Marissa Alexander fired a warning shot during a dispute with her husband. Despite invoking Florida’s Stand Your Ground (SYG) law –SYG is what initially helped George Zimmerman avoid arrest–she was found guilty of aggravated assault. Alexander was given the mandatory 20-year sentence required by Florida state law.
Self-Defense: Advancing vs. Retreating
An appeals court recently granted Marissa Alexander a retrial. What damaged her argument in the original trial was that she could not prove the victim’s (her husband’s) aggression. “The defendant’s burden is only to raise a reasonable doubt concerning self-defense,” said Judge James H. Daniel.
According to the ruling, Alexander said her husband — who she claimed has been abusive for 18 months — accused her of infidelity. Alexander told him to leave and locked herself in the bathroom until he broke through the door, grabbed her by the neck, and shoved her to the floor. Marissa ran into the garage but found she couldn’t open the garage door to leave, according to the ruling. Grabbing a gun from a car’s glove compartment, she went back into the house. Alexander claimed Gray saw her and charged, saying he was going to kill her. Alexander fired the gun into the wall as a warning shot.
Alexander cited the Stand Your Ground law to justify firing the shot. It allows the use of deadly force instead of retreating if the person is afraid for his or her life. The question is whether her actions are considered an advancement; because she reentered the home and then fired the shot, she was viewed as “advancing” on her husband.” Some argue, Alexander’s reentering the home while fearing her life doesn’t make sense.
Florida’s Stand Your Ground Laws
Florida’s Stand Your Ground law favors those claiming self defense. The law has to do with whether you have the right to act in self defense or whether you must retreat. As long as you are not engaged in unlawful activity and are being attacked in a place where you have the right to be, you have no duty to retreat from an attack. You do have the right to stand your ground and fight — even to the death–if necessary to prevent death or bodily harm to yourself or another, or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.
During her trial, lawmakers in Florida argued that the controversial law was entirely applicable in Alexander’s situation. “[Ms. Alexander] did not have a history of criminal or violent behavior; instead, she had a history of being physically and emotionally abused,” said Florida State Senator Gary Siplin. Unlike in George Zimmerman’s case, where victim testimony was impossible, Alexander’s version of events will have to go up against her husband’s.
