Date: November 13, 2013
From: Free Marissa Now Mobilization Campaign
Contact: [email protected]
For Immediate Release
Statement to the Press
Not guilty but still in prison: Justice denied to Marissa Alexander
An appalling injustice took place today in Jacksonville, Florida when Judge James Daniel failed to grant Marissa Alexander's request to be released on bond until a verdict is reached in her new trial that begins March 31, 2014. Another status hearing on the case was set for January 15. At the end of September, a Florida Appeals Court threw out the guilty verdict against Ms. Alexander and ordered a new trial due to severe problems in the instructions to the jury. With the overturn of the original verdict, Marissa Alexander is no longer guilty in the eyes of the law, but she is still in prison.
Marissa Alexander, an African American mother and daughter, was sentenced to 20 years for firing a warning shot to stop an attack by her abusive ex-husband -- an act of self-defense that injured no one. She was denied a Stand Your Ground defense. She has already been separated from her young children and family for nearly three years. The youngest was only 9 days old when the domestic violence incident occurred.
Release on personal recognizance or bond is supposed to be allowed to defendants who present no risk of flight or danger to the community. This mother of three is firmly rooted in the Jacksonville community by her connections to family, children and friends. She poses no danger to the public. Or has the state of Florida decided that she is a danger for the sole reason that she is a black woman?
It is well documented that black women and other marginalized people are likely to be criminalized, prosecuted, and incarcerated while trying to navigate and survive the conditions of violence in their lives. This is especially true for black women who are subjected to racist stereotypes that paint them as overly aggressive and unworthy.
The Free Marissa Now Mobilization Campaign is undaunted in our passion to win Marissa Alexander's release. We have launched the Marissa Alexander Freedom Fund campaign to raise $10,000 by the end of the year to help pay for legal costs of the new trial. Donors can give at tiny.cc/freedomfundraiser.
Our movement is thousands strong and we will keep going.
We have a trial to help win and we will continue to organize for Marissa's freedom and the end of domestic violence and mass incarceration. The world is watching and we will not rest until justice is won.
Free Marissa Now Mobilization Campaign is a grassroots campaign led by a core of organizers representing the African American/Black Women's Cultural Alliance, New Jim Crow Movement - Jacksonville, Radical Women, INCITE!, Southern Freedom Movement, and the Pacific Northwest Alliance to Free Marissa Alexander. To arrange an interview, please contact [email protected].
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From: Free Marissa Now Mobilization Campaign
Contact: [email protected]
For Immediate Release
Statement to the Press
Not guilty but still in prison: Justice denied to Marissa Alexander
An appalling injustice took place today in Jacksonville, Florida when Judge James Daniel failed to grant Marissa Alexander's request to be released on bond until a verdict is reached in her new trial that begins March 31, 2014. Another status hearing on the case was set for January 15. At the end of September, a Florida Appeals Court threw out the guilty verdict against Ms. Alexander and ordered a new trial due to severe problems in the instructions to the jury. With the overturn of the original verdict, Marissa Alexander is no longer guilty in the eyes of the law, but she is still in prison.
Marissa Alexander, an African American mother and daughter, was sentenced to 20 years for firing a warning shot to stop an attack by her abusive ex-husband -- an act of self-defense that injured no one. She was denied a Stand Your Ground defense. She has already been separated from her young children and family for nearly three years. The youngest was only 9 days old when the domestic violence incident occurred.
Release on personal recognizance or bond is supposed to be allowed to defendants who present no risk of flight or danger to the community. This mother of three is firmly rooted in the Jacksonville community by her connections to family, children and friends. She poses no danger to the public. Or has the state of Florida decided that she is a danger for the sole reason that she is a black woman?
It is well documented that black women and other marginalized people are likely to be criminalized, prosecuted, and incarcerated while trying to navigate and survive the conditions of violence in their lives. This is especially true for black women who are subjected to racist stereotypes that paint them as overly aggressive and unworthy.
The Free Marissa Now Mobilization Campaign is undaunted in our passion to win Marissa Alexander's release. We have launched the Marissa Alexander Freedom Fund campaign to raise $10,000 by the end of the year to help pay for legal costs of the new trial. Donors can give at tiny.cc/freedomfundraiser.
Our movement is thousands strong and we will keep going.
We have a trial to help win and we will continue to organize for Marissa's freedom and the end of domestic violence and mass incarceration. The world is watching and we will not rest until justice is won.
Free Marissa Now Mobilization Campaign is a grassroots campaign led by a core of organizers representing the African American/Black Women's Cultural Alliance, New Jim Crow Movement - Jacksonville, Radical Women, INCITE!, Southern Freedom Movement, and the Pacific Northwest Alliance to Free Marissa Alexander. To arrange an interview, please contact [email protected].
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