Florida: You can kill an unarmed teen but can’t defend yourself against an abuser

What happens when you have a criminal record, fatally shoot a teenager armed with nothing more than a pack of skittles and an ice-tea and argue you were justified under Florida’s Stand Your Ground Laws? Nothing. The police believe you and it takes a national media campaign to actually get the criminal justice system to look into the case.

What happens when you have no criminal record, don’t harm anyone, but fire shots to scare off an abusive husband, who has choked and punched you, and just threatened to kill you? You get sentenced to 20 years of prison, of course. This is justice in Florida, where Marissa Alexander was sentenced to 20 years of jail time on Friday. The 31-year-old mother of three said she had no intention of hurting anyone, but feared for her life, after her husband, who admits to abusive behavior, threatened to kill her. Change.org, which has a petition for Alexander, recounts what happened to her:[…]

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