Justice in Florida: Marissa Alexander gets a new trial

[Shadow T'Kia]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/09/26/1241541/-Justice-in-Florida-Marissa-Alexander-gets-a-new-trial

It's rather hard to believe the State Attorney has "vowed" to retry this case.

[sudo]

Shadow,

     There are two sides to every story. The jury took less than 15 minutes to convict her, there were children present who said they feared for their lives.. well, you read the USA Today account and see if it doesn't put another light on Ms. Alexander: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/23/marissa-alexander-stand-your-ground/2575419/

sudo

[Shadow T'Kia]

Sudo:

This case is about domestic violence. Her husband was a violent man who beat her even while she was pregnant with his child. She had given birth prematurely to his child 9 days earlier when he violated a protection order and entered her property. Though she may have left the premises to retrieve her weapon to scare him away she had no intent to kill him which makes this so outrageous to me a woman!  Many women in this country are serving long sentences for killing documented violent domestic abusers.

Facts of case from blog:

While pregnant, Marissa Alexander was battered by her husband. On August 1 2010, her premature baby girl, born nine days earlier, was in the Baptist South N.I.C.U. fighting for her life while Marissa fought for life in her own home against an attacker - her husband. She is currently sitting in the Pretrial Detention Facility in Jacksonville FL, Duval County awaiting a sentence for three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon with no intent to harm. She was also charged with child abuse because she fired a warning shot in the ceiling of her home. She owned a legitimate and current gun permit that she was trained to used.

But life is unfair for the vast majority for poor woman across the globe. C'est la vie.

Cheers, Shadow

On Thursday, September 26, 2013 6:01:36 PM UTC-5, Shadow T'Kia wrote:

[Orson Zedd]

Hell, if she had intended to kill him, I'd say it's justified. Her
only crime is being black.

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[Martin F. Atkins]

So what actually happened?  Marissa Alexander got into a fight with her husband, Rico Gray, so she went to the garage and got a gun.  Then she fired a shot that almost hit her husband in the head while Rico was with two children.  Rico and the children feared for their lives and, therefore, called the cops.  The cops arrested Marrissa.  When Marrissa got out on bail, Rico (her husband) ended up with a swollen, bloody eye.  However, when the cops questioned her about her husband's injury, Marissa claimed that Rico hit her on the top of her head and her head was swollen.  However, the police could not find any visible injuries on her head.  Marrissa and not Rico was arrested once again.  She also filed protective orders against her husband so he definitely wasn't encouraged to fight back, which would be bad for Rico with the protective order against him. 

 

After reviewing the evidence, the jury decided in less than 15 minutes--lightening fast--that she was guilty of aggravated assault charges and got 20 years, obviously, NOT because she almost shot (possibly just a bad aim) her husband in head in front of her kids, NOT because the kids apparently feel a lot safer with Rico than their own mother, especially after mom almost shot their dad in the head, NOT because she assaulted her husband while on bail who the evidence indicates didn't fight back, and NOT because she refused the 3 years flee bargain but ONLY because she was black. 

 

Are you serious?  That is the argument?  Couldn't they find a better case to argue racial injustice?   Was her husband physically, verbally abusive--both? Neither?  When she assaulted him while on bail, she injuried him and claimed that he also injuried her but there was no evidence of any injury to her.  I wonder what the children and her husband said (if anything) at the first trial that so convincing persuaded the jury of her guilt?  Did her color really play a major role?  

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[Martin F. Atkins]

Ok, I read a little more about the case. She got charged with three counts of aggravated assault.  One judge said that he may consider dropping one of the assault charges (leaving her only with two aggravated assault charges) only because one of Rico Gray's two children said that he didn't fear for his life when he witnessed Marissa fire a bullet that almost hit his father's head.

 

http://www.tampabay.com/stand-your-ground-law/cases/case_229

[Shadow T'Kia]

Martin,

Thank you for the link. So exhusband comes over, against restraining order, strikes her on head; new stressed out mother (her premie baby is still in the hospital) defends herself by striking back, hitting him in face -- escapes out of her house (to get her weapon to defend herself and property - body still reeling with post-partum hormones and mind zooming with scenarios from prior beatings).  Certainly no premeditation going on here, no rational thinking either but to scare him away and to stand her ground!  Worked for Zimmerman - why not her.  BTW, domestic abusers are great at hiding their abuse ... one of the ladies at work tells stories of how her first hubby would beat her and the kids all week long in places in the church people would never see when he sung so beautifully every Sunday morning.  Thankfully she finally escaped him without resorting to violence herself.

