Florida Woman Gets 20 Years For Self-Defense Shooting

May 12th, 2012 - By MN Editor
Marissa Alexander

The verdict is in, Marissa Alexander, the 31-year-old Florida woman who fired what her family calls a warning shot at her abusive husband, was sentenced Friday morning to 20 years in prison.

Alexander was convicted of three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for firing into a wall near her husband and his two young children at their Jacksonville home in 2010. Alexander was standing her ground against a man who had over the course of nearly a year punched and choked her on several different occasions. She believed she was protected that day under the state’s Stand Your Ground Law (cue Trayvon Martin case)  which gives people wide discretion in using deadly force to defend themselves. Obviously a judge and a jury disagreed. Read the full story here…

In the light of the Trayvon Martin Case, how do you feel about this verdict? Do you believe there is a double standard with this Florida law?

 

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  • Sophie

    this was wrong… so basically it was okay for her to get beat on and she does something about it and you want to make an example of her? she shouldn’t have even gotten 20 yrs… this is absurd.

  • justme

    I honestly cant help to think what the h*** was going thru the judges mind when they sentenced Marissa Alexander to 20 years….all she was doing  was defending herself against an abusive boyfriend…no one was hurt in the incident.. this is totally unfair…something needs to be done about this…i hope she gets an appeal as soon as possible…and a new defense lawyer.

    • Justaguest

       not to mention that she shot an inanimate object – the ceilong – why theheck shoud she get ANY jail time? terrible. why no NAACP and AL Sharpton for this?? And yes, this izs just as bad as the trayvon martin case. this judge has just ruined a womans life – 20 years in prision is as good as death or someone who has not hurt anyone.

  • Pingback: Florida Woman Gets 20 Years For Self-Defense Shooting | Z 107.9

  • http://twitter.com/MaryRachelKate Rachel

    SEXISM plain and simple.  Ever since George Z was not arrested immediately I have been saying that if he was a woman who was defending herself against her husband he would have been arrested ASAP.
    @Liyah it’s not because she is black – it’s because she is a woman.  I’m not black either but I have been noticing this pattern with women of all colors, ages, races.  We need to get past race, get together as women and do something about this.

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  • http://twitter.com/prfectisshe myprfectimprfections

    LEAVE THESE MEN ALONE LADIES! i’m sure that idiot had done plenty of things before this incident. its time for women to get a backbone and put these bum dudes down! all this could’ve been prevented DON’T GO BACK! LOOK FORWARD to life ,  NEW DESERVING LOVE , and FREEDOM! 

  • Lalatarea

    didn’t she leave the their home during the altercation THEN CAME BACK and shot at him? if so how is she standing her ground?

    • Papillon

      I thought she went inside to get her car keys and he wouldn’t let her leave.

  • sweettea

    She went back inside to get a gun and he was leaving and had kids with him. Her and Zimmerman were both wrong and should both be in jail.

  • Charissehill

    Boycott the state of FLORIDA.

  • Charissehill

    You DAMN straight it is. It took all of AMERICA to come together and make noise against this screwed up law and now we need to come together again to interject and make sure this law is not biased against certain people. DAMN SHAME.

  • Rgtowns

    It’s insulting to Trayvon & his family to compare this case to his murder. In what way is this a similar case, other than they both happened in FL. There has to be more to the story for the sister to get 20 years without murdering anyone.

    • Aries281977

      It is a comparison but in a backwards kinda way. This woman was actually standing her ground and doing time. George claims to be standing his ground but had no reason to but walking free. That’s why he said if George walked free he is starting a riot. I don’t think its an insult to travon’s family.

    • Aries281977

      But you are right. Maybe there are holes in this story. I hope so because the circumstances do suck.

    • janejill

      she should not have fired a gun in front of her kids period and it sounds like she was in an abusive relationship she should’ve left.

  • http://twitter.com/prfectisshe myprfectimprfections

    this should serve two lessons. first one WOMEN STOP DEALING WITH ABUSIVE NO GOOD MEN , look at the result. too many women just settling for any and everything just to say they’ve got a man. now this fool can move on to the next victim. and she has 20 years

    second lesson blacks in florida will never have justice . i’ve not forgotten about that tramp casey anthony getting off. while zimmerman walks free.

    • Love_Sexy

      Preach it!

    • Sunshine33811

      Do you know that its not only the thugs and the no good man that are abusive. You have so called college educated men that are lawyers, doctors, mayors, etc that abuses women. Get it right

      • SheBetn

        Im confused by your comment. I believe she put them all in the same category. The ” no good man” has no one description. She never singled out “thugs”….

        • http://twitter.com/prfectisshe myprfectimprfections

          thank you!

      • http://twitter.com/prfectisshe myprfectimprfections

        i think i typed out english correct? where did i say it was thugs and if they’re abusive then they’re no good dear. uhhh get that right ok before replying.

  • Mls2698

    More proof that blacks are given more harsh sentences for offenses that are equal to or less than the norm.

  • TashaJ

    The issue that I have with this (and perhaps the reason (that)
    the judge and jury may have disregarded the stand your ground rule) is because
    she shot at him while he was next to harmless children; that in itself was
    completely reckless (and) put innocent children in harm’s way. My view is – there
    is no double standard, she was wrong for firing the gun in the presence and
    direction of unintended kids, so based on that, she will have to pay. You can’t
    fire a gun at someone, with random uninvolved parties standing right beside your
    target. Also, the article states that, “Alexander was standing her ground
    against a man who had over the course of nearly a year punched and choked her
    on several different occasions.” At what point would one just decide to leave?
    Why stay with someone who, “clearly has a track record of abuse?”

    George Zimmerman will (better) pay because he and Trayvon’s situation
    could have been avoided; he was instructed to stay in his vehicle (which he
    disregarded) so once he took it upon himself to exit the car an approach
    Trayvon, he became the threat. He (being Zimmerman) was the aggressor, and for
    that he will pay.

    Sorry Peeps didn’t mean to be so long winded! :-)

  • Liyah

    I SWEAR if George Z is NOT convicted, on everything, I’m starting a riot!! I’m a sophomore in college, and this is starting to feel like the days before the CRM. Do we even have a Thurgood Marshall of our generation? Hands down, it’s because she’s black and a women. If you read the article, the offense attorney called her wild, reckless and everything. Yo, where is NAACP?? This is riot worthy!!!

    • FromUR2UB

      I understand your anger and frustration.  But, we have riots of the past to look to, and the only long-term result from them has been neighborhoods that were torn up and devastated, that never recovered.  They remain blighted to this day.  The people who live in those neighborhoods were left worse off than before.  So, rioting is a knee-jerk reaction that only proves destructive, without accomplishing the goal.  It may frighten people, but as long as you’re destroying where you live, all they have to do is sit back and allow it.  If you go into their neighborhoods, they’ll just call in the National Guard to shoot you and/or contain you.  In order for anger to be effective, it has to be channeled and executed properly.  Petitions have proven very effective lately, because they bring attention to a cause while rallying broader support behind it.  You have to learn how to fight people and entities on terms they understand, otherwise they can simply ignore and dismiss you.

      • An informed observer

        Thank you for saying your comment. My hometown is the result of people ‘rioting’          (Detroit). That riot was all the way back in ’67 and 45 yrs later the city is much worse than it ever was…
        I never fully understood why anyone would want to burn down businesses and houses in their own neighborhood. Its like at the end of the day, who do you think is going to clean up the mess? As you said, that is the problem with unchanneled anger; it leads to more destruction.

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