Marissa Alexander “Warning Shot” Re-Trial Delayed To July
Delay suggests defense may still hope for negotiated plea deal
Florida news outlets — including First Coast News — are reporting today that Marissa Alexander has had her re-trial delayed until July 28.
The re-trial had been scheduled to being in March. The delay was the result of a motion by the defense.
Given that it seems most unlikely any new evidence or legal arguments will develop in that additional time, the four month delay suggests the defense may attempting to buy time to negotiate a plea agreement. Should Alexander be retried on the same evidence as was presented at her first trial, a re-conviction seems all but unavoidable.
In 2012 Alexander was convicted of three counts of aggravated assault for firing a bullet past the head of her estranged husband and his two minor children. Under Florida’s “10-20-Life” law requiring mandatory minimum sentences for the use of a gun in a crime, she was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
An error in the jury instructions on self-defense at her trial won her the re-trial now delayed until July.
The case of Marissa Alexander has been covered extensively here at Legal Insurrection, including in these prior posts:
Sheriff’s Office Takes the Heat for Marissa Alexander Bail Kerfuffle
Marissa Alexander Remains on Bail, Under Tightened Conditions
To Revoke, or Not To Revoke: Marissa Alexander Bail Hearing Tomorrow
Angela Corey Seeks Revocation of Marissa Alexander’s Bail
Marissa Alexander Released on Bail
No Bail for Marissa Alexander, Case Held Over Until January
Marissa Alexander’s Bail Hearing in “Warning Shot” Case Delayed To Next Week
The Myth of Marissa Alexander’s “Warning Shot”
Marissa Alexander Wins a “Do-Over” in Florida “Self-Defense” Case
The Marissa Alexander Case Wasn’t About “Stand-Your-Ground” Either
–Andrew, @LawSelfDefense
Andrew F. Branca is an MA lawyer and the author of the seminal book “The Law of Self Defense, 2nd Edition,” available at the Law of Self Defense blog, Amazon.com (paperback and Kindle), Barnes & Noble (paperback and Nook), and elsewhere.
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Comments
Either that or the defensde is hoping to get more time to organise protests.
I’d love to see the defense’s motion for the delay. What could they possibly have offered as a compelling reason? The matter’s already been tried once in criminal court, and the basis for a re-trial was simply a jury instruction that needed fixing. No new evidence, no new legal arguments.
I understand, when you’re staring down the double-barrels of an all-but certain re-conviction, you take whatever delay you can get.
But what the heck can the judge be thinking of?
Florida.
–Andrew, @LawSelfDefense
They probably need time to try to raise money. George Zimmerman’s defense cost about $250,000.00. Last time I checked Marissa hadn’t even raised $10,000.00. People who do not have money for a defense in this country do not get one. Instead they are expected to accept, essentially intimidated into accepting, a term of servitude and a felony record.
using a gun to commit a crime that exclusively goes with the gun and charging for using a gun seems awkward. What is the legal basis for this? Attempted murder + gun or some such?
The crime of aggravated assault is NOT a crime “that exclusively goes with the gun”.
Aggravated assault occurs any time you unlawfully put another in reasonable fear of imminent death or grave bodily harm.
Any variety of weapons, or even no weapon, can be sufficient to induce such fear. All that’s required is an adequate disparity of force.
A group of men attacking a woman. An attacker armed with a bat. Or a chain. Or a knife.
Or a gun.
Florida has decided that those who commit aggravated assault armed with that last particular weapon deserve exceptional punishment, hence the “10-20-LIfe” law.
But any perception that “the gun is the crime, and the crime is the gun” is incorrect.
Here, the crime is the unlawful placing of a victim in reasonable fear of imminent death or grave bodily harm.
Here, the particular means of creating that fear was the gun, a seriously aggravating factor for sentencing under Florida law.
No circular argument at all.
–Andrew, @LawSelfDefense
Yeah, but the putative victim here created a situation in which, I would contend, Ms Alexander felt she was endangered. Therefore, she resorted to a the discharge of a firearm in her own home to warn her would-be attacker–her former husband, who had attacked her in her own home, in the same circumstances on prior occasions.
Haha! Sorry, no.
She responded to a non-deadly force argument by achieving a position of safety, walking past multiple unblocked exits from the scene, retrieving a firearm, returning to what she had now escalated to a deadly force confrontation, and fired a bullet directly past her unarmed husband (with his hands up as soon as he saw the gun) AND HIS TWO SMALL CHILDREN.
