Marissa Aexander released after 3 years. HRAs and women rejoice

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In the lead up to the 2010 shooting, Alexander, 32, said she and her husband, Rico Gray, had gotten into an argument over a series of text messages. Alexander, who had given birth to a daughter nine days earlier, had locked herself into the bathroom, at which point Gray broke through the door and grabbed her neck. Alexander testified that she then ran into the garage, couldn’t get the door open and returned with a gun from her car. When Gray threatened, “Bitch, I’ll kill you”, Alexander said she fired the gun as a warning shot. No one was injured, but a jury convicted her in 12 minutes.

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Marissa Alexander, the Florida mother whose case became a rallying cry for anti-racism activists and survivors of domestic violence, was released today after three years of incarceration.

Alexander had faced up to 60 years behind bars for firing a single shot near her abusive husband, unable to convince a jury she had feared for her life.

In November, Alexander pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated assault with a weapon in exchange for credit for time served. A second trial had been planned for December, when Corey had planned to seek a 60-year sentence, triple the 20-year sentence Alexander got in her first trial.

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