In The State Of Florida – Marissa Alexander Had A Gun Permit, Stood Her Ground, Did Not Shoot Or Kill Anyone and Faces 25 Years In Prison,Lincoln B. Alexander Jr on behalf of Marissa Alexander
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Marissa Alexander Stood Her Ground – No One Was Injured or Murdered – She Faces 25 Years In Prison»
Case No: 2010-CF-8579Division: CR-GApril 3, 2012Dear Supporters:On August 1 2010, my premature baby girl, born nine days earlier, was in the Baptist South N.I.C.U. fighting for her life and I would too be fighting for my life in my own home against an attack from my husband.My name is Marissa Alexander, I am a mother of three children, but at the present time, I am not able to be with them due to the following circumstances. I am currently sitting in the Pretrial Detention Facility in Jacksonville FL, Duval County awaiting a sentence for three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon with no intent to harm. Before my life changed drastically on that August afternoon, I was in the perilous position of leaving an abusive relationship with my husband who has history of violence and documented domestic abuse towards women. Our history included one which required me to place an injunction for protection against violence and was active during the month of August 2010.In an unprovoked jealous rage, my husband violently confronted me while using the restroom. He assaulted me, shoving, strangling and holding me against my will, preventing me from fleeing all while I begged for him to leave. After a minute or two of trying to escape, I was able to make it to the garage where my truck was parked, but in my haste to leave I realized my keys were missing. I tried to open the garage but there was a mechanical failure. I was unable to leave, trapped in the dark with no way out. For protection against further assault I retrieved my weapon; which is registered and I have a concealed weapon permit. Trapped, no phone, I entered back into my home to either leave through another exit or obtain my cell phone.He and my two stepsons were supposed to be exiting the house thru the front door, but he didn’t leave. Instead he came into the kitchen that leads to the garage and realized I was unable to leave. Instead of leaving thru the front door where his vehicle was parked outside of the garage, he came into the kitchen by himself. I was terrified from the first encounter and feared he came to do as he had threatened. The weapon was in my right hand down by my side and he yelled, “Bitch I will kill you!”, and charged toward me. In fear and desperate attempt, I lifted my weapon up, turned away and discharged a single shot in the wall up in the ceiling. As I stood my ground it prevented him from doing what he threatened and he ran out of the home. Outside of the home, he contacted the police and falsely reported that I shot at him and his sons. The police arrived and I was taken into custody.I was devastated and would continue to be for months following the incident. I had to appear in court all the way up until trial as I plead not guilty and know that I acted in self-defense. I believe my actions saved my life or prevented further harm, but preserved that of my husband who was completely irrational, extremely violent, and unpredictable that day.Florida has a self-defense law and it includes the right to stand your ground. Below are the facts of my concern with the incorrect way the law was applied and ultimately the injustice in my case.· The alleged victim, my husband, under sworn statement in November 2010, admitted he was the aggressor, threatened my life and was so enraged he didn’t know what he would do.· The alleged victim, my husband, was arrested for domestic violence two times, once for abuse against me. The attack against me was so violent; I ended up in the hospital.· Prior to my arrest, I told the office I was in fear for my life due to the prior violence against me. I also told the officer there was a domestic injunction in place to protect me against abuse from the alleged victim. This information was written in detail by the officer in my arrest report, but ignored for some unknown reason.· In July of 2011, a hearing was held, where I along with the alleged victims testified as it relates to the stand your ground law and its immunity from prosecution.· After the hearing, Judge Elizabeth Senterfitt denied my motion, citing that I could have exited the house thru the master bedroom window, front door, and/or sliding glass back door. The law specifically states: No duty to retreat.· My attorney entered a standing objection on the record to the ruling and we proceeded to trial.· During that time, Angela Corey, our State Attorney met with the alleged victims. I also along with my attorney met with Angela Corey, John Guy, and then prosecutor Christen Luikart. I justified my actions to them and the truth as I have told it has remained the same.· Knowing our prior domestic abuse history, Angela Corey was hard pressed for the minimum mandatory, which provisions allow for prosecution to wave those stipulations. I was not guilty, nor did I believe that was fair and just under the circumstances. She also allowed for those same provisions in the State vs. Vonda Parker, same charges different circumstances which did not include self-defense.· Florida uses a law commonly known as 10-20-life as a sentencing guideline when a felony takes place with the use of a weapon. Under this statute, my felony charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to harm carries a twenty year mandatory sentence.· Stand your ground law has been applied in multiple recent incidents, the following is just a couple of incidents. Carl Kroppman Jr was allowed to use this law to avoid being arrested/charged during a road rage incident on the Buckman Bridge in Jacksonville, FL in August of 2011. Marqualle Woolbright of Ocala, FL avoided murder charges due to the stand your ground law when he shoot and killed someone.I am a law abiding citizen and I take great pride in my liberty, rights, and privileges as one. I have vehemently proclaimed my innocence and my actions that day. The enigma I face since that fateful day I was charged through trial, does the law cover and apply to me too?A step further and more importantly is in light of recent news, is justice for all include everyone, regardless of gender, race or aristocratic dichotomies. I simply want my story heard, reviewed and the egregious way in which my case was handled from start to finish serve as an eye opener for all and especially those responsible for upholding judicial affairs.The threat that day was very real, imminent, and the battery on me occurred minutes before the decision I made to protect myself. That decision was a last resort, necessary and a reaction to the continued threat on my life. I am a believer that grace allowed for my response to be carried out in a non-lethal manner. This prevented the imminent threat and harm a non-fatal tactic, but not against an unknown attacker, rather my very own husband. That was by far the most difficult position to be in nine days after giving birth to a six week premature infant. My heart goes out for my two stepsons and always has had a hurt and sincere empathy for them being subjected innocently to that trauma.The law states that I was justified in standing my ground and meeting force with force up to including deadly force, but political views and concerns states otherwise in the 4th circuit court.So my last questions and valid concerns are what was I supposed to do that day and the stand your ground law who is it for?Sincerely,Lincoln B. Alexander Jr on behalf of Marissa Alexander
via Stfu Assholes.