Cheers, Shadow  :)

On Saturday, September 28, 2013 9:22:46 PM UTC-5, Martin F. Atkins wrote:

[Martin F. Atkins]

One aggravated charge was Marissa and Rico looking at pictures of their baby with his two kids. They got into an argument. She claimed that he threw her on the bed and choked her. Therefore, she went into the garage, got a gun, and fired a bullet that almost struck his head while his kids werwe're present. I don't know if there was any evidence of him physically abusing her, such as marks on her neck, etc. However, the police arrested her. I don't know when the restraining order was filed against him and why he did also file one against her. Later, when she got out of jail on bail, she struck her husband in the face injuring his eye. When the police arrived, she claimed her husband struck her in the head and it was swollen of which the police found no evidence of any injury to her head.

Remember that the police hauled Marissa off to jail at least twice, three aggravated assault charges were filed against her and not her husband. She did file a restraining order against her husband and likely lied to the police about at least one of the abuse incidents. Plus, the jury only took 12 minutes to deliberate on her guilt. I am not claiming that Rico is an angel because birds of the same feather tend to flock together nor do I think that Marrissa is necessarily a victim of the justice system. I just think that someone could have selected more upstanding African-American citizens.

[Martin F. Atkins]

Is there medical evidence of her husband abusing her? Or is this her verbal accusations, such as her claiming her husband struck her in the head that was allegedly swollen of which the police found no evidence of? Her credibilty is not exactly stellar. Also, the child was born 9 days early. I am not a medical doctor but is that technically premature? Aren't doctors usually off a week or two sometimes? And how do we know that his abuse (verbal or physical) caused it, if it even was premature? Did drugs also have something to do with the 9 day early delivery? Was she also attacking him because she, obviously, did not hesitate to attack her husband after he filed aggravated assault charges against her? This is not exactly a slam dung case.

[Orson Zedd]

Is there reasonable doubt that she was not afraid of her husband and in fact fired at him with the intent to kill?

On Sun, Sep 29, 2013 at 12:01 AM, Martin F. Atkins <mfafree...@gmail.com> wrote:

Is there medical evidence of her husband abusing her? Or is this her verbal accusations, such as her claiming her husband struck her in the head that was allegedly swollen of which the police found no evidence of?  Her credibilty is not exactly stellar.  Also, the child was born 9 days early. I am not a medical doctor but is that technically premature? Aren't doctors usually off a week or two sometimes? And how do we know that his abuse (verbal or physical) caused it, if it even was premature?  Did drugs also have something to do with the 9 day early delivery? Was she also attacking him because she, obviously, did not hesitate to attack her husband after he filed aggravated assault charges against her?  This is not exactly a slam dung case.

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[sudo]

I come back to the jury which took 15 minutes to convict. They didn't buy her story one bit. She gets a new trial not based on any new evidence of "abuse" but rather on instructions given to the jury. This whole story got played up because of rabble rousing on the heels of the Trayvon case claiming an innocent woman was convicted for merely firing a "warning shot". She's guilty as sin.... 

sudo

On Sunday, September 29, 2013 2:48:11 AM UTC-5, Orson Zedd wrote:

Is there reasonable doubt that she was not afraid of her husband and in fact fired at him with the intent to kill?

On Sun, Sep 29, 2013 at 12:01 AM, Martin F. Atkins <mfafree...@gmail.com> wrote:

Is there medical evidence of her husband abusing her? Or is this her verbal accusations, such as her claiming her husband struck her in the head that was allegedly swollen of which the police found no evidence of?  Her credibilty is not exactly stellar.  Also, the child was born 9 days early. I am not a medical doctor but is that technically premature? Aren't doctors usually off a week or two sometimes? And how do we know that his abuse (verbal or physical) caused it, if it even was premature?  Did drugs also have something to do with the 9 day early delivery? Was she also attacking him because she, obviously, did not hesitate to attack her husband after he filed aggravated assault charges against her?  This is not exactly a slam dung case.

