Marissa Alexander, the Florida mother of three facing 20 years in prison for firing what her family said was a warning shot at her abusive husband, is anything but a victim, said the state prosecutor who oversaw the case.

“She was angry” when she fired the shot, State Attorney Angela B. Corey told HuffPost. “She was not in fear.”

Corey said her office considered all the details of the case before moving forward with Alexander’s prosecution. She said the facts don’t support Alexander’s self-defense claim. Just before Alexander went into the garage and retrieved her pistol, she told Gray, “I got something for your ass,” Corey said.

While Alexander’s family and her attorney have claimed Alexander fired a warning shot into the ceiling, Corey said a bullet hole in the wall shows the gun was aimed much lower. The shot Alexander fired appears to have struck to the right of an archway between the kitchen and living room, where Gray and his two young sons were.

“She didn’t fire into the ceiling,” Corey said. “They are blatantly lying. She fired the shot toward the living room, where they were, at an adult that she was angry with.

She might have been angry at him, but what if that bullet had struck one of those kids?

“Who would be crying for Marissa Alexander then?” Corey asked. “Who fights for those two children? She fired at two children. These two young boys had no choice. … Marissa Alexander made her decision.”

A judge later rejected Alexander’s Stand Your Ground defense, saying that she could have escaped “through the front or back door,” according to court records. Corey’s office offered a plea bargain that would have sent Alexander to prison for three years, but she rejected it, hoping to convince a jury she was defending herself.

“She got two shots at her self-defense theory,” Corey said. “Neither a judge nor a jury bought it”

Corey blasted Alexander’s family and attorneys for spreading “misinformation”

“If there was a way to prosecute [Alexander’s family] for what they are doing I would,” Corey said. “For them to put out this kind of misinformation.”

A few months after Alexander was released on bail on orders to have no contact with Gray, she got into an altercation with him at his home that gave him a black eye, Corey said. Alexander was charged with battery.

“Instead of her trying to work toward a resolution, about four months into this thing, claiming to be so afraid of this man, she went barging to his house and attacked him,” Corey said. “So it didn’t show much of her being remorseful of what happened and being a peaceful person.”

The entire article can be viewed on the Huffington Post

There is something deranged, something that is not sane about an inability to reckon with or perceive time. It seems that to some human beings that the perception of twenty years is no different from any other time reference -no different than three, or five, or ten… I have written here about the medical condition of thought disorder. That is the scientific definition of insanity. But the real truth about insanity in the human race is that there is a spectrum.

The insanity spectrum is just a matter of degree…that means that there is a spectrum in which all sorts of disorders of thought and perception are represented from the mildest form to the most severe. It has been said that extreme lack of empathy is a sociopathic trait. Lacking empathy and having an extreme disperception of time has got to be crazy.

And so those who called themselves exacting Justice on Marissa, have got to be criminally insane.

If ever the “Stand Your Ground” law in Florida had a chance of being applied fairly, this case shows that it has gone out the window as of last Friday. A court sentenced a black woman; Marissa Alexander a 31-year-old mother of three to 20 years for firing a warning shot at her abusive husband. I thought the law was supposed to have been passed for a persons to protect themselves, if they feared that their life was in danger. That’s what was represented on behalf of George Zimmerman.

In light of the aftermath of the long-delayed arrest of Trayvon Martin’s assassin, it is incomprehensible that Alexander, who neither killed nor injured anyone, has been convicted of aggravated assault with a firearm and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Let me just remind you that just about a month ago the system did not want to arrest the murder of a child who only had candy and a drink. Moreover, he posed no threat. Unbelievable!!!

Marissa’s husband, Rico Gray, a man with a documented history of abuse including an assault on her while she was pregnant, threatened to kill her nine days after the birth of their daughter. This time, Marissa wasn’t going to put up with another beating. When threatened, she fired a warning shot into the ceiling to let Gray know that the abuse was over and he’d better think twice before coming after her again. He then ran into the street and claimed that she had threatened to kill him and his boys. On his word alone, she was arrested.

State Attorney Angela Corey, the same prosecutor who is prosecuting the Trayvon Martin case, offered a three-year sentence plea bargain but Alexander refused on the grounds that she had done nothing wrong. Alexander tried to invoke Florida’s Stand Your Ground law but the judge refused.

Even though Gray recanted and even though Alexander’s 11-year-old daughter took the stand and made a plea on her mother’s behalf, the judge said that he had no choice but to sentence Alexander for at least 20 years.

