there's no such thing as a warning shot...
Posted on 05/11/2012 12:52:39 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
(CNN) — Saying he had no discretion under state law, a judge sentenced a Jacksonville, Florida, woman to 20 years in prison Friday for firing a warning shot in an effort to scare off her abusive husband.
Marissa Alexander unsuccessfully tried to use Florida’s controversial “stand your ground” law to derail the prosecution, but a jury in March convicted her of aggravated assault after just 12 minutes of deliberation.
The case, which was prosecuted by the same state attorney who is handling the Trayvon Martin case, has gained the attention of civil rights leaders who say the African-American woman was persecuted because of her race.
After the sentencing, Rep. Corrine Brown confronted State Attorney Angela Corey in the hallway, accusing her of being overzealous, according to video from CNN affiliate WJXT.
“There is no justification for 20 years,” Brown told Corey during an exchange frequently interrupted by onlookers. “All the community was asking for was mercy and justice,” she said.
Corey said she had offered Alexander a plea bargain that would have resulted in a three-year prison sentence, but Alexander chose to take the case to a jury trial, where a conviction would carry a mandatory sentence under a Florida law known as “10-20-life.”
The law mandates increased penalties for some felonies, including aggravated assault, in which a gun is carried or used.
(Excerpt) Read more at fox8.com ...
Warning shot on “stand your ground” and what will happen if you don’t change the law?
Oh. I was hoping she was somewhat exceptional in that regard. These three cases all stink to high heaven.
I live in FL and regard it as a great law. This case is no reason to repeal it.
Thanks mama never said I was bright
there's no such thing as a warning shot...
Otherwise, what's the 10 for in 10/20/life?
No, it's for use of a gun while commiting a felony. Under the Florida felony firearm enhancement law (Actually passed by the very place Rep Corrine Brown does her day job), convicted of a felony where a gun is brandished 10 years, fired 20, kill life.
Marissa was offered a plea deal of three years, ie for the assault with no firearm enhancement. She decided to roll the dice and lost.
That’s just wrong.
The warning shot is the one a perp feels, right before they get hit with the 2nd & 3rd.
Well, do the crime do the time. What she did fits the definition of the crime and she used a gun so it’s 20 years. She should never have gone back to get her keys if she was afraid that her SO was going to hurt her. You don’t seek out confrontations like that with a gun in your hand and expect that things will turn out alright. Also, although the article doesn’t say it I would bet that she talked to the cops and that her own words were used to convict her in court. If she had said nothing and let her lawyer do the talking it would have been a she said he said that probably wouldn’t have been brought to trail. As it was she was stupid to not take the plea bargain, she knew she was guilty (no where in the article does any one contradict the “facts” of the case), her lawyer knew what she had told the cops and knew what the penalty was. You don’t roll the dice with that kind of risk, it sounds like she was relying on the sympathy factor of being the poor abused woman. Problem with that defense is it only works if you’ve killed him, then you can be like Mary Winkler and walk after doing a few months.
I agree with much of what you say and she did not put herself in a defensible position ... however there is absolutely no justification for 20 years in prison for firing a warning shot.
thank you...
No spin here. The law is only "controversial" to the liberals.
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