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[sudo]

And as far as punishment is concerned... well, we all know what the wages of sin is. 

sudo <----- Just a Romans 6:23 kind of guy

[Martin F. Atkins]

Orson,

From what I read, Marissa exited the dangerous situation to the safety of the garage. She got a gun. Then she reentered the dangerous situation and fired a shot that nearly struck Rico's head. She either missed (perhaps Rico moved or was moving) or wanted to fire a "warning" shot close enough to shake up Rico.  Based on the evidence (including the bullet entry location), the jury decided in 12 minutes that she attempted to cause serious bodily injury to Rico.

Like I said, I think that a better case could've been selected.



Aggravated Assault: A person is guilty of aggravated assault if he or she attempts to cause serious bodily injury to another or causes such injury purposely, knowingly, or recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life; or attempts to cause or purposely or knowingly causes bodily injury to another with a deadly weapon. In all jurisdictions statutes punish such aggravated assaults as assault with intent to murder (or rob or kill or rape) and assault with a dangerous (or deadly) weapon more severely than "simple" assaults.

[Martin F. Atkins]

Trust me. No matter what the evidence and her true intent, the social media claims that she is innocent and is being falsely and harshly punished because she is black. That idea stuck in the social media's mind; that idea and forgone conclusion can NEVER be unstuck.

[Shadow T'Kia]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/may/17/stand-your-ground-marissa-alexander ... this is the first link (pasted text below) that has more details of the first incident in question.  The judge overturning her first conviction based upon the instructions given to the jury must have been struck on how quickly they came to that decision in 12 minutes as like they had no other option possibly.  Thankfully she has a chance at another trial and if the result is the same so be it.  Life is not fair and never will be.

It took 45 days for police to arrest George Zimmerman, who invoked Florida's controversial stand-your-ground law when he shot an unarmed teenager, Trayvon Martin. When Marissa Alexander offered the same defense after shooting in the direction of her abusive husband, she was jailed for 20 years. It took 12 minutes for the jury to find her guilty.

While Zimmerman's case prompted a frenzied national debate, Alexander's story has had little national media coverage since the verdict was handed down last Friday. But the cases share one crucial detail: the guiding hand of state attorney Angela Corey.

Corey was brought in to oversee the prosecution of Zimmerman after the controversy over his defense grew; in the case of Alexander, Corey vigorously argued against using the stand-your-ground law to justify shooting a violent husband. "If I can't have you, nobody going to have you," her estranged husband, Rico Gray, allegedly told Alexander, before the altercation during which he was shot at.

Lawmakers in Florida say Alexander's case is precisely the kind where the controversial defense should apply. "The stand-your-ground law was legislated and implemented to protect people like Ms Alexander," said state senator Gary Siplin. "She did not have a history of criminal or violent behavior; instead, she had a history of being physically and emotionally abused." But a week ago, a jury disagreed, and she was handed a mandatory minimum 20-year sentence.

The case dates from 1 August 2010, when Alexander and Gray got into a fight at their home after he found text messages to Alexander's ex-husband on her phone.

At some point during the altercation, Alexander went into the garage. She claims she could not flee because the garage door was not working and she did not have the keys to her car. Alexander grabbed her handgun from inside the glove compartment and went back into the house. She fired a single shot at Gray, who was standing in the living room with his sons, ages nine and 13. The shot missed.

Alexander's family claims she was an experienced shooter and the trajectory of the bullet proves she was not aiming to kill or injure anyone. But Corey disputed these claims, with photographs showing bullet holes in walls at near "adult-height".

State attorney Angela Corey Photograph: Win Mcnamee/Getty Images

Corey also argued that stand-your-ground did not apply because Alexander could have fled the scene, although in 1999 the Florida supreme court ruled that a woman attacked by her husband in the home they share has no duty to flee.

In a November 2010 deposition, Gray admitted he had told Alexander that "if she ever cheated on me I would kill her" and, during the tussle, said: "If I can't have you, nobody can." He said that he was he "was going towards her" when Alexander fired a shot that went "high" and to his right. Gray said the gun was not pointed at him: "She just didn't want me to put my hands on her anymore, so she did what she feel like she have to do to make sure she wouldn't get hurt."

