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"Newburn says Alexander's case is not an isolated incident, and that people ensnared by mandatory-minimum laws cross racial barriers.
In central Florida, a white man named Orville Lee Wollard is nearly two years into a 20-year sentence for firing his gun inside his house to scare his daughter's boyfriend. Prosecutors contended that Wollard was shooting at the young man and missed.
He rejected a plea deal that offered probation but no prison time. Like Alexander, he took his chances at trial and was convicted of aggravated assault with a firearm. Circuit Judge Donald Jacobsen said he was "duty bound" by the 10-20-life law to impose the harsh sentence."
Yes, I see. It's crazy.
But this woman had a protective order against the husband. She acted stupidly and I think she should have served some time, but the problem is with these mandatory sentences that do not give judges or juries the chance to take into account the circumstances of a crime.
But this woman had a protective order against the husband. She acted stupidly and I think she should have served some time, but the problem is with these mandatory sentences that do not give judges or juries the chance to take into account the circumstances of a crime.
I am aware of that. The R's in FL wanted to look like they were tough on crime and so they enacted this law. Drug laws are similar. In CA 3 felony offenses will get you life in prison and most are due to drugs. Crack is treated differently than cocaine , but meth isn't treated the same even though it is probably worse.
I am aware of that. The R's in FL wanted to look like they were tough on crime and so they enacted this law. Drug laws are similar. In CA 3 felony offenses will get you life in prison and most are due to drugs. Crack is treated differently than cocaine , but meth isn't treated the same even though it is probably worse.
Once again that seems racial. Many more blacks than whites are locked up for drug crimes. And meth is the poor white man's drug.
The same State Attorney who initially did not even charge George Zimmerman prosecuted an abused woman for firing a warning shot at her abusive husband.
In Tampa Florida last month, Marissa Alexander, who had never been arrested before, fired a bullet at a wall to scare off her abusive husband when he threatened her. Nobody got hurt, but this month she received a mandatory sentence of 20 years in prison.
Alexander, a black 31-year-old mother, had claimed self-defense, but the judge would not allow Alexander to invoke her "stand your ground" rights. State Attorney Angela Corey, who also is overseeing the prosecution of shooter George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin case, says she believes the bullet she fired could have ricocheted and hit any of them. But the gun was fired into the wall away from her husband and his sons.
Her husband had been arrested for domestic violence twice, and convicted once, and Alexander had a protective order on him!
Once again that seems racial. Many more blacks than whites are locked up for drug crimes. And meth is the poor white man's drug.
Crack laws ARE racial. More blacks are locked up because dealers are punished more harshly than users and it is much easier to find a dealer than a user. I think the argument for the disparity in sentencing was that crack is changed from its original form and hence more potent. Okay, maybe, but then meth should be on the same level as crack. Meth is just as addictive as crack.
She had much stronger grounds for self-defense than Zimmerman, including the fact that her husband had previous convictions for domestic violence, unlike Trayvon Martin who was an innocent boy. And yet she was still prosecuted and is going to spend 20 years in prison.
No, she didn't, and anyone who has looked at the case and knows anything about the law knows it.
You are seeing the reasoning behind this, right? Let's see, black kid unarmed is murdered, it's justifiable. Black woman fires warning shot instead of murdering, justifiable to toss her in jail.
Yes northnut, it's just that simple. No differences in the cases or anything.
Good ole boy southern justice. Why any woman would live south of Iowa is a mystery to me.
It looks more like why would any black person live in Central Florida?
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Okay, maybe, but then meth should be on the same level as crack. Meth is just as addictive as crack.