This verdict poses serious questions about an already questionable law that is applied unevenly. Jacksonville Congresswoman Corrine Brown has stated that Alexander’s case is a product of “institutionalized racism” and that she had been unable to locate a Stand Your Ground case where a black person is the beneficiary of the law. In the meantime, Marissa Alexander faces a long time in prison with little hope of getting out.

There is an online petition to Florida Governor Rick Scott to grant a pardon to Marissa Alexander. You can sign it here:  Pardon Marissa Alexander – show your support and sign the petition!

I want to thank author Ann Werner where much of this article was gleaned. I hope you don’t mind Ann but I was compelled to share and show my support. Thank you and that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

http://johntwills.com

Good Evening

I am going to tell you three stories, about guns…protecting yourself and standing your ground. All three scenarios are from Florida…and all three question the use of the popular GOP/ALEC backed law also known as “Stand Your Ground.”

In a little section of Hillsborough County Florida, called Valrico, David James was playing basketball with his 8–year old daughter on a community basketball court. While they played together, a skateboarder who was also on the court caught the attention of another man…Trevor Dooley, who lived across the street.

Skateboards were banned on the basketball court, yelled Dooley to the kid with the board, and James spoke up to defend the skateboarder…where was the sign stating kids were not allowed to skate?

Dooley and James got into an argument that turned violent, and Dooley, who had a concealed gun permit, took his gun and shot James.

Dooley was arrested and charged with manslaughter.

In Jacksonville, Florida, a woman who had documented proof of past physical abuse from her husband, was in yet another situation where an argument between her and her husband made her feel threatened. Marissa Alexander, in the process of leaving the house where the altercation was taking place,  realized when she got into the car that she forgot her keys. She took her gun and went back into the house where her husband and two sons where also leaving the house. Alexander took the gun and fired a warning shot to keep her husband from coming forward and attacking her.

She was arrested and charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

And in yet another part of Florida, this time in a town called Sanford, an unarmed young black teenager was walking home from a 7 Eleven….you all know the rest of that story.

All three situations invoked the “Stand your Ground” defense. Only two resulted in immediate arrest of the shooter.

We have talked extensively about the case of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman, a situation where a boy was killed, shot point-blank in the chest by a man who was never arrested and charged with a crime. That is until public outcry brought about an investigation by the states attorney’s office.

Just last week, Marissa Alexander was convicted of aggravated assault, and sentenced to 20 years in prison. The jury took only 12 minutes to return that verdict of guilty.

Just today, a judge has denied the motion from Dooley’s attorney regarding the use of the “stand your ground” law in his defense.

The point of this post is not to debate the guilt of each of these people who used a gun, in what they describe as necessary force against a life threatening altercation.

We discussed the lack of arrest in the Trayvon Martin murder, and our outcry was against a police department and district attorney who obviously “neglected” to charge George Zimmerman with any sort of crime.

Here then are two examples of a case where in similar circumstances, an arrest was made and charges were immediately brought against the suspect.

Dooley and Alexander both are African-American. Zimmerman is a white Hispanic.

All three are proof of an undeniable bias in the criminal system…and that is exactly what brought about my protest against this “system” that let Zimmerman go free, while his victim lay dead in the morgue.

For more information on the cases I described above:

Child terrified to testify near man accused of killing father | Crime | Brandon-Valrico-Seffner News

‘Stand Your Ground’ defense denied for Trevor Dooley in 2010 death of David James in Valrico

Stand Your Ground denied for Trevor Dooley, the man accused of killing Valrico father, David James | wtsp.com

Marissa Alexander, Florida Mom, Faces Mandatory 20 Years In Prison After Failed Stand-Your-Ground Defense (UPDATE)

Florida woman sentenced to 20 years in controversial warning shot case – CNN.com

Shame of mandatory minimums shows in Marissa Alexander case – CNN.com

Corey: Jax Woman Shot in Anger, Not Fear, She’ll Get 20 Years

Another Fla. shooting could take center stage in House floor debate – The Hill’s Floor Action

George Zimmerman comparison? Woman gets 20 years for warning shot – latimes.com

Here are the highlights:

On August 10, 2010, Alexander’s husband, Rico Gray, assaulted her because of text messaging she had with her ex-husband.

