What 2nd Amendment?

[JCip]

We saw what had gone on in Jacksonville, Florida with the Zimmerman/Martin happening. But most of us did not hear about another incident there a few weeks later. A woman was being strangled in her home (by an angry husband) and she grabbed a gun and fired it into a wall. Within 3 weeks, she was arrested, prosecuted, and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Her name is Marissa Alexander. In her state are both the "Stand Your Ground" and "Castle" laws. She was told she could not use these laws in defense of herself. When I asked groups like the NRA to help her, they couldn't be bothered. Soooo where is the 2nd Amendment right....not in Florida.
Be careful, we may not have any rights anymore.

[Spats McGee]

Can you point us to some stories on this?

[Evan Thomas]

I've been following this case a bit.

The problem with it as a self-defense case is that it wasn't legitimate self-defense. Ms. Alexander had left her husband and taken out a restraining order against him. She went back to the house where they had lived at a time when she thought he wouldn't be there in order to retrieve clothing. He was there, they argued, and she went out of the house to her car, got her gun, and then went back inside and fired a shot. She said it was a warning shot; her estranged husband said she was aiming the gun at him.

She said she was afraid for her life, and claimed self-defense under Florida's stand-your-ground law. This was rejected by the court, on the grounds that she could have left the property rather than returning with a gun.

She was offered a plea bargain that would have meant a 3-year sentence, and she rejected that.

She was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon; under FL law, using a firearm in the commission of a felony mandates a minimum sentence of 20 years, which is what she received.

There's really nothing to see here, Second-Amendment-wise. Is the 20-year sentence wrongly applied in this case? Perhaps, but with mandatory sentencing laws, the judge has no discretion.

See this story at HuffPo for more details.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1530035.html

[ATW525]

Assuming it this case:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1530035.html

It appears she left, retrieved a gun, and then came back. That makes a self defense claim difficult.

[Frank Ettin]

Originally Posted by JCip

...But most of us did not hear about another incident there a few weeks later. A woman was being strangled in her home (by an angry husband) and she grabbed a gun and fired it into a wall. Within 3 weeks, she was arrested, prosecuted, and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Her name is Marissa Alexander....

As noted in posts 3 and 4, you're wrong about the facts. You've ignored some very important details about what actually happened, and therefore your description of the event is not accurate.

It's very useful to be able to discuss these sorts of events so that we can learn and achieve a better understanding of how to properly deal with matters. But it doesn't help unless we have good information.

In addition, the Marissa Alexander case was previously discussed here.

I really don't see any reason to keep this open.