The bullet did NOT “go into the ceiling” until it had sped past his head, through the wall behind him, entered the NEXT room, and THEN struck the ceiling. That’s some “warning shot,” eh? Even HAD she fired into the ceiling directly above her head, there’s no evidence of which I’m aware that would make such an act reasonable under the circumstances.
There’s a reason the jury found her guilty in less than 15 minutes deliberation, and if I can sum it up in two brief paragraphs what do you think the prosecution can do with an entire trial to play in? A more clear-cut case of aggravated assault is difficult to imagine.
–Andrew, @LawSelfDefense
Anyone would have been convicted if they followed a judges instructions requiring the defendant to prove their innocence. Of course Marissa had a reasonable fear of MR Gray. The state even agreed going so far as to issue an order of protection from him. He is a serial abuser who tried to frame two prior victims even going so far as to stab himself with a fork and order one of his sons to tell the police that his step mother did it. After having been beaten into the hospital resulting in the complicated and premature delivery of her daughter, then after having been criminally confined and verbally and almost certainly physically re-abused while MR Gray was violating the restraining order, Marissa tried to leave but didn’t have her keys. Since she had the option of returning to get them with her handgun she did so. MR Gray had also disabled the garage door by pressing the other controller, flipping the circuit breaker, or engaging the mechanical lock. When she went back into the house, MR Gray again threatened her, called her dehumanizing names and advanced toward her in a menacing manner. MRS Alexander who was an accomplished markswoman fired one shot well over and to the right of MR Gray. MRS Alexander did not have a muzzle loader and if she wanted to injure MR Gray she could have unloaded the clip into his abusive snarling arrogant aggressive face. MR Gray, who caused this entire situation by ignoring the restraining order, had brought two tween aged sons into the situation. Those two tween aged sons were very likely even present when MR Gray had beaten MRS Alexander and her unborn child into the hospital. MR Gray won full custody of Marissa’s daughter, an uncontested divorce, the dismissal of the charges pending against him, and the waiving of any prosecution for violating the restraining order against him. To say that MR Gray had every reason to orchestrate this is an understatement. Perhaps MR Gray would have preferred that MRS Alexander hold the gun straight over her head like an idiot so that he could easily tackle her and take the gun. But I think everything turned out just the way he, his defense attorneys, and his divorce attorney wanted it to. I’m not sure if you’re motivated by racism or misogyny but you certainly are not motivated by a thirst for justice. You even go so far as to claim that MR Grays tween aged sons were between MR Gray and MRS Alexander which is a blatant lie. You also lie that he had his hands up when he was in fact advancing toward her and threatening her. You also don’t leave any room for a defense based on post partum depression (Marissa had only delivered their baby ten days earlier), post traumatic stress disorder induced by almost a year of physical and emotional abuse endured at the hands of her abuser turned accuser, or traumatic brain injury due to the head injuries that MRS Alexander suffered at the hands of MR Gray. And your most obvious omission is the fact that MRS Alexander did not have the $250,000.00 for a defense that George Zimmerman had. Instead MRS Alexander believed in the Florida Justice system just like Ronald Thompson did. I’m more inclined to believe in Santa Claus. Florida is the South Korea of the United States. No one is even asking how many people are rotting in the Florida Prison Industrial Complex thanks to this judges offensive jury instructions. Every trial that he has presided over needs to be reviewed and he needs to be impeached.
Sorry, I don’t read solid blocks of text-rant.
Paragraphs are your friend.
–Andrew, @LawSelfDefense
An apology isn’t necessary. I’ll happily reformat it with paragraphs. You are right about the paragraphs. Also, I believe you may become a valuable ally once you read my commentary:
Almost any defendant would have been convicted if they followed a judges instructions requiring the defendant to prove his or her innocence. Certainly no fault belongs to the jury. In addition to these severely defective instructions, the prosecution was able to exclude all exonerating and exculpatory evidence.
Of course Marissa had a reasonable fear of MR Gray. The state even agreed going so far as to issue an order of protection from him. He is a serial abuser who tried to frame two prior victims even going so far as to stab himself with a fork and order one of his sons to tell the police that his step mother did it.
