Darryl Owens | Marissa Alexander Case Exposes Flaws In FL Self-Defense Laws
Thursday, July 24, 2014
By: Nicole Creston

July 24, 2014 | WMFE, Orlando - A Jacksonville woman at the heart of a controversial court battle has been denied immunity under Florida's "stand your ground" law for firing what she says was a warning shot to stop her abusive husband. The case has prompted questions about Florida's self-defense laws.

A judge late Friday rejected Marissa Alexander’s argument that she is protected by a June revision of "stand your ground" that exempts from prosecution threats of force – like warning shots – when a person feels endangered. Previously, the language of the law only addressed the actual use of force.

Lawmakers have said the revision, often called the "warning shot law," was inspired by Alexander’s case, but the judge’s ruling says the revision "cannot be applied retroactively."

So Alexander must go to trial for a second time. Her 2012 conviction and twenty-year aggravated assault sentence were overturned after an appeals court ruled that the trial judge’s instructions to the jury put too much of a burden on Alexander to prove she feared for safety.

That twenty-year sentence, now overturned, was a result of Florida’s mandatory minimum “10-20-Life” law governing gun violence. The law calls for a ten-year sentence if a person commits a crime while in possession of a gun, twenty years if the gun is fired, and up to life in prison if someone is killed or injured.

As Marissa Alexander awaits her December retrial free on bond, some observers are still grappling with the question of where the 33-year-old mother of three fits under Florida law.

Orlando Sentinel columnist and editorial writer Darryl Owens says Alexander’s case exposes significant flaws in the state's legal stance on self-defense.