A Second Chance for Justice

By Jillian Jenée

Just days after George Zimmerman was found not guilty for shooting and killing 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, Marissa Alexander, a 32-year-old wife and mother, was found guilty and sentenced to twenty years in prison for firing a warning shot at her abusive husband.

When Alexander tried to use the Stand Your Ground Law as her defense, the judge threw it out leaving her completely defenseless. 

People around the country were shocked and disgruntled by the verdict that many, including Florida State Representative Corrine Brown, have described as ‘unfair.’

"It's hard to believe that a female could get 20 years for firing a warning shot at an abusive husband who beat her," Brown said. "There was a restraining order the day it happened. She's a person who had a master's degree, who worked her way through school."

Brown also accuses State Attorney Angela Corey, who was the prosecutor in both the Zimmerman case and Alexander’s case of over-charging those found guilty.

Marissa Alexander had given birth to a child three days before the incident occurred and has two other children. She has been in jail for three years and hasn’t seen her children since the arrest.

Now, a year after her guilty conviction, she has been given a new trial.

“I say ‘Amen’ to having no new trial anywhere,” Alexander’s attorney Faith Gay said to Rev. Al Sharpton. “I think she’s served enough, she’s been in jail for a long time, and as you point out, no one was hurt, she had a good record, she was an upstanding citizen. It should be over.”

Hopefully this time, Alexander will get the verdict she deserves and will be sent home to her family.