After having been beaten into the hospital resulting in the complicated and premature delivery of her daughter, then after having been criminally confined and verbally and physically re-abused while MR Gray was violating the restraining order, Marissa tried to leave but didn’t have her keys.
Since she had the option of returning to get them with her handgun she did so. MR Gray had also disabled the garage door by pressing the other controller, flipping the circuit breaker, or engaging the mechanical lock. Or perhaps MRS Alexander was pushing the button too quickly or perhaps the batteries were dying.
When she went back into the house, MR Gray again threatened her, called her dehumanizing names and advanced toward her in a menacing manner. MRS Alexander who was an accomplished markswoman fired one shot well over and to the right of MR Gray. MRS Alexander did not have a muzzle loader or a flint lock and if she wanted to injure MR Gray she could have unloaded 16 rounds into his abusive snarling arrogant aggressive threatening face.
MR Gray, who caused this entire situation by ignoring the restraining order, had brought two tween aged sons into the situation. Those two tween aged sons were very likely even present when MR Gray had beaten MRS Alexander and her unborn child into the hospital.
MR Gray won full custody of Marissa’s daughter, his fifth child by five different women, an uncontested divorce, the dismissal of the charges pending against him, and the waiving of any prosecution for violating the restraining order against him.
To say that MR Gray had every reason to orchestrate this is an understatement. Perhaps MR Gray would have preferred that MRS Alexander hold the gun straight over her head like an idiot so that he could easily tackle her and take the gun and kill her. But I think everything turned out just the way he, his defense attorneys, and his divorce attorney planned it.
I’m hoping you’re not motivated by racism or misogyny but you certainly do not seem to be motivated by a thirst for justice. You even go so far as to claim that MR Grays tween aged sons were between MR Gray and MRS Alexander which is a gross misrepresentation of fact encouraged by the prosecution. And, they were not “small children”.
You also assert that he had his hands up when he was in fact advancing toward her and threatening to kill her.
Then, you don’t leave any room for a defense based on post partum depression. Marissa had only delivered their baby ten days earlier and that baby was in the neo natal intensive care unit at the time of this incident due to
his prior attack on her.
You also don’t leave room for a defense based on post traumatic stress disorder induced by almost a year of physical and emotional torment endured at the hands of her abuser turned accuser, or traumatic brain injury due to the head injuries that MRS Alexander suffered at the hands of MR Gray.
But probably your most important omission,is the fact that MRS Alexander did not have the $250,000.00 for a defense that George Zimmerman had. Instead MRS Alexander believed in the Florida Justice system just like Ronald Thompson did.
She would have been better off believing in the Easter Bunny.
Florida is the North Korea of the United States.
No one is even asking how many other innocent people are toiling away in the Florida Prison Industrial Complex thanks to this judges egregious jury instructions.
Every trial that he has presided over needs to be reviewed and once his malfeasance is documented, he needs to be impeached.
If a judge had given such instructions in a case against you I hardly think you would dismiss them in such an offhand manner.
Thank you and God bless you.
Wow. Where to start. At the beginning, I guess:
“Almost any defendant would have been convicted if they followed a judges instructions requiring the defendant to prove his or her innocence. Certainly no fault belongs to the jury.”
Perhaps. I believe I’ve consistently supported the decision for a re-trial, because of the incorrect jury instructions. And certainly nobody is faulting the jury for applying the law as they were instructed to do. I don’t believe anybody’s arguing the counter-case, so really the issue is moot.
“In addition to these severely defective instructions, the prosecution was able to exclude all exonerating and exculpatory evidence.”
That’s a good trick. How were they able to do that? Oh, you mean the nonsense below? OK, let’s get to that.
“Of course Marissa had a reasonable fear of MR Gray. The state even agreed going so far as to issue an order of protection from him.”
The fact that someone receives a restraining order on one day, does not automatically mean he was an imminent threat of death or grave bodily harm on another day, or anybody with a restraining order could simply be shot dead by the person granted the order. That would be silly, right?
“He is a serial abuser who tried to frame two prior victims even going so far as to stab himself with a fork and order one of his sons to tell the police that his step mother did it.”
His own public commentary suggests he may be a serial abuser. The stuff with the fork you’ll have to provide actual evidence of. Regardless, none of that means he was an imminent threat of death or grave bodily harm when she fired a gun at him.
