Zimmerman Case Not About Race? Tell Marissa Alexander That.
Zimmerman Case Not About Race? Tell Marissa Alexander That.
By Dennis Loo (7/18/13)
Reuters is reporting that three days after George Zimmerman was acquitted in Sanford, Florida, in Jacksonville, Florida, "Marissa Alexander, 32, an African American ... was sentenced to a mandatory 20 years in prison for firing a warning shot into the wall of her home in 2010 to end a violent argument with her abusive husband." No one was injured by her warning shot into the wall, but prosecutors charged her and now have convicted her, claiming that by firing the warning shot she was endangering her own children.
This outrageous decision stands not only in stark contrast to Zimmerman's treatment on the racial dimension but also illustrates the unjust treatment that women receive when they stand up against abuse - in defending herself the state charged her with being a bad mother. So you have the oppression of women manifested in this case as well as a gross injustice undoubtedly because she's not white.
Alexander filed a "Stand Your Ground" claim, but a judge ruled against her because Alexander chose to go back into the house with her gun. [Unlike Zimmerman who of course chose to go after Trayvon].
A jury took just 12 minutes to find her guilty of three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Because Alexander fired a gun in the incident, Florida's "10-20-Life" mandatory-minimum sentencing guidelines required the judge to sentence her to 20 years in prison.
At the time, Alexander had an active restraining order against her husband and she carried a concealed weapons permit.
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