Rev Al.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/26/marissa-alexander-new-trial_n_3995869.html
<snip>
A Florida woman serving 20 years in prison for firing a shot at her estranged husband during an argument will get a new trial, though she will not be able to invoke a "stand your ground" defense, an appeals court ruled Thursday.

The case of Marissa Alexander, a Jacksonville mother of three, has been used by critics of Florida's "stand your ground" law and mandatory minimum sentences to argue that the state's justice system is skewed against defendants who are black.

The 1st District Court of Appeal ruled that Alexander deserves a new trial because the trial judge handling her case did not properly instruct the jury regarding what is needed to prove self-defense.

The ruling, written by Judge Robert Benton, said the instructions constituted a "fundamental error" and required Alexander to prove self-defense "beyond a reasonable doubt."

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Great News: Marissa Alexander, Woman Sentenced To 20 Years For Firing Warning Shot, Gets New Trial (Original Post) malaise Sep 2013 OP
While George Zimmerman walks free. WinkyDink Sep 2013 #1
She'll be freer that that murderer soon and very soon malaise Sep 2013 #2
Here - read this malaise Sep 2013 #3
From your post to....! WinkyDink Sep 2013 #7
I dug into the case when I first heard about it and there is Lurks Often Sep 2013 #4
Maybe so, but 20 years seems excessive to me. Hoyt Sep 2013 #11
Big K&R! RiffRandell Sep 2013 #5
"Stand your ground"? "Warning shot?" bullshit. lumberjack_jeff Sep 2013 #6
Good news. nt DLevine Sep 2013 #8
good news. Liberal_in_LA Sep 2013 #9
She deserves a second chance. Rex Sep 2013 #10
The judge effectively presumed her guilty meow2u3 Sep 2013 #12
Wrong burden of proof for a defendant WolverineDG Sep 2013 #14
Kicked and recommended. Uncle Joe Sep 2013 #13

malaise

(269,176 posts)
2. She'll be freer that that murderer soon and very soon
Thu Sep 26, 2013, 06:17 PM
Sep 2013

Zimmerman's wife now has second thoughts about his actions against Trayvon

malaise

(269,176 posts)
3. Here - read this
Thu Sep 26, 2013, 06:23 PM
Sep 2013
http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-shellie-zimmerman-20130926,0,4077169.story
<snip>
George Zimmerman's wife: 'I have doubts' about his innocence
George Zimmerman's wife is raising questions about his innocence in the 2012 shooting of Trayvon Martin, as the couple's marriage continues to publicly go sour.

“I think anyone would doubt that innocence, because I don’t know the person that I’ve been married to," Shellie Zimmerman told NBC's "Today" show on Thursday as her lawyer sat beside her. “I have doubts," she said, yet added, "I also believe the evidence" that led to his acquittal.

The recent argument at the house, however, led Shellie Zimmerman to reevaluate the man she married, she told Lauer. "I saw a look in his eyes that I’ve never seen before that day," she said
--------------------------
He'll self destruct or be killed trying to escape after killing someone else - take that to
 

Lurks Often

(5,455 posts)
4. I dug into the case when I first heard about it and there is
Thu Sep 26, 2013, 06:24 PM
Sep 2013

quite a bit more going on than and it is not nearly as clear cut a case as most people believe. While she is entitled to a new trial on procedural grounds (and I'm ok with her getting a new trial period) this a more complicated case then many posts will indicate.

I encourage everyone to research this case themselves and draw their own conclusions and not rely on crappy reporting or other people's posts.

 

lumberjack_jeff

(33,224 posts)
6. "Stand your ground"? "Warning shot?" bullshit.
Thu Sep 26, 2013, 07:03 PM
Sep 2013
In September 2009, Alexander, a 31-year-old divorcée, obtained a restraining order against Rico Gray, 37, after he beat her so badly that she had to go to the hospital. Six months later, they married. In July 2010, two months after walking down the aisle, Alexander gave birth to their first child. During the preceding two months Alexander had not been living with Gray, but on the evening of July 31, just over a week after giving birth, Alexander left her newborn daughter at the hospital and went to Gray’s home, where she stayed the night. The next morning, Gray arrived at the house with his two sons, 9 and 13, and the family had a pleasant breakfast.

The trouble began when Alexander gave Gray her cell phone so that he could see pictures of their new daughter. On the phone he spotted text messages from Alexander to her ex-husband, arousing Gray’s suspicions about the true father of the baby. A “verbal argument ensued,” according to court documents, and Alexander went into the garage.

Here is where things get messy. According to Alexander, she went to the garage to flee Gray, who was threatening her. So why did she go back into the house? Alexander has been less than consistent on this point. She has claimed that the garage door would not open, forcing her back inside, and also that she had forgotten her keys in the house. In either case, she grabbed her handgun from the glove compartment (the gun was legal, and Alexander had a concealed-carry permit) and went back inside.

And here things get messier. Alexander says that Gray threatened to kill her, so she fired a “warning shot.” But according to the court order denying Alexander’s motion to dismiss, she had pointed the gun in the direction of “all three victims” — Gray and his two young sons — and fired a shot “nearly missing [Gray’s] head.”

Gray’s account aligns with this — and adds a bit of color. Gray says that just before heading into the garage, Alexander told him, “I got something for your ass.” When she came back in with the gun, he put his hands in the air. After the shot, he fled out the front door with his sons and called 911. “She said she’s ‘sick of this sh*t,’” he told the dispatcher. “She shot at me, inside the house, while my boys were standing right next to me. Lord have mercy.” Alexander never called the police.


More here.

Give her a fair trial then send her back to jail.

meow2u3

(24,773 posts)
12. The judge effectively presumed her guilty
Thu Sep 26, 2013, 10:17 PM
Sep 2013

by shifting the burden of proof to the defendent to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she was defending herself. The prosecution is supposed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she did not defend herself.

WolverineDG

(22,298 posts)
14. Wrong burden of proof for a defendant
Thu Sep 26, 2013, 10:28 PM
Sep 2013

Clear & convincing, maybe. Beyond reasonable doubt is only for the State

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