Jul 17 2013
After Zimmerman Verdict, Eyes Turn To Marissa Alexander, Sentenced to 20 Years for Firing a Gun that Killed No One
When George Zimmerman was acquitted of all charges even though he killed Trayvon Martin, his action was seen as a “justifiable homicide.”
A recent study of Stand-Your-Ground laws that Zimmerman initially invoked found that the “scenario with the highest probability of being a justified homicide is much like the Martin case—a single, White civilian handgun shooter who is a stranger to (and older than) the Black victim.”
Activists are calling attention to the racist double standard by which these laws are applied and many are now pointing to the case of Marissa Alexander, a 32 year old African American mother in Jacksonville, Florida, who fired a warning shot to deter her abusive husband and was sentenced to 20 years in prison even though she claimed she was defending herself. No one was killed or even injured in the altercation.
While Alexander’s family members are declining all interview requests, her attorney Bruce Zimet who is in charge of her appeals process, shared his thoughts about the case with me.
GUEST: Bruce Zimet, attorney for Marissa Alexander
Visit justiceformarissa.blogspot.com for more information about the movement to free Marissa Alexander.
One Response to “After Zimmerman Verdict, Eyes Turn To Marissa Alexander, Sentenced to 20 Years for Firing a Gun that Killed No One”
Alexander claiming stand-your-ground immunity because she claimed that she was trapped by a “mechanical failure” of the garage door. She also said that she had parked her truck in the garage earlier that day, indicating that the door worked. The door worked after the incident when the police investigated.
Two things are possible: that a working garage door suffered a mechanical failure when she needed it to to support her claim of being trapped behind it and then magically repaired itself or that she lied about it.
We don’t live in a world of self-repairing garage doors.