She escaped but returned to get her car keys with her gun …

Read article here: Despite Stand Your Ground Law, Marissa Alexander Gets Twenty Years

Marissa Alexander, 31, testified that Rico Gray physically assaulted her on August 1, 2010, before she fled to the garage, and, unable to exit through the malfunctioning automatic door opener, returned to the kitchen with her gun. She fired a shot over Gray’s head, causing a bullet to lodge in the ceiling. Gray and his two sons testified that they were together in the kitchen and in fear of their lives, though one of the sons later changed his story, testifying that he and his brother were never in danger.

Alexander’s attorney presented a “stand your ground” defense — attempting to utilize the Florida law has come to national prominence in the Trayvon Martin case — but a judge ruled against her, saying that by returning to the house, she demonstrated that she was not in fear for her life.

The case was prosecuted by the office of Duval County state attorney Angela Corey, who is now prosecuting Trayvon Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman.

Corey has said that Alexander acted out of anger, not fear.

The 20 year sentence was a mandatory minimum under Florida’s “10-20-Life law,” which mandates sentences for crimes involving a firearm. Alexander was convicted of three counts of aggravated assault with a firearm.

Alexander’s former husband, Lincoln Alexander, attended the sentencing, and said the day was tough on him and on his and Marissa Alexanders’ 11-year-old twins. Their daughter testified at the sentencing, along with other family members.

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1

A group of student activists, the Dream Defenders, protested at the 7 a.m. hearing, as they did in Sanford prior to Zimmerman’s arrest. The judge, Circuit Judge James Daniel, had them removed from the courthouse.

Daniel had previously denied Alexander’s motion for a new trial.

Marissa Alexander and Rico Gray have a daughter. She apparently texted pictures of the child to Lincoln Alexander before the fight that led to the gun incident in 2010, prompting what she called a physical attack by Grey.

Gray had two previous arrests for domestic violence, including one against Alexander while she was pregnant. Alexander, for her part, pleaded no contest to domestic battery in an incident between her and Gray four months after the gunshot incident.

Follow more from this story by Joy-Ann Reid on The Grio

Marissa Alexander, 31, testified that Rico Gray physically assaulted her on August 1, 2010, before she fled to the garage, and, unable to exit through the malfunctioning automatic door opener, returned to the kitchen with her gun. She fired a shot over Gray’s head, causing a bullet to lodge in the ceiling. Gray and his two sons testified that they were together in the kitchen and in fear of their lives, though one of the sons later changed his story, testifying that he and his brother were never in danger.

Alexander’s attorney presented a “stand your ground” defense — attempting to utilize the Florida law has come to national prominence in the Trayvon Martin case — but a judge ruled against her, saying that by returning to the house, she demonstrated that she was not in fear for her life.

The case was prosecuted by the office of Duval County state attorney Angela Corey, who is now prosecuting Trayvon Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman.

Corey has said that Alexander acted out of anger, not fear.

The 20 year sentence was a mandatory minimum under Florida’s “10-20-Life law,” which mandates sentences for crimes involving a firearm. Alexander was convicted of three counts of aggravated assault with a firearm.

Alexander’s former husband, Lincoln Alexander, attended the sentencing, and said the day was tough on him and on his and Marissa Alexanders’ 11-year-old twins. Their daughter testified at the sentencing, along with other family members.

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1

A group of student activists, the Dream Defenders, protested at the 7 a.m. hearing, as they did in Sanford prior to Zimmerman’s arrest. The judge, Circuit Judge James Daniel, had them removed from the courthouse.

Daniel had previously denied Alexander’s motion for a new trial.

Marissa Alexander and Rico Gray have a daughter. She apparently texted pictures of the child to Lincoln Alexander before the fight that led to the gun incident in 2010, prompting what she called a physical attack by Grey.

Gray had two previous arrests for domestic violence, including one against Alexander while she was pregnant. Alexander, for her part, pleaded no contest to domestic battery in an incident between her and Gray four months after the gunshot incident.

Follow more from this story by Joy-Ann Reid on The Grio

Preston Lowe: This case is prosecuted by the same state attorney who is handling the Trayvon Martin case… I feel the Demonization of the Law (to go after Former Governor Bush for some reason being that he is FORMER and He’s sitting on a couch somewhere not running for office makes no sense).. means the prosecutor would be scared to use it for it’s true reason… protection. It could damage the Trayvon Martin case .. WHICH IT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN USED IN THAT CASE IN THE FIRST PLACE… Zimmerman Started his mess… Marissa DID NOT!

Marissa 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 one shot.

“I believe when he threatened to kill me, that’s what he was absolutely going to do,” she said. “That’s what he intended to do. Had I not discharged my weapon at that point, I would not be here.”