“After having been beaten into the hospital resulting in the complicated and premature delivery of her daughter, then after having been criminally confined and verbally and physically re-abused while MR Gray was violating the restraining order, Marissa tried to leave but didn’t have her keys.”
You’ll have to show evidence of her being beaten into a premature birth, as I’ve heard nothing of the sort, and certainly not that it was at the hands of Mr. Gray. In any case, there’s no evidence that he presented a threat of imminent deadly force when Alexander shot at him and his children.
As for the keys, one doesn’t need keys to walk to the neighbor’s house, from where they can call the police.
“Since she had the option of returning to get them [the keys] with her handgun she did so.”
Yes, she returned to a heated, non-deadly force verbal argument after arming herself with a handgun. That doesn’t sound much like self-defense.
“MR Gray had also disabled the garage door by pressing the other controller, flipping the circuit breaker, or engaging the mechanical lock.”
You have absolutely zero evidence of this, or you would know how it was done. It’s notable that the door never failed to work for anybody other than Alexander either before or after she shot at her husband and his children.
“Or perhaps MRS Alexander was pushing the button too quickly or perhaps the batteries were dying.”
More speculation, in this case not particularly in her favor. And all this ignores the fact that she walked past other unobstructed exits from the home on her way to the garage to get her gun to shoot at her husband.
“When she went back into the house, MR Gray again threatened her, called her dehumanizing names and advanced toward her in a menacing manner.”
You have no evidence of that other than Alexander’s self-serving statement. You know, the statement she didn’t make to the police when she called them, BECAUSE SHE DIDN’T CALL THEM. Credibility low.
Add to that the not very credible notion that an unarmed man who has been in a very heated verbal debate with his wife over allegations of her infidelity, sees she has returned to the fight armed with a gun, chooses as his response to advance upon her in the presence of his minor children. That’s a hard sell, and there’s no evidence to support it, except more of Alexander’s incredible and self-serving statements. Neither Gray nor his children testified to such an account of events.
“MRS Alexander who was an accomplished markswoman fired one shot well over and to the right of MR Gray.”
I’d like to see evidence of her marksmanship “accomplishments.” Did she compete? IDPA, IPSC, Cowboy Action, Bianchi Cup, Steel Challenge, Bowling Pins, Bullseye, what? For how many years? Did she win any awards? Belong to a range or gun club? Was she a member of the NRA or any similar gun owner’s organization?
Or was she really just an angry woman with a gun?
“MRS Alexander did not have a muzzle loader or a flint lock and if she wanted to injure MR Gray she could have unloaded 16 rounds into his abusive snarling arrogant aggressive threatening face.”
You’re letting your crazy sneak out there, John. You were there to see that “abusive, snarling, arrogant, aggressive, threatening face,” were you?
(Or is this really Marissa Alexander?)
In any case, she’s not charged with wanting to really kill or injure Gray. The first would have warranted an attempted murder charge, and the second an attempted aggravated battery. She’s charged with unlawfully putting Gray and his children in FEAR of imminent death or grave bodily harm. No intent to actually cause harm is required to support an aggravated assault charge.
“MR Gray, who caused this entire situation by ignoring the restraining order, had brought two tween aged sons into the situation.”
Mr. Gray did not “cause this entire situation” given that ALL parties agree it was Alexander who retrieved a gun and returned to the fight.
And evidence that the restraining order prohibited him from being in his home?
“Those two tween aged sons were very likely even present when MR Gray had beaten MRS Alexander and her unborn child into the hospital.”
More speculative nonsense, even by your own phrasing.
“MR Gray won full custody of Marissa’s daughter . . . ”
Well, that’s not exactly in Alexander’s favor.
“. . . his fifth child by five different women . . . ”
It’s not the law’s job to judge the sexual morals of the victim of an aggravated assault.
” . . . an uncontested divorce, the dismissal of the charges pending against him, and the waiving of any prosecution for violating the restraining order against him.”
All of which has nothing to do with Alexander having fired a shot at him without lawful justification.
“To say that MR Gray had every reason to orchestrate this is an understatement.”
Unless you have evidence of such orchestration, it’s also speculative.
“Perhaps MR Gray would have preferred that MRS Alexander hold the gun straight over her head like an idiot so that he could easily tackle her and take the gun and kill her.”
Speculative.
“But I think everything turned out just the way he, his defense attorneys, and his divorce attorney planned it.”
