Zimmerman walks, yet this woman is behind bars for 20 years? WTF?

[OhioChick]

Fla. mom gets 20 years for firing warning shots



From May 12, 2012, 10:32 AM

(CBS News) JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A Florida woman who fired warning shots against her allegedly abusive husband has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Marissa Alexander of Jacksonville had said the state's "Stand Your Ground" law should apply to her because she was defending herself against her allegedly abusive husband when she fired warning shots inside her home in August 2010. She told police it was to escape a brutal beating by her husband, against whom she had already taken out a protective order.

CBS Affiliate WETV reports that Circuit Court Judge James Daniel handed down the sentence Friday.

Under Florida's mandatory minimum sentencing requirements Alexander could receive a lesser sentence, even though she has never been in trouble with the law before. Judge Daniel said the law did not allow for extenuating or mitigating circumstances to reduce the sentence below the 20-year minimum.

More: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57433184/fla-mom-gets-20-years-for-firing-warning-shots/

[MFM008]

1. the problem is obvious

shes not white. I have no hope for Florida.

[awoke_in_2003]

9. Bingo. nt

[gopiscrap]

2. This needs to be pointed out to the folks who

care about justice...it's time to rise up and make the comfortable uncomfortable again!

[PM Martin]

3. She's black, this is the south.

[avebury]

4. If she had just shot and killed him she would

have had a better chance of not ending up in prison.

[X_Digger]

10. That's true.

Warning shots are always a bad idea. They demonstrate that you don't actually fear imminent death or grievous bodily harm.

[Pelican]

33. Exactly....

Your 9mm is not a flare gun to gain attention...

[awoke_in_2003]

11. Maybe, maybe not...

if it was a black on white crime, you would be right. But black on whir and black on black trials are judged differently. The system sucks.

[avebury]

15. At least she would have gotten something

for her efforts if she had just gone ahead and shot him. As it were, it is insult in injury to end up in prison.

[awoke_in_2003]

17. Yeah, it is a fucked up situation all around. nt

[ceonupe]

5. Same state Atty over charged her as well

Same state Atty over charged her as well bypassing the grand jury aswell

[AZ Progressive]

6. People complain about NSA spying? Blacks have lived in a police state forever.

[Jenoch]

7. She was found guilty, Zimmerman was not.

She left her husband's home during an argument, went out to her car, retrieved her gun, and shot it into the wall in the general direction of her husband and his children. The court did not believe her when she said it was a warning shot. It also does not matter whether or not it was a warning shot. A gun fired during a crime under Florida law calls for 20 years. She would have received 10 years had she not fired the gun.

[Niceguy1]

13. how convienant

That the op left that part out lol

[HiPointDem]

22. go the hell away

[Jenoch]

26. Huh?

I'm not advocating any position on this case. I just repeated the facts as they came out. Go ahead and look it up if you care to.

[HiPointDem]

27. go the hell away

[Pelican]

39. Who needs facts?

Outrage is much more fun....

[DLevine]

44. No, she did not leave the home. The garage was attached to the house.

Her version is that he was preventing her from leaving the house. She tried to escape through the garage, but couldn't get the door open. She was trapped, and that is when she got the gun from the car & fired the warning shot. She was trying to escape.

[musical_soul]

8. The problem is that she was a woman.

Conservatives talk about how women need to protect themselves with a gun. What's the point if she's going to go to jail for it? It's bullcrap. Our society has always been apathetic when it comes to women being beaten or whose lives are in danger.

[blackspade]

24. EXACTLY!

Where was the NRA in it's defense of this woman?

Oh, that's right, she's African-American woman.

[Honeycombe8]

12. Yes, a great injustice. It has always been this way. A woman who injures a man...

or almost injures a man, will have hell to pay in the courts. Even if the man is black.

Male trumps female in the courts. And so it has always been.

[davidn3600]

36. What? Men trump women in the courts? Are you kidding me?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/11/men-women-prison-sentence-length-gender-gap_n_1874742.html

[Honeycombe8]

50. Yes, that is so. I'm speaking of women injuring/killing "the worthy" (men). They have hell

to pay.

Prisons are full of women who killed men, many in self defense.

It took a national outcry and movement to get the battered woman syndrome accepted legally. The legal community and the public didn't want to do it.

You should watch the docudrama "Bill." True story of the woman on trial for murder, shockingly convicted, after you see and hear what he had done to her. Still, she went to prison. Her case was the case responsible for battered woman syndrome being accepted finally.

Women stealing....other petty crimes....drugs...yeah, the Courts do seem to go a little more lightly on them. OTOH, women more often than men have clean records.

[Honeycombe8]

51. Yes, it's true. The prisons are full of women who killed men in self defense.

Now whether women get slightly lighter sentences for petty crimes or drugs or whatever....I would guess that that's true. They more often have a clean record, than men, which justifies a lighter sentence. Their crimes also more often are non-violent.