Preston Lowe: When are we going to stand up and stop letting these Politicians crap on us to get their friends elected or their enemies un elected while we try to figure how to protect ourselves just trying to go or come from work.

The Judge handed down the sentence Friday after an emotional sentencing hearing during which Alexander’s parents, 11-year-old daughter spoke on her behalf.

Preston Lowe: This is a Damn Shame, can we get at least one or two people to march for her and her Daughter.

source: http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/11/justice/florida-stand-ground-sentencing/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

Marissa Alexander … if you want to defend yourself in Florida, you’d better be white and wealthy.

The jury took 12 minutes to convict. 12 MINUTES.

No one died. No one was even hurt.

A woman defended herself against abusive violence by firing a warning shot, in a state where such action is explicitly permitted by law.

Today, she faces 20 years in jail. TWENTY YEARS.

Read the story, and weep that the American justice system still acts like this.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/02/marissa-alexander-florida-stand-your-ground_n_1472647.html

A petition has now been set up to address the case. I urge you to sign it.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/503/600/056/dont-imprison-marissa-alexander-for-standing-her-ground/

Marissa could have got if with 3 years if she accepted a plea bargain but she refused in the hope she could convince the jury and judge her firing the weapon was self-defense.

Related articles

• Abused Wife Marissa Alexander Faces 20 Year Sentence, “Stand Your Ground” Law Fails Her (mymajicdc.com)
• Marissa Alexander: ‘Stand Your Ground’ Law Fails Domestic Violence Victim (inquisitr.com)
• Where Was ‘Stand Your Ground’ for Marissa Alexander? (ideas.time.com)
• Abused Wife Marissa Alexander Faces 20 Year Sentence, “Stand Your Ground” Law Fails Her (hellobeautiful.com)

The Jacksonville native claims she was in fear of her life when she fired a warning shot in the direction of her husband, Rico Gray, during an argument.

Though Gray was neither shot nor injured during the incident, Alexander was charged and convicted on three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Lincoln Alexander, Marissa’s first husband and long time friend, called in to the TJMS, this morning, to speak with Jacque Reid about the case. In case you missed the interview, you can listen below.

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On August 1, 2010, Alexander fought for her life against an abusive husband who, according to her, had every intention of killing her. Alexander now awaits trial on three counts of of aggravated assault with no intent to harm, and faces a minimum 20 years in prison after shooting a warning shot into the ceiling to warn her threatening husband from approaching her.

The judge in the case dismissed Alexander’s motion to receive immunity under the “Stand Your Ground,” and she is struggling to get her story heard.

Read Marissa Alexander’s story here and read about the denial for protection under the “Stand Your Ground” law here.

Listen To This Playlist Meant For Pulling You Out Of Your Storm.

[ione_songza playlist=get-you-through-the-storm-HelloBeautiful]

Related Links:

Trayvon Martin Tragedy And The “Stand Your Ground Law”

Family Locked In Restaurant For Not Tipping, Woman Claims

Justice Deflected:

“Stand Your Ground” runs aground in the Marissa Alexander case. 

Marissa Alexander owned a 9mm semiautomatic handgun for nearly five years prior to March of 2010, and by the time most of you are reading this, Marissa Alexander will have already begun serving a 20-year prison term for the only shot she ever fired with it. What she thought was a “warning shot” to stop her abusive boyfriend from coming toward her was, in fact, a lethal error that has destroyed her life, and that of her three children.

Had she just killed the guy, she would probably be walking free under terms of “Stand Your Ground”, and that is why her case has suddenly attracted such attention in the wake of L’Affair Trayvon. Members of Alexander’s family, flanked by supporters, have been holding rallies on her behalf; the most recent happened in the courthouse parking lot on May 30. It was booked for six, but crowds had already gathered an hour earlier on the Riverwalk, 100 yards away. Turns out they were there for Yacht Week; if the mezzo-soprano following our anthem with “God Save the Queen” was no clue, the wall of pinched white faces was. This reporter was, in fact, the only point of overlap between the two groups.

Local news-crews had already done their remotes for the 6pm broadcast, before things had started; they were nice enough to stick around for a while, turning their cameras on here and there. The two cameramen, a teacher from FSCJ and my bike-riding bartender friend were the only Caucasians in a crowd numbering almost 50, which is to be expected. There were hymns, prayers, lots of nice words and good Christian fellowship, none of which will save her. It was not a time or place for asking hard questions, like: Why didn’t Alexander’s ex-military father just shoot the guy who was beating his daughter?

