Marissa Alexander could be sent to prison for a minimum of 60 years if she is found guilty of three counts of aggravated assault at her second trial in Jacksonville in July, after state prosecutors confirmed they would seek for the sentences to be served consecutively.
Activists from the Free Marissa Now advocacy group, which has campaigned for the release of Alexander, 33, and raised money for her legal costs, described the move as a “stunning abuse of power” by the state attorney, Angela Corey.
“When Marissa Alexander fired her warning shot to save her own life, she caused no injuries. Now she’s facing the very real possibility of spending the rest of her life in prison for that act of self-defense,” Sumayya Fire, a spokeswoman for the group, said in a statement.
“That should send a chill down the back of every person in this country who believes that women who are attacked have the right to defend themselves.”
Prosecutors said they were merely following directions from state authorities. An appeals court in Tallahassee ruled last year that when convicting a defendant of multiple counts of the same crime under the state’s “10-20-life” mandatory minimum sentencing rules on gun crime, judges must make the sentences consecutive.
“Absent a plea agreement, if convicted as charged, the law of the State of Florida fixes the sentence,” Richard Mantei, one of Corey’s assistant state attorneys, told the Florida Times-Union. “At this time, Ms. Alexander has rejected all efforts by the State to resolve the case short of trial.”
Alexander was sentenced in 2012 to three concurrent 20-year prison terms, after being convicted of assaulting her estranged husband, Rico Gray, at the couple’s home in August 2010.
SOURCE: EUR Web
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