[Women Prisoner News] Urge Florida officials to drop the case against Marissa Alexander!

Sat Oct 5 18:33:16 EDT 2013

Call to action and article about court decision overturning Marissa's case
follow.

Last week a Florida Appeals Court overturned the guilty verdict against
Marissa Alexander! The appeals court found extreme errors — the
instructions to the jury said Marissa had to prove beyond a reasonable
doubt that she acted in self-defense. This is the exact opposite of the
legal principle that defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty
by the prosecution.

*Free Marissa Now<http://RadicalWomen.us6.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=2917cfc9b3941a9932e363014&id=79c2a079b5&e=ba264f2d3f>
has
launched a national campaign to get Florida to drop the case, dismiss all
charges and release Marissa now. *

What happens next: From now until October 11, Florida Attorney General Pam
Bondi could ask the Appeals Court to change its decision. This is called a
rehearing. If Bondi doesn't request a rehearing, the case will be returned
to Jacksonville.

Beginning on October 11, the ball is in State Prosecutor Angela Corey's
court to move forward on the case or to drop it. *This is the crucial
period to get the case dismissed and flood Florida with messages to drop
the case. *

*Please call, write, fax or email State Prosecutor Angela Corey, State
Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Florida Governor Rick Scott to demand that
they drop the case.* Angela Corey is the person who will make the decision
- but Bondi and Scott should demand that she not pursue the case.

It's time to stop this cruel and unforgivable vendetta against a mother of
three who did no wrong, but defended her life by taking the only action she
felt possible. Tell the state to stop using taxpayer money to hound and
harass a domestic violence survivor. This innocent woman has already served
several years.

Please take action and start spreading the word!

Angela Corey, State Attorney
Courthouse Annex
220 East Bay Street
Jacksonville, FL 32202
Phone: 904-630-2400
Fax: 904-630-2938
Email: sao4th at coj.net

Office of Attorney General Pam Bondi
State of Florida
The Capitol PL-01
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1050
Phone: 850-414-3300 or 850-414-3990
Fax: 850-410-1630
Email:
http://myfloridalegal.com/contact.nsf/contact?Open&Section=Citizen_Services<http://RadicalWomen.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2917cfc9b3941a9932e363014&id=d3f65d526a&e=ba264f2d3f>

Office of Governor Rick Scott
State of Florida
The Capitol
400 S. Monroe St.
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001
Phone: 850-717-9337 or 850-488-7146
Email: rick.scott at eog.myflorida.com

     Court Overturns 20-Year Sentence for Woman Who Fired 'Warning Shots'
at Husband
 Sept. 26, 2013
 By SENI TIENABESO <http://abcnews.go.com/author/seni_tienabeso>
 Seni Tienabeso More from Seni »<http://abcnews.go.com/author/seni_tienabeso>
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  [image: PHOTO: Marissa Alexander in her car in Tampa, Fla.]
  This undated family photo provided by Lincoln B. Alexander shows Marissa
Alexander in her car in Tampa, Fla.
Lincoln B. Alexander/AP Photo

A Florida woman who claimed to be a victim of abuse yet was sentenced to 20
years behind bars for allegedly firing a warning shot during a dispute with
her husband was granted a new trial Thursday.

The appellate court ruling erased a decision by a jury that took just 12
minutes to convict Marissa Alexander, a mother of three, of aggravated
assault.

The conviction of Alexander, who is black, sparked outrage and cries of a
racial double standard in light of the exoneration of George Zimmerman, a
white Hispanic, for the death of Trayvon Martin, who was black. In
particular, outrage aired on social media and among some lawmakers on
Capitol Hill.

Alexander unsuccessfully tried to invoke Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law
as the same prosecutors who unsuccessfully worked to put Zimmerman behind
bars told the court that she did not act in self-defense.

In granting the new trial, Judge James H. Daniel also seemed unmoved by the
Stand Your Ground defense.

"We reject her contention that the trial court erred in declining to grant
her immunity from prosecution under Florida's Stand Your Ground law, but we
remand for a new trial because the jury instructions on self-defense were
erroneous," wrote Daniel.

Alexander testified that, on Aug. 1, 2010, her then-husband, Rico Gray Sr.,
questioned her fidelity and the paternity of her 1-week-old child.

She claimed that he broke through a bathroom door that she had locked and
grabbed her by the neck. She said she tried to push past him but he shoved
her into the door, sparking a struggle that felt like an "eternity."

Afterwards, she claimed that she ran to the garage and tried to leave but
was unable to open the garage door, so she retrieved a gun, which she
legally owned.

Once inside, she claimed, her husband saw the gun and charged at her "in a
rage" saying, "Bitch, I'll kill you." She said she raised the gun and fired
a warning shot into the air because it was the "lesser of two evils."

The jury rejected the self-defense claim and Alexander was sentenced under
the state's 10-20-life law, sparking outrage over how self-defense laws are
applied in the state.

A Florida appellate court ruled today that jury instructions, which
unfairly made Alexander prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" that she was
acting in self-defense, were wrong -- and that there were other incorrect
instructions that self-defense only applied if the victim suffered an
injury, which Gray had not.

Today, U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla., lashed out at Florida State
Attorney Angela Corey, who oversaw the failed prosecution of George
Zimmerman and the prosecution in this case, saying, "Arresting and
prosecuting her when no one was hurt does not make any sense. ... What was
certainly absent from the courtroom during Marissa's trial was mercy and
justice. Indeed, the three-year plea deal from State Attorney Angela Corey
is not mercy, and a mandatory 20-year sentence is not justice."

Corey's office argued that Alexander, who had not been living in the home
for two months leading up to the shooting, provoked the incident, and that
there was no proof the garage door was broken, Alexander's rationale for
not leaving the altercation. Her office offered her a three-year plea deal
in the case that was rejected.

Alexander testified about three other alleged incidents of physical abuse
by her husband, including one that led to his arrest. Several witnesses
claimed to have seen the injuries she allegedly suffered and the final
defense witness in the case testified that she met the criteria for
"battered person's syndrome."

In a statement, prosecutors wrote, "The defendant's conviction was reversed
on a legal technicality. ... We are gratified that the court affirmed the
defendant's Stand Your Ground ruling. This means the defendant will not
have another Stand Your Ground hearing. The case will be back in the
Circuit Court in the Fourth Judicial Circuit at the appropriate time."
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-- 
*Diana*
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