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Why did Marissa Alexander get a 20-year sentence despite invoking ‘Stand Your Ground’?
MSNBC ^ | 07/14/2013 | Morgan Whitaker

Posted on 07/15/2013 5:33:57 PM PDT by neverdem

Late Saturday evening, George Zimmerman was found not guilty in the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. The issue of self-defense played a central role in Zimmerman’s not guilty plea and his defense’s argument against the second-degree murder charges, and his acquittal is drawing comparisons in the media to the verdict of another high-profile Florida shooting incident: the case of Marissa Alexander.

Alexander, an African-American Florida woman, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2012 for shooting what she described as warning shots into a wall during a confrontation with her husband. Alexander’s lawyers claimed self-defense in the case, and said her husband had a history of abuse in their relationship. They invoked Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, which gives people the right to use lethal force if they feel their life is threatened. The jury ultimately sided with prosecutors in deciding Alexander’s actions were not in self-defense, WJXT reported...

(Excerpt) Read more at tv.msnbc.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Politics/Elections; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: banglist; blackkk; firstdegreemurder; florida; georgezimmerman; guncontrol; lyinginwait; marissaalexander; secondamendment; standyourground; trayvonmartin; zimmerman
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To: Paladin2
So, is taking your wife, female s/o to the range and encouraging her to get a CCW a good idea?

Only if she's rational.

It has been my experience that the woman that is rational 24/7/365 does not exist.

41 posted on 07/15/2013 6:48:45 PM PDT by elkfersupper ( Member of the Original Defiant Class)
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To: neverdem

Rev. Al was going on about this, I don’t tune the show in, sometimes at work, we have multiple TVs going on in the lounge. I’ll take a peek at it.


42 posted on 07/15/2013 6:49:26 PM PDT by BeadCounter
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To: elkfersupper

> 50% would be a plus.


43 posted on 07/15/2013 6:49:45 PM PDT by Paladin2
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To: bolobaby

Somebody needs to convert those documents to to text so that we can more easily use them, also the one describing her craziness and illegal activities, and problems with the court, after she was charged.

This gal is a psycho witch.


44 posted on 07/15/2013 6:56:23 PM PDT by ansel12 ( Santorum appeared on CBS and pronounced George Zimmerman guilty of murder, first degree. March-2012)
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To: cripplecreek
From what I’m reading here I wouldn’t vote to convict.

Her problem was she was at her ex-husband's home (she apparently had moved out). They got into a fight, and she felt threatened, and went outside to get her gun. At that point, she was no longer in danger, so self-defense was no longer a valid claim. She then went back into the house, placing herself back into a "threatening" situation, this time with her gun. In those circumstances, it was no longer a self-defense situation. If as I read she had moved out of the house, it can be argued that she was not in a location where she had a legal right to be in the first place, eliminating SYG as a defense. Even if that is not true, once she went back into a situation that she felt was threatening after arming herself, she became the aggressor.

45 posted on 07/15/2013 6:58:00 PM PDT by CA Conservative (Texan by birth, Californian by circumstance)
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To: neverdem

I really though Z was going to get convicted of something, because, even though it was not a ‘lawful’ order, the dispatcher did say ‘no need to follow TM’.
As ‘liberated’ as we are in VA the law can be interpreted that if you are carrying (LEGAL OR NOT) you are basically required to avoid ANY confrontation.
Say in a ‘road rage’ type of thing that you cut someone off, then flip them the bird and become confrontational, when the other guy is ‘whuppin your butt’, it isn’t (may not always be) self defense if you shoot him as you STARTED the altercation.

‘They’ recently charged someone with brandishing in VA because (HIS CLAIM) he was taking his gun from his glove compartment and putting it in his console (or vice verse) and a school bus driver claimed he BRANDISHED the weapon at her. 2 days later they arrested him.


46 posted on 07/15/2013 7:14:58 PM PDT by xrmusn (6/98 --Inside every 'older' man there is a 'younger' man wondering "WTF happened")
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To: Thane_Banquo
Legally there are no such things as warning shots. Any shot fired during a confrontation is an attempted use of deadly force.

If there would be no justification for deadly force, "warning shots" may not be justified either, but I would think there could be situations, especially in cases where deadly force is used for a reason other than imminent risk of harm to the shooter, where a warning shot might be appropriate. As an example, if a person sees someone trying to attack someone with a knife, and it may be hard to shoot the knife-wielding attacker without risk of hitting the victim, but there exists a clear direction where a shot could be fired into the ground without danger. Would it be better to wait in the hope that one gets a clear shot at the knife-wielding attacker before he kills the victim, or fire into the ground in the hope that the sound of the gunshot would dissuade the attacker? I would think the latter course could be safer.

47 posted on 07/15/2013 7:18:27 PM PDT by supercat (Renounce Covetousness.)
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To: neverdem
The Zimmerman defense was based upon self-defense, not “Stand Your Ground.”
48 posted on 07/15/2013 8:01:46 PM PDT by Nemoque
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To: Thane_Banquo

The fact that he allowed her to leave and gave her the opportunity to get her gun, indicates to me that she was not under the level of threat justifying deadly force in self defense.


49 posted on 07/18/2013 3:01:46 AM PDT by SauronOfMordor (Hold the pig steady)
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