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Hi, there.
I’m wearing a shirt that reads “Kill Me”.
If you saw me at a party or on the street would you promptly murder me?
What about if I had a few drinks? What if I was walking alone at night?
I’m guessing that you wouldn’t if you’re a sane individual.
The cops wouldn’t overlook your crime because of what I’m wearing because that’s silly. I wasn’t literally asking for you to kill me based on my choice of clothing. Who would take that defense seriously?My friends wouldn’t blame me for being murdered and my killer would be behind bars almost instantly.
So, why is it okay to rape someone because they’re wearing revealing clothes? Why does THEIR choice of clothing excuse THEIR attacker?
It doesn’t. You’re silly if you think otherwise.
The less guilt on the attacker. The more guilt on victim.
Stop. Victim. Blaming.
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To the Oklahoma Lawmakers: a poem, by Lauren Zuniga.
This is just… perfect, devastating, so relevant right now and just… blew me away. Poetically fucking tragic.
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We're Telling: May I vent?»
There’s an episode of “Two and a Half Men” in which Alan pressures a girl into having sex. She says she doesn’t want to and that she’s not attracted to him, but he pressures her into it, by begging and pleading and telling her she’ll be attracted to him if she gives him a…
via We're Telling.
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One day…
So you’re a racist, a sexist, an abuser, a gossip, you are “against democracy”, and you regularly lie to cover your own ass. You are the complete void of empathy, and are completely self centered. You yell and scream and smash things.
You maliciously trigger and insult. Then you -smile- when you observe the pain you’ve inflicted.
You blame your anger issues on everyone else, then accuse them of it when they finally react.
You are a gluttonous pig who does not take care of his wife when she is sick and unable to move.
You threaten and hit your children, then lie about it. You tell your children you do not care if they die, then wonder why none of them consider you “father”.
You call 1st daughter “nothing”, you say what she supports is “nothing” and is “stupid”. You break her down while she builds people up. and you don’t care that she suffers.
You tell her she “is not worth the food (she) (eats)”. then you wonder why she no longer eats.
You call her a whore, and throw around her male friends and past abusive relationships as proof.
You tell her she “deserved the abuse (she endured) and that (she) brought it on herself”.
You roll your eyes and laugh as she screams in the pain you’ve caused.
It did not phase you when she said that YOU were part of the reason she was suicidal.
You dismiss her promise to kick you out if you ever hit her again, or even think of hurting her mother or sister..
You do not know your own children, and you don’t make the effort.
You pretend to be a “good catholic”, you take your poor sick, dementia and Alzheimer’s ridden mother-in-law to church. But you threaten her and scream in her face as soon as you’re home. You claim to be a “good catholic” but you’re addicted to porn, to the point where you’ve destroyed your daughter’s laptop from all the viruses. You refuse to buy her a new one.
You are a scam artist with no code of honor. You will fuck people over just to get a better deal, then gleefully boast about it later.
You are the scum of the earth, yet you put on false pleasantries when other people are around. You can be in the middle of a screaming fit, but as soon as someone is at the door you will be polite and smile.
But this will not last forever.
One day.
One day everyone will see you for what you are.
I promise.
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TRIGGER WARNING: Rape - University of South Florida sees increase in reported rapes; victims see little justice »
Ok, so I’m posting this link for two reasons.
This is my alma mater, and I’m horrified by the attitudes that some of the people displayed in this article.