Sentencing is scheduled for Thursday, May 10. Any mercy, reason or compassion Judge James Daniel might or might not have is negated by political expediency: Mandatory minimums were designed to win elections, not the fight against crime. Disproportionately high sentences handed down to small-time criminals keep the facilities full and allow pols to play crime-fighter, while the real dirt is done out of public view. Unless the judge accepts the motion for retrial filed by her attorney, Keith Cobbin, it’s a wrap.

With stories like these, context flies at you from all directions. Walking down Bay St., after making a loop around the lot, a headline leapt out from a row of newspaper boxes: “Sluggish Economy Fuels Domestic Violence, Police Report”, from that day’s USA Today. It followed on a survey taken of some 700 law-enforcement agencies by the Police Executive Research Forum; the headline reflects the view of 56% of respondents, up from just 40% in 2010. The CDC estimates that 1.3 million women are victims of domestic violence every year. These incidents occurred at 111,681 times in Florida in 2011, according to the FDLE, but consider CDC’s claim that three-fourth of such incidents don’t even get reported, and we’re talking more like half a million. (With 7,604 reported incidents, Duval County is only third-worst in the state.) A woman in this country is attacked by an intimate partner every nine seconds; at least three of them are killed every day.

Domestic violence is estimated to cost this country nearly $6 billion a year–$4 billion for medical care, and another two for the 64 million productive work-hours lost from victims who miss work because their injuries can’t be concealed. At least ten million children have seen this stuff happen right before their eyes, including Marissa Alexander’s; the step-children who saw the shooting are, statistically, twice as likely to become abusers themselves someday, which is bad news for somebody out there. (Chris Brown is the most obvious example of how the “cycle of violence” concept plays out in real-life.)

There is an old Chinese saying: “He who will not listen, will have to feel.” That is the story of Marissa Alexander, in a nutshell. The woman’s life was hard enough, but soon it will be ruined beyond repair, simply because she made the same fatal mistake made by countless women over the years—she showed mercy and compassion to an abusive man. She could have fled into the street and taken her beating there. That she fired into the ceiling, instead of into the sternum, suggests to some that maybe she didn’t feel so threatened, after all.

Had she, in those desperate moments, done what any man would do in her situation—fixed the gun squarely on the attacker’s head and put a bullet right between the eyes, where it belonged—odds are that we would have never known who she was. We wouldn’t be writing about her, and you wouldn’t be reading about her. At best, her story might have been added to the accordion-file of “good news” about guns, next to all those old-timers who stood up to Hitler, and had no patience for some body bluffin’ street urchin who spent too much time listening to the wrong records. The NRA and affiliated lobbies like touting these tales, because it’s the only thing that balances the fact that NRA-licensed gun dealers knowingly sell weapons to criminals.

I would suggest that Alexander was simply blinded by her emotions, the same emotions that kept her in that terrible position, like thousands of other women here in Florida. As I write this (and it’s not even 11am), there’s probably a woman getting her ass kicked in all 67 counties of the state, and odds are that they will tell no one. Over the years, I’ve spoken with many dozens of victims of rape and/or domestic violence, and the vast majority of them never went to the authorities, because the pointlessness of such an endeavor has become the stuff of legend. The social cost of going public is, frankly, punitive, and everyone knows the odds of conviction are slim—the dynamic is about as “top-down” as you can get.

Florida now enjoys a national reputation built mostly around pills, dead children and mediocre football. Well, games are decided on the field, and addiction fights occur in the mind and soul. The continued abuse of innocents is a slap in the face to every single citizen of the state—and those who you saying “Oh wait, this has nothing to do with me” are the worst of all. This is a state of transients, dilettantes and northeastern washouts who come here because, if you can’t make it in Florida, suicide is your last option. The scum has risen because they were allowed to, and they’re just getting started.

More details can be had from justiceformarissa.blogspot.com, and the @Justice4Marissa Twitter feed. Ultimately, the lesson of all this is: Ladies, don’t breed with men who beat you. That such a statement might prove controversial nowadays only reinforces the point. Alexander never learned that, so now she’ll learn in prison, while the daughter she bore him (and whose pictures set off the incident) will be raised by him—really badly, one would guess. But the girl’s already been gifted with a perfect name for the life that lies ahead: “Rianna”. You just cannot make this stuff up!

sheltonhull@gmail.com; May 1, 2012