Florida woman released from jail in ‘stand your ground’ case

Florida woman released from jail in ‘stand your ground’ case

She had unsuccessfully used the controversial law to defend herself, but the judge threw out a 20-year sentence and she was eventually given a deal for time served and two years of house arrest for the 2010 shooting.

A Florida woman who used the state’s controversial “stand your ground” law to defend herself after she fired a gun at her estranged husbands and his two sons has been released from jail as part of a plea deal.

Marissa Alexander was ultimately sentenced to 1,095 days in jail this week, a period of time she has already served after pleading guilty to three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon stemming from the shooting, which took place in 2010, according to an Associated Press report.

Under the deal, she was will be placed under two years of house arrest.

Had she been convicted at trial, Alexander, who is 34, could have faced 60 years in jail because of a minimum mandatory sentencing law relating to firearm use in the state.

It took jurors just 12 minutes to convict her during trial. However, the judge threw out the verdict after determining that Alexander was wrongly required to prove that her husband had abused her.

She had been originally sentenced to 20 years for firing a “warning shot” at her estranged husband. Under the new deal, she faces two years of house arrest, but the judge declined to add another two years of probation as prosecutors had wanted.

Alexander had pleaded guilty in November of firing the gun in what was described as a heated argument with the estranged husband inside her house. Alexander claimed that the man had beaten her and that she had shot the gun in self-defense.

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