So much of this - what the people accused of rape said - is indicative of a continued rape culture.
Here are some particularly telling portions:
“In April, a student reported that a friend she had invited over for a study session raped her in her dorm room. She said “no,” she told police, but the 20-year-old man replied, “I’m stubborn,” and “You know this is going to happen,” a police report states.”
Emphasis mine. How in the world is this not indicative of really awful ideas about consent? And what about the dehumanization of women? I mean, this dude just thought that he could inflict his will on this woman - or that he could tell her what she knows, particularly about her own sexual interests! Do rape apologists really think that this is “mental illness”? Because it happens regularly.
Here’s another:
“In September, a woman reported an assault she said occurred two years earlier. She had been encouraged by USF’s Take Back the Night Event and decided to go to police with her story. She was having oral sex with a fraternity member she was dating when she said she wanted to stop, she reported. He complied but stood over her and performed a degrading sexual act, a police report states. At the end, he threw glitter in the woman’s face. That’s when the door opened, revealing several fraternity members. The man told police what he did, and that he wrote about it on urbandictionary.com. He told the officer it was something he had always wanted to do, the report states.”
So, this guy was dating this girl, and he insisted on degrading her sexually. Not only that, but apparently it had been a long-time goal to degrade a woman sexually. It also sounds like some of his fraternity members were in on it as well. I guess all of these men are also mentally ill? Yeah, nothing here could possibly involve a systematic degradation of women and consent.
“Another man, Samuel Cesaire, 24, pleaded guilty to raping his roommate’s friend while she slept in her dorm room bed. He had waited for the woman to fall asleep, he told police. He said he thought that because she didn’t wake up and say “stop,” it was okay to continue.”
He had sex at someone who was asleep, and he thought it was ok. Does anyone really think that if we made sure that every person was aware that consent is only freely given, sober, and conscious that anyone would have that idea? I guess she should have just pepper sprayed him while she was asleep, right?
I just wanted to offer this article as a means of disproving the myths that rape apologist assholes like to spread around as a means of combating the apparently horrible idea that people should be instructed as to what consent is and what it means. Because you know, pepper spray works so much better than teaching men to value and respect the consent and personhood of their sexual partners. So misandrist to expect them to act like decent human beings and not make it a life goal to sexually degrade a woman and then post about it online with the blessings of their fraternity brothers, amirite?
via We're Telling.
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Fifty Ways Prevent Yourself from Being a Rapist
(from: http://womensstudies.homestead.com/tipsformen.html)
PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO EVERY MAN YOU KNOW:
Fifty Ways Prevent Yourself from Being a Rapist:
1. Do not think you have the right to rape a woman.
2. Do not rape a woman. Do not rape a man.
3. Learn what rape is.
4. Rape is forcing someone to have sex with you when they do not want to.
5. Most rapes are committed by men who know the women they are raping. If the woman you are forcing to have sex with you happens to be your girlfriend, your neighbor, your cousin, your sister, or your wife, it is still RAPE.
6. When someone says no to you, that means you have no right to force yourself on them.
7. When someone pushes you away, or otherwise declines, verbally or with physical movement that they do not want to have sex with you, and you force yourself on them, that is rape.
8. If you see a woman in a parking lot, don’t rape her.
9. If you see a woman walking alone at night, don’t rape her.
10. If you see a woman in a short skirt, don’t rape her.
11, If you see a woman with long hair, don’t rape her.
12. If you see a woman walking down a dark street at 4 AM, naked, don’t rape her.
13. If you see a woman who is not carrying pepper spray for self protection, does not know karate, does not have a gun, and is not even holding an umbrella to ward you off, still don’t rape her.
14. If you see a woman who has a sign on her head that says “I Want Sex”, you don’t have the right to force sex upon her.
15. If you’re at a party, and a girl is drunk, and she wants you to kiss her and touch her but then she wants you stop, STOP.
16. If you’re on a date with someone and they want to go so far, but then stop, you STOP. If you don’t stop, it is called rape.
17. Rape is a crime, whether you go to prison for it or not, whether it is reported or not, whether you’re convicted, or whether anyone believes the woman you rape, or whether you get a goddamn medal of honor for all the rapes you got away with committing, IT’S A CRIME and it’s a crime against humanity, which has more to do with your conscience and morals and the rights of women to live as human beings on this planet without having to be in fear their bodies will be violated, than it laws and prison sentences. If you are a rapist, you have violated a person’s right to simply live. News Flash - you do not have the right to do that. Neither does any other man or woman you know.
18. Rape is about power. It is not about sex. Do something else with your misogyny than rape a woman. Try, say, reading a book. Or committing suicide to rid you from the planet so we will have one less rapist walking around.
