ThereÂ’s no shortage of bad prosecutors in America, but these four go above and beyond.
1. Florida State Attorney Angela Corey
The Marissa Alexander conviction prompted celebrity lawyer and legal commentator Mark Geragos to tell CNN that Angela Corey was “a menace” who needed to be disbarred and removed from office. Rev. Jesse Jackson visited the 32-year-old mother after the sentence and told the local papers, correctly, “It’s not beyond her influence,” to have sought a different charge and jail term.” And that was before the Trayvon Martin verdict, where even the New York Times explained that Corey could have filed different charges against Zimmerman with lower legal hurdles to clear to obtain a conviction.
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4 of America's Most Abusive Prosecutors
This is the real story of the Marissa Alexander case. pRick Scott would probably have commuted her but now this is twisted and representing the Z case and he'll probably let her rot in there. This is not self defense this is minimum sentencing. She was offered 3 years and turned it down. She's is not an angelic participant in this case.
A closer examination of the facts in Marissa Alexander’s case, however, reveals why a judge rejected Alexander’s pre-trial “Stand Your Ground” defense — a specific defense under Florida law that George Zimmerman never asserted — and why a jury eventually convicted her on multiple charges, resulting in a mandatory prison sentence of at least 20 years. If Alexander’s case suggests a failure of the legal system to mete out appropriate justice, then the problem lies with Florida’s mandatory minimum sentencing requirements, not with the state’s self-defense laws.
After only 12 minutes of deliberation, a jury convicted Alexander on all three counts of aggravated assault.
FACTS OF THE ALEXANDER CASE
According to court documents, on July 31, 2010, Alexander left her newborn child in the hospital days after giving birth to visit the home of Rico Gray, her husband. Although Gray and Alexander had just been married in May of 2010, Alexander had not lived in GrayÂ’s home for the two months prior to the shooting. When Alexander arrived at the home, Gray was not there. She parked her car in the garage, spent the night in the home, but did not see Gray until he returned home the next morning with his two sons.
When Gray returned, the family ate breakfast together without incident. The trouble began when Alexander gave her phone to Gray so he could see pictures of their newborn, who was still in the hospital. After giving the phone to Gray, Alexander went to use the bathroom in the homeÂ’s master bedroom. While looking at the pictures, Gray noticed text messages between Alexander and her ex-husband, Lincoln Alexander, which prompted Gray to confront Alexander about whether the baby was his or Lincoln AlexanderÂ’s.
An argument then ensued between Gray and Alexander, and Gray initially prevented Alexander from leaving the bathroom during the altercation. Alexander eventually managed to get around Gray to exit the bathroom.
AlexanderÂ’s actions following that moment are what differentiate her case from that of George Zimmerman.
After Alexander exited the bathroom and re-entered the master bedroom, Gray left the bedroom and headed to the living room where his sons were located. At that point, Alexander left the master bedroom, passing Gray, his two children, and the unobstructed front and back doors of the house on her way to the garage. Once in the garage, she retrieved a handgun from her vehicle’s glove box and then went back into the kitchen, where she “pointed it in the direction of all three [v]ictims.” Although Gray put his hands in the air, Alexander fired the gun, “nearly missing [Gray's] head” and sending a bullet “through the kitchen wall and into the ceiling in the living room.”
Gray and his sons fled the home and immediately called 911. Alexander stayed in the home and never called 911.
Many of AlexanderÂ’s defenders correctly note that Gray had a long history of abusing Alexander and multiple other women. He had previously been charged with domestic battery on at least three separate occasions, including charges in 1994, 2006, and 2009. The 2009 incident against Alexander sent her to the hospital with head injuries after he shoved her into a bathtub.
Gray later admitted to lying in his deposition to protect Alexander.
“Gray said he lied during his deposition after conspiring with his wife in an effort to protect her,” CNN wrote in 2012 after Alexander was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. “At the hearing [on Alexander's motion for a retrial], [Gray] denied threatening to kill his wife, adding, ‘I begged and pleaded for my life when she had the gun.’”
ALEXANDERÂ’S DOMESTIC BATTERY ARREST MONTHS AFTER THE SHOOTING
Further complicating matters for Alexander, she was arrested for domestic battery against Gray on December 30, 2010, while she was out on bail and still awaiting trial on the aggravated assault charges stemming from the August incident.
“The victim [Gray] stated that his estranged wife [Alexander] had come to his residence to drop off their child,” the incident report prepared by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office noted. “[Gray] stated that an argument ensued when he would not allow her to stay overnight at his residence.” The police report noted that Gray’s left eye appeared swollen and bloodied. Alexander fled the scene before police arrived.
When the responding officer met with Alexander approximately an hour after the incident, she initially claimed that “she did not know what this was about and that she had an alibi.” Throughout the course of her conversation with the officer, Alexander changed her story and eventually claimed that while she had been at Gray’s house, he had attacked her first with his fists after she wouldn’t stay for the night. The officer wrote that Alexander had “no visible injuries.”
Alexander was arrested and bond was revoked on her prior charges of aggravated assault against Gray and his children. She entered a plea of no contest to the domestic battery charges on March 27, 2012.
No, Marissa Alexander is Not a "Reverse Trayvon Martin" in Florida