Really? That was their plan? To enrage Alexander to the point that she fired a bullet past Gray’s head? You believe that? Scratch that last question, you clearly DO believe that.
“I’m hoping you’re not motivated by racism or misogyny . . . ”
That’s the nicest way anybody’s ever called me a racist and misogynist.
” . . . but you certainly do not seem to be motivated by a thirst for justice.”
Uh, yes. I have a thirst for justice. I disdain injustice. Point?
“You even go so far as to claim that MR Grays tween aged sons were between MR Gray and MRS Alexander which is a gross misrepresentation of fact encouraged by the prosecution. And, they were not “small children”. ”
They were minor children within feet of their father when Marissa shot at them. You may choose to believe there’s a substantive difference in the facts if they were beside him or before him, but I doubt the jury will draw any such distinction.
“You also assert that he had his hands up when he was in fact advancing toward her and threatening to kill her.”
You have no evidence, other than Alexander’s self-serving statement, that he was advancing at her when she shot at him–a statement she didn’t make when she called the police, BECAUSE SHE NEVER CALLED THE POLICE. Credibility, low.
“Then, you don’t leave any room for a defense based on post partum depression. Marissa had only delivered their baby ten days earlier and that baby was in the neo natal intensive care unit at the time of this incident due to his prior attack on her.”
I don’t understand how you imagine I have the power to leave room or to not leave room for ANY argument. Certainly, you found room to make it in your comment, did you not?
And certainly, were I her defense attorney I would argue vigorously for the inclusion of post partum depression as factor the jury should consider in determining whether her actions were those of a reasonable and prudent person suffering from post-partum foundation. Just a couple of problems:
(1) Is there any foundation for the claim of post-partum depression or was it merely fabricated after the fact?
(2) A large proportion of women suffer post-partum depression after giving birth, and yet manage not to fire shots at anybody, much less the father of their newborn child. The argument that a “reasonable and prudent person suffering from post-partum depression can be reasonably expected to shoot at their husband” is going to be a tough sell, in my opinion.
“You also don’t leave room for a defense based on post traumatic stress disorder induced by almost a year of physical and emotional torment endured at the hands of her abuser turned accuser, or traumatic brain injury due to the head injuries that MRS Alexander suffered at the hands of MR Gray.”
Again with the room thing. Same comment as above.
Florida, and every other state, recognizes battered woman syndrome. Her defense team can push it. Either they didn’t the first time–which can only be because there’s inadequate foundation–or they did and it failed to move the jury.
“But probably your most important omission,is the fact that MRS Alexander did not have the $250,000.00 for a defense that George Zimmerman had. Instead MRS Alexander believed in the Florida Justice system just like Ronald Thompson did.
She would have been better off believing in the Easter Bunny.”
Well, why didn’t the black community circle around her and donate to her legal fund, as they so eagerly circled to falsely condemn Zimmerman? Jesse Jackson Jr. flies around in his own private yet. Al Sharpton’s got a major network (ha-ha, sorry) television gig in New Yawk City. Benjamin Crump is very well off financially, indeed. Oprah has a few bucks. There are, of course, innumerable others. Collectively, $250,000 is what they find in their couch cushions after a dinner party.
For that matter, why didn’t Obama give an “If I had a third daughter” press statement, and urge folks all around the country to send Alexander money for her defense?
I’ll tell you why. Because the State has a very compelling narrative of guilt, a narrative of an angry woman who acquired a position of safety, retrieved a gun, returned to a heated argument, and committed aggravated assault against her husband and his two minor child by means of a deadly weapon, to wit, a handgun.
And Alexander’s narrative of innocence sucks.
“Florida is the North Korea of the United States.”
I’m pretty sure Detroit holds that spot, and isn’t going to give it up without a fight. (If anybody’s left in Detroit. I guess the city could forfeit.)
“No one is even asking how many other innocent people are toiling away in the Florida Prison Industrial Complex thanks to this judges egregious jury instructions.”
You just posed the question.
“Every trial that he has presided over needs to be reviewed and once his malfeasance is documented, he needs to be impeached.”
Sure, you go advocate for that.
“If a judge had given such instructions in a case against you I hardly think you would dismiss them in such an offhand manner.”
You’ll have to point me to the person who is defending the original trial court’s mistaken self-defense jury instruction.
“Thank you and God bless you.”