In the deposition, Gray admitted to abusing "all five of his babies' mamas except one," and to hitting Alexander. A previous encounter had resulted in Alexander being hospitalized.

But at a hearing in July 2011 when Alexander's legal team cited self defense in a motion to dismiss the charges against her, Gray changed his story, claiming he had lied about the details of the incident to protect Alexander. He now says that it was Alexander's violent nature that caused her to shoot at him.

'She only had three hours to think about that plea deal'

Despite causing no injuries to Gray, Alexander, who had no criminal convictions before the shooting, received such a long sentence because of an "enhancement" to her charges. According to Florida law, this results in a mandatory minimum 10-year sentence for anyone convicted of pulling a gun during a crime, and a mandatory minimum of 20 years for anyone convicted of firing a gun in the commission of a crime.

Corey has pointed out that four months after being released on bail, Alexander got in a physical altercation with Gray, despite being on orders not to contact him. The second incident left Gray with a black eye.

Alexander's first husband, Lincoln Alexander, told the Guardian that he was not surprised by the outcome of the case. "We already knew what Angela Corey's stance was. She wanted her to do 20 years."

Corey has pointed out that Alexander rejected a plea deal that would have sent her to prison for three years. But Lincoln Alexander said: "The talk of the three-year plea deal that she offered, it came at the last minute on March 9, which was a Friday before the trial was going to start.

"She only had three hours to think about that plea deal."

Having maintained her innocence from the start, he says his ex-wife was confident that a jury would find her not guilty.

Florida lawmakers – including congresswoman Corrine Brown and state senator Siplin – have deplored the verdict. On Monday Brown released a statement in which she claimed she "watched in horror and extreme sadness" as Alexander's conviction was handed down.

"This African American woman didn't hurt anyone, and now she might not hug her children for twenty years," Brown said.

"The Florida criminal justice system has sent two clear messages today. One is that if women who are victims of domestic violence try to protect themselves, the 'Stand Your Ground law' will not apply to them."

Siplin said he was "deeply saddened" in a statement also released Monday. He voted for the stand-your-ground provision in 2005 and believes the law was misapplied in Alexander's case.

Lincoln Alexander says his former wife remains in high spirits. "I talk with her every day," he said. "She has remained positive throughout this process. She had a few rough days here and there but for the most part, I'll say 90% of the time, she's in good spirits. She knows that her fight is not over."

Alexander's family, who are looking for a new attorney to take on the case, have started a website to draw attention to her case. Congresswoman Brown has promised to help with a plea to the Florida governor for clemency, and a march is planned for 29 May.

For Lincoln Alexander, the case is clear-cut. He has no doubt that Alexander feared for her life. "This really was a woman trying to defend herself from her abusive husband."

On Thursday, September 26, 2013 6:01:36 PM UTC-5, Shadow T'Kia wrote:

[Martin F. Atkins]

That makes it seem a lot more like self-defense on her part, epecially in light of Rico Gray's statements that you highlighted.

[sudo]

Yep.. sounds like it to me. Maybe she's just guilty as venial sin, huh? You just get purgatory for that..

sudo

[Martin F. Atkins]

According to that article, I know, by law, she didn't have to leave the house that they share. My questions are;

1). Whose house was it? Her house or Rico's house or both? I wonder if she was visiting Rico who she had a restraining order against him. Or was he visiting her with his two young children by invitation? How frequently did they visit each other while she had the restraining order?

2). Was she also abusive?

3). Was her garage door really broken? Why couldn't she just lift it up? She had a gun and could've easy fended him off while she escaped.

I think that Rico and Marissa are two hot heads. She got pissed at him and got a gun. He thought that she was bluffing and went after her and she shot at him....and missed. She got put in jail. I don't know all the details of the case and how many times Alexander and Rico were called in for beating up each other. I seriously doubt Rico decided to drop by his baby mama's house with his two kids (or she dropped by his house) to be beaten. Both of them seem to be real losers. However, from the article, he did appear to be coming after her so this is possibly self-defense of one hot head against another. I think the reason that she didn't have a criminal record until now is because men often don't press charges when they are beat up. But again, Rico appears to be even worse than her....but she is no angel or stellar example of a victim.

[Martin F. Atkins]

I have to read more about this case before I decide. Does anyone have a digital copy of the court decision and/or any briefs?