April 26, 2012 |
Nowadays the words
"Stand Your Ground" have almost become synonymous with "no fair" and
"unjust," due mostly to the non-arrest of George Zimmerman the night he
shot
Trayvon Martin and that law that protected him up until just last week.
But the cases of
John McNeil and now Marissa Alexander have highlighted the inconsistencies in the law's application.
According to a
blogsite pleading
her case, in 2010, Alexander found herself in a violent confrontation
with her husband. Her husband already had a history of abuse towards her
and other women in the past, causing Alexander to place an injunction
for protection against violence on him.
On
this day in particular Alexander says that her husband, unprovoked,
assaulted her in the bathroom of her home. She managed to get out of his
grasp and ran to her car in the garage to leave, but realized that she
didn't have her keys. She was also unable to open the garage door to get
out because of a mechanical malfunction.
At
this point, she was very fearful for her life, but knew that she had to
at least get her cell phone to call for help. That's when she grabbed a
gun, for which she had a concealed weapon permit. When she walked back
into the kitchen area, she saw her husband again, who was supposed to be
leaving through another door with his two sons (her stepsons). When he
saw her, she says he screamed "bitch, I'll kill you" and charged at her.
She then pointed her weapon at the ceiling, turned her head and shot in
the air. That scared her husband off.
But,
he promptly called the police and told them that she shot the gun at
him and his sons. She was taken to jail where she has been sitting ever
since.
Alexander has been trying
to use Florida's Stand Your Ground laws to defend her actions, but to
no avail. A judge ruled that Alexander was actually in the wrong, saying
that she could have exited to safety through one of the other doors or
windows in the house instead of crossing paths with her husband in the
kitchen.
"I am a law abiding
citizen and I take great pride in my liberty, rights, and privileges as
one," pleads Alexander on the blogsite telling her story. " I have
vehemently proclaimed my innocence and my actions that day. The enigma I
face since that fateful day I was charged through trial, does the law
cover and apply to me too?"
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