You’re welcome, and you, too.
–Andrew, @LawSelfDefense
Hello again. I’ve been following this case for years now. You can find a lot of the evidence on SCRIBD.
I defended the jury because I have seen calls to “out” them. Calls which I thought were irresponsible and irrational. I’m certain that among the information with held from the jury was the fact that MR Gray was in violation of a restraining order at the time, that he was a serial abuser, and that Marissa would serve 20 years if found guilty. I’d love to be able to access the transcripts but I can’t.
You seem to be surprised by evidence exclusion but it’s obvious that the prosecution controlled the trial and had exculpatory and exonerating evidence ruled inadmissible. Surely you know Angela Corey tried to do that with the picture of a badly bloodied George Zimmerman. She’s not interested in a fair trial, only a victory. She’s a very hateful woman. Much more worthy of imprisonment than Marissa.
You claim that it would be silly to allow a victim to shoot their abuser dead. Well it is pretty much allowed. What is not allowed is to fire a single warning shot.
You can see the inadmissible testimony about Rico’s self inflicted fork wounds and another incident where he claimed his woman of the week had a gun but didn’t, on scribd. Rico calls 911 more frequently than George Zimmerman.
It’s commonly accepted fact that Rico beat Marissa into the hospital resulting in the complicated and premature delivery of her baby. I’m not sure how you could not know that. The prosecution has waged a very effective smear campaign against Marissa.
I think it’s hysterical when you claim, like the prosecution that Marissa shot “at” Rico. If she shot at him he would be dead. She had more than one round in her weapon. She’s seriously being punished for her discretion.
Then you talk about how she should have gone to the neighbors house. When you say that you are imposing a duty to retreat on her that no one else in Florida has imposed upon them. She was in her own home and being attacked by a monster who had a restraining order in effect against him.
I only brought up the garage door because the prosecution likes to make a big deal about it working later. An average garage door owners manual lists at least ten reasons why a garage door opener will not work intermittently. Marissa’s court appointed attorney didn’t even bother to introduce an owners manual. I think that we can agree that she didn’t get an adequate defense.
I can’t prove that Rico orchestrated this but I don’t think that the prosecution can prove that he didn’t.
I think there’s more than enough room for reasonable doubt in this case.
I don’t see why Marissa couldn’t have expected to drive out like she drove in. Once again you’re imposing a duty to retreat on her when she clearly and reasonably believed that the law did not impose such a duty on her.
You and the prosecution like to point out the fact that Marissa did not call the police. This assumes that her enraged husband politely handed the phone over to her in working order. I don’t see that happening. But, even if it did happen like that I’m sure that Marissa didn’t expect Rico to call the police and turn himself in. He was after all violating an order of protection and surely would have been prosecuted for that. I’m sure she was quite shocked when the police showed up. Not only would she have thought it odd for Rico to incriminate himself but more importantly, if she did send Rico to jail, how would he possibly be able to support her and her 10 day old baby that was in the NICU? She was basically still his economic hostage even though she had avoided a trip to the hospital this time.
Her marksmanship is very easy to verify and it probably would have been one of the first things competent legal counsel would have done.
Yes, Marissa is charged with aggravated battery. I just don’t really understand how you can be charged with battery when there is no physical injury. That’s crazy.
You say that Rico did not cause the situation. I don’t understand your position. If he had honored the conditions of his restraining order none of this would have ever happened. His defiance against the law clearly precipitated all of this. And of course he gets off scott free because of his extensive experience with the “justice” system.
The last two or three accounts I read said that the children were in another room when Marissa fired the warning shot. If you have another account please refer me to it. I’m always happy to learn more about the case.
As far as his demeanor when he fired the shot I believe that both his and her testimony agreed that he was advancing toward her threatening her. That alone should be enough to get her acquitted.
Marissa didn’t have an adequate defense or else her emotional and psychological state would have been addressed
first thing instead of not at all. Fear is not “prudent or rational”. It’s just fear. It’s kind of hard to prove that someone wasn’t afraid. However if the judge tells the jury that a defendant has to prove their fear beyond a reasonable doubt. Well that’s another thing altogether.
I thought it was funny that you suggested that Benjamin Crump should have contributed to Marissa’s defense. I don’t know much about him except that he was one of the private prosecutors in the George Zimmerman case.