But a woman who kills a man she knows for any reason? She's more than likely going to prison. Temporary insanity, self defense....juries are not sympathetic to that at all. Their concern is MAINLY for the man.

You hear it now, from the military, when talking about the rapes in their ranks. Their concern is how the charge will mess up the man's record...their concern is not with the woman or even whether the charge is true or not.

As James Brown says, It's A Man's World.

[frazzled]

14. Just another case of "black and white" justice

It's like we have two systems of justice in this country. I feel so depressed right now.

You know, we moan and whine about so many things here ... but honestly, the racial chasm in this country--in justice, in economics, in education, in voting--makes everything else look like child's play. It is still the most pressing, important, and never-ending issue this country faces.

We should make racial injustice a primary focus every single day here on DU. But we never do.

[meow2u3]

16. According to Southern conservatives, women aren't allowed to defend themselves against abusive men

Only racist, sexist white men are allowed to stalk, shoot, and kill with impunity defend themselves. Just ask the NRA.

Women and/or minorities, except for RW Cubans, are beneath the protection of the law and only have a right to know their place.

[defacto7]

18. Shame on the stupidity that has become America.

There is no justice here.

[bonniebgood]

19. All white jury MUST be outlawed period when it comes to a

black person, especially a black male seeking justice. They just don't have the same perspective.
If you could/would ask the all white , all female jury if racism still exist in this country, they would all say no. That answer is not racist, its what they believe. they have no concept to know or understand what it is to be judged or profiled just because of the color of their skin.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

29. +infinity!! That's why I get so angry when I hear *some* white people proclaim that racism is

a thing of the past.

How do they know? They're not black. How could they possibly know? Just because they may not be racist doesn't mean that racism doesn't exist.

[treestar]

20. That is totally screwed up

It appears no one was killed or injured.

[blackspade]

21. Un-fucking believable.

Our justice system is rotten to the core.

Especially in places controlled by the GOP.

[LittleBlue]

23. 20 years for warning shots? Ridiculous

A perversion of justice.

[Apophis]

25. She's black. That's why.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

28. But O'Mara said it wasn't about race!!

[vaberella]

30. There is a difference. She fired her gun in the direction of her kids.

If it was just her ex, okay. But she endangered the life of her kids or children. It's not the same.

[BronxBoy]

31. True...

I heard Angela Corey speak about this case on the Tom Joyner Morning Show. There were kids there and one of them could have been killed. She was also offered a plea deal which she refused. Once you dug below the surface, there was a lot more to the story. Her ex was a real scumbag but this is not analgous to the Martin case at all.

[ctaylors6]

32. Here's another article

about her case: here

Florida's mandatory sentencing laws were a huge issue with the Marissa Alexander case.

[Raine]

34. The reason is written on her face, black female. nt

[AllINeedIsCoffee]

35. IT'S NOT RACIAL, IT'S NOT RACIAL

[hfojvt]

37. the guy she shot at tells a different story

http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2012-05-16/story/marissa-alexanders-husband-says-it-was-her-violent-nature-led-shooting

How do we know who is telling the truth? Presumably the court heard more evidence than we will get in reading a few articles.

[hack89]

38. She left the house, got a gun and reentered the house to confront her husband

it was not self defense.

[burnodo]

41. did she shoot him?

was he beating her?

[hack89]

43. Irrelevent to the charges against her

she was in a safe place. She choose to reenter the house to confront her husband. With a gun. She then shot blindly into a wall knowing that her children were somewhere in the house.

There is no way that can be spun as self defense.

[burnodo]

46. You agree that she should get 20 years for firing a gun?

[hack89]

48. No - I am not a supporter of minimun sentencing laws

which seems to be the bigger issue here. The judge should have leeway to impose a lesser sentence.

[DLevine]

42. The garage was attached to the house.

Her version was that she was trying to escape through the garage, but couldn't get the door to open. She then got the gun out of her car & threatened him with the warning shot so he would move out of her way. She was trying to escape the situation. Again, her version.

[hack89]

45. She was in a safe place.

reentering the house with a gun and confronting her husband takes self defense off the table.

[DLevine]

47. She was still in the home.

The garage was attached, connected to the rest of the house by a door. He was blocking her escape. She had no access to the outside except through him. That is her version, and if true, sounds like self defense.

[hack89]

49. Either one has a duty to retreat or we have SYG

are you advocating SYG?

She was in the garage - there is no evidence that the husband was pursuing her. She could have stayed there until the situation calmed down. If the husband had followed her into the garage then she could have shot him in self defense.

[burnodo]

40. i'd like to say this is unbelieveable

but these occurences are becoming the norm