Mitch PerryMelissa Alexander is out of prison now, but she’s not exactly free at last.
The Jacksonville mother of three was released from prison yesterday, after she accepted a plea deal with the state on charges of aggravated assault with a firearm. This drastically reduced her sentence to the three years in prison she had already served, from her original 20-year sentence after she fired a “warning shot” at her estranged husband, fearing that he was going to attack her in 2010.
Her draconian sentence became a flashpoint in the arguments about crime and justice here in Florida, with many people feeling that there was racism and sexism involved in the fact she was not allowed to use a Stand Your Ground defense.
But as attorney Mark O’Mara writes on CNN’s website, Alexander’s case truly exposes the absurdity of Florida’s minimum mandatory sentencing guidelines.
This is because once the jury didn’t buy her self-defense argument, they had to convict her. But in doing so (because as O’Mara writes, Florida juries aren’t told the sentences attached to their verdicts), they set off the state’s 10-20 Life mandatory sentencing requirement. He writes:
In Florida, a person who uses a gun in the commission of certain felonies (including aggravated assault) must face minimum mandatory sentencing. If the gun is possessed during the commission of one of the enumerated felonies, a minimum 10-year sentence is required. If the gun was discharged, as it was in this case, it is 20 years. Florida’s minimum mandatory sentences are served day-per-day; there is no early release.
It might be appropriate to impose minimum mandatories on violent felons who use guns to further the commission of a crime such as armed robbery. The idea, however, that Florida does not allow any discretion — even judicial discretion — for more complicated scenarios truly makes it difficult to adjudicate these cases.
It’s true Alexander was offered a plea deal initially, where she would have served approximately three years. Claiming she was innocent, she went to trial, where she received that 20-year sentence. But in 2013 the 1st District Court of Appeal ruled that Alexander deserves a new trial because the trial judge handling her case did not properly instruct the jury regarding what is needed to prove self-defense.
That’s when Prosecutor Angela Corey threatened a 60-year minimum sentence.
Looking at the possibility that she’d never be released to see her children, Alexander took the plea deal, and with time served, was released this week.
Minimum mandatory sentencing laws were big when crime was considered to be out of control in the 80’s and 90’s. But the law in Florida needs serious reconsidering by our Legislature.
In other news..
Although it’s far too early to read the tea leaves (if that’s what they are) regarding Jeff Brandes’ bill to legalize medical pot, the state Senator has one unlikely ally already on board – Sheriff Bob Gualtieri , who hasn’t exactly been a big supporter of some other Brandes’ sponsored bills.
Last week Pinellas County Commissioners Janet Long and John Morroni took a trip to Cuba, and have some interesting observations.
Call it “internal messaging” or what have you, but what you and I call a “push poll” has roiled the Tampa City Council District 6 race. Our exclusive report.