I’m not a big fan of private prosecutors helping the state go after people. Sadly in Marissa’s case there were actively engaged private prosecutors working for MR Gray.
Also, very few people were aware of this case
until after her conviction. Marissa doesn’t have the backing of the NRA. I’ve asked them why and haven’t gotten
a response. I hate to think it’s because of her race or gender. Maybe they’ll tell you. Please ask them.
You conclude by saying that the state has a compelling narrative. It’s not that compelling. Seriously.
This is just a case where an overzealous prosecutor who fired 1/3 of her staff when she was elected and used the savings to triple her own pension, thought that Marissa would be easy prey. A prosecutor who is used to powerless people accepting a plea “bargain” and who feels personally offended when they don’t. Whether they are innocent or not.
Thank you and God bless you.
JohnInIndyIn, to put it plainly, I have no interest in so much as glancing at any future post of yours on this subject until you provide actual links to actual evidence supporting your claims.
You remain, of course, free to post here, but your posts won’t be read by me absent unusual circumstances.
If you wish your claims to be supported, YOU do the work. I’m not about to go on some aimless wandering search of Scribd. I have to work for a living.
Since you, as you say, have been following the case for years, certainly you have the “evidence” at your finger tips.
That’s all.
–Andrew, @LawSelfDefense
Oops, sorry. I meant to say Florida is the North Korea of the United States.
While I didn’t see what was presented at the first trial and IANAL, this frankly looks like an angry woman who wanted to kill. She missed.
It was, in my opinion, attempted homicide. Period.*
* to use a Liberal term 😉
Hello. That’s exactly how the prosecutor and the Florida media want you to see it. But when you look into the details you see something very different. You see a domestic abuse survivor who was beaten along with her unborn baby into the hospital. When she went back to the scene of the beating,
after filing for a divorce, after getting a restraining order, and after delivering the baby who remained in intensive care, she was set upon again by the serial abuser.
She could have killed him with impunity but instead she fired a single warning shot. She is being punished for her mercy.
“She could have killed him with impunity but instead she fired a single warning shot. She is being punished for her mercy.”
That would explain why she called the police as soon as safety allowed to report the vicious attack upon her that compelled her to use deadly force in her defense.
Wait, what?
She never called the police to report the incident? The cops had to come find her?
Oops.
–Andrew, @LawSelfDefense
You and the prosecution like to point out the fact that Marissa did not call the police. This assumes that her enraged husband politely handed the phone over to her in working order. I don’t see that happening. But, even if it did happen like that I’m sure that Marissa didn’t expect Rico to call the police and turn himself in. He was after all violating an order of protection and surely would have been prosecuted for that. I’m sure she was quite shocked when the police showed up. Not only would she have thought it odd for Rico to incriminate himself but more importantly, if she did send Rico to jail, how would he possibly be able to support her and her 10 day old baby that was in the NICU? She was basically still his economic hostage even though she had avoided a trip to the hospital this time.
Here’s a link to tons of information about this case:
http://www.scribd.com/collections/4303296/Marissa-Alexander
This includes a 6 page long history of criminal violence perpetrated by the abuser turned accuser which was almost certainly concealed from the jury. For every reported incident there are probably 10 unreported incidents.
Marissa by the way had no criminal record of any kind before firing the warning shot.
Also included are detailed reports of previous occasions when the abuser turned accuser attempted to frame other women. They also recount living in terror of this violent abusive and volatile player who got 4 of them pregnant out of wedlock. More information almost certainly concealed from the jury.
There’s also a copy of the restraining order which was supposed to protect Marissa.
Here’s a link to a picture of the bullet’s trajectory.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lTv2s4Jxzv8/T7MVVeodyAI/AAAAAAAABUo/ML_rSjh8EQk/s400/slide_225483_959572_small.jpg
And I can’t find a picture of Marissa after Rico beat her and her baby into the hospital but it probably looked pretty much like this.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dT6duIWjqEA/T0blhmIbdAI/AAAAAAAAEHA/Y-u9VXNxlOo/s1600/rihanna_pictures_beat_up_face_page_2_rihanna_pictures_beat_up_face.jpg
Fair enough, I’ll take a look at links when have time (not today).
Except please, a picture of someone else’s abuse injuries tells me nothing about Alexander’s purported injuries, except that apparently there’s no photo available of hers.
–Andrew, @LawSelfDefense