In August 2010, nine days she gave birth, Marissa Alexander fired a warning shot to keep her abusive estranged husband, Rico Gray, from attacking her.
The bullet hit a wall. Nobody was hurt.
Rico Gray admitted that he threatened to kill Marissa Alexander.
But she was prosecuted for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, convicted, and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Alexander was awarded a new trial because of a procedural error. In the retrial, the prosecutor a woman wanted to go for a sentence of 60 years. So Alexander took the plea deal of two years of house arrest, wearing a GPS ankle bracelet.
She got out of jail last week.
The outrageous case sparked widespread protests, both online and in the streets. Following is some of the commentary:
Leonard Pitts Jr: Travesty of justice over warning shot, on MiamiHerald.com.
Victoria Law: Why is marissa Alexander still being punished for fighting back? on TheNation.com.
Leslie Salzillo: 5 more women accuse Marissa Alexander’s abusive husband of brutal abuse, on DailyKos.com.
And we wonder why so much domestic violence goes unreported…
Marissa Alexander from everything I have read is a good person & who is the classic victim of domestic abuse…she is well educated, kind hearted etc her one mistake in life was letting this evil domestic abuse (who has a record of this in previous relationship if I remember correctly) into her life. No doubt he was masterful with love bombing her. It’s quite shocking that a district Prosecutor & a State Prosecutor are so clueless about domestic abuse & the type of evil person (narcissist/sociopath/psychopath) that are domestic abusers as this is their daily job. I was embarrassed for the State Prosecutor when she gave a televised conference about this case. She her self seems very narcissistic and self righteous.
I wrote Marissa’s attorney a letter siting this wonderful site and others to help her heal. Not sure if she was given the letter by her attorney or not but some how I hope she finds her way to Lovefraud as it will help her tremendously to learn the truth about her abuser & how she was sucked into his evil con game.
Although I think Marissa should have been cleared of all charges I am glad she will be home with her children and not behind bars. Wishing her all the best in her future!
I’ve read various news stories of this case. But I am STILL completely mystified why this woman was prosecuted. They wasted tax dollars on this? When there are SO MANY people who’s cases NEVER get to court because the DA has decided it’s not worth taxpayer dollars?
The only conclusion I find is the same one Jan7 states, that some Narcissist DA took it personally, probably has experience when their victim refused to submit and so they poured their power of abuse onto this VICTIM of domestic abuse. It reminds me of the mantra of my ex: Submit or be destroyed. Threatened her with 60…SIXTY years???? Total disconnect for me, and I am blown away… where’s the FEDERAL oversight by the Attorney General on this obvious travesty towards this woman?
“Submit or be destroyed”…what a very accurate depiction of the mentality of most psychopaths! I shudder in horror just thinking about how close I came to being completely destroyed by my 5 children with such a threat. Only the calm sanity of my attorney and the information I had gleaned from behavioral psychology experts prevented me from succumbing to these threats and being wrongly institutionalized myself. But after decades of my blind love and ensuing abuse, I found only excuses for their behavior. My parents had died, I had no siblings or relatives and most friends had abandoned me; I felt so alone; I was like putty in their hands. When years of abuse culminated in my grown son telling me that all my children would commit me, reality finally set in and I sadly went NC with all of them. At 70+ years and being disabled, I finally was forced into seeing the truth…I had innocently spawned 5 psychopathic children.
Threats are a favorite tool of psychotics.
Excellent article!
Dear Flicka: your own children?? How horrifying!!
Just when I thought I had it bad…
We don’t have kids for multiple reasons. One happens to be that I just did not get pregnant.
“Submit or Be Destroyed” did not work for me. I submitted all the time to another girl’s tyrannical rage against me but I still got destroyed emotionally and psychically. Probably because a jealous female’s wrath knows no end…
She probably continues to writhe in jealous rage to this day. All because of my looks and things her father said to my parents about my appearance.
Hell Hath No Fury Like That Of A Woman Scorned
This woman should never have been prosecuted. The “law” is on an equal opportunity quest to blame and prosecute women equally for domestic violence even though men are almost always the guilty party. It is the politically correct thing to do now, like strip searching grandmothers at airport security. The psychopath’s threat is “Submit or Be Destroyed. The reality is that you will be Destroyed regardless of what you do unless you can escape free and clear. The only way out is to leave and hide. If you have a child or children with a psychopath, expect a life of pain and torment with your own children being used against you.