20. Men are the people who can stop rape. Not women. For proof of this fact, look at statistics on rape for a second. It happens every minute of every day, and it is usually not ever reported so statistics on it are always underestimates. Women have been trying to prevent themselves from being raped for a few centuries. IT HASN’T WORKED YET.
21. Rapists destroy lives in a way that murderers do not. If you rape a person, you are as inhumane as a murderer.
22. Before you decide to rape someone, go to visit an emergency room one night, and ask the nurse on duty at the triage, how many raped women have been there that evening. Then ask about the rape kits they did on the women, the DNA evidence they collected. Then spend a few years of your life talking with women who were raped and see how it has affected them every single day of their lives. You might reconsider rape after that, if you’re actually human. If you’re not human, please kill yourself before you rape someone.
23. Note that you are living in a patriarchal society which is the only reason why committing rape will occur to you as something you have a right to do in the first place. Note that, despite this fact, you STILL DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO RAPE ANYONE EVER.
24. Know that a few million human beings on this planet right now want you dead, if you’re a rapist, because we’re sick and tired of you walking around, and our self protection mechanisms haven’t worked, and you’re not about to be a real popular guy if anyone finds out you are a rapist, unless, you are hanging around other rapists.
25. Know that whether anyone ever finds out you committed a rape or not, you are still a repulsive, weak, pathetic, disgusting, grotesque, inhumane, repulsive, worthless, twisted individual if you rape someone, and this fact will remain true, and you will remain guilty forever, whether she tells anybody or not. And you can be the one to live with that; if you have a conscience.
26. If you don’t have a conscience, go murder yourself instead of raping a woman.
27. Read Ms. Magazine instead of Playboy
28. Stay away from violent pornography. Most rapists love it. That should be a danger sign.
29. Cut your hands off. You won’t be able to use them. That will help matters.
30. Cut your penis off. Or ask me to do it for you; I’ll be happy to, if you’re considering committing a rape.
31. Stay away from women.
32. Stay away from little girls.
33. Stay away from boys.
34. Stay away from the human race.
35. You are not the superior sex, never will be, never were, never are. Women are equal to you, and sometimes women will be smarter than you. This is called life. Deal with it.
36. Sometimes women will not like you. That is our right. See above.
37. Sometimes women will rebuff your advances. In other words, we don’t always want to have sex with you. Note, no one has any duty to have sex with anyone, ever. You are no exception.
38. Sometimes women will think you are stupid, will make fun of you, will not treat you well, will fire you from a job, will laugh at you, will refuse to go out with you. Just like men can do these things, so can women. This does not mean you have a right to commit rape.
39. If a woman has sex with you one day and doesn’t want to have sex with you the next, that is her right. You do not have the right to rape her.
40. If a woman has sex with you and one hour later does not want to have sex with you again, that is her right. You do not have the right to rape her.
41. If a woman has sex all the time, with lots of men, and you think she is a slut for it, you still don’t have the right to rape her. Women have the right to have sex with who they choose, when they choose, wherever they choose if it is consensual. Just like men.
42. No woman has ever, will ever or does ever ASK to be raped. No woman LIKES being raped. No woman INVITES you to rape her. No woman has EVER ASKED FOR IT. Try to remember that.
43. You don’t have a right to rape your wife, your daughter, your granddaughter, your best friend, your girlfriend, a girl you met at the grocery store, your boss, your coworker, your student, your professor, your niece, your next door neighbor, a woman you do not know, or ANYONE ELSE. Ever. Period. End of Story.
44. Do not forward around emails to people telling them what women should do to prevent themselves from being raped. Women have never, and will never be able to stop the phenomena of rape, even as women do a good job of trying to, because we are not the ones with penises. Very simple. You are the only person who can prevent you from raping me or any other woman. You. Not me. You. Not any woman. You. You must stop you from being a rapist. It is YOUR job. Take responsibility for it for a change. I’m tired of giving out the 1-800-656-HOPE number to women who have been raped. I WANT TO GIVE OUT A HOTLINE TO YOU. 1-800-STOP IT NOW
But that hotline does not exist.
45. Go build a crisis center to stop yourself and every other man you know from becoming a rapist. Get funding for it, which will require a lot of work on a daily basis. Hire counselors. Hold group therapy and individual therapy sessions. Try, again, to get funding for it because it will be difficult to do so. Women have been doing this for decades. They’re called rape crisis centers and we have too many of them. They should not have to exist at all.
46. When you converse with your male friends, be sure to warn them to NOT RAPE ANYONE if they are going out late at night, or if they are going out with a new girl, or if they are doing anything at all where rape might be an issue of concern. Women do this all the time, warning their friends to be careful, warning their daughters, their sisters, their mothers to be careful, to watch out, to lock their doors, to keep their doors locked, to carry pepper spray. We have all sorts of advice we give each other based on our very rational fear of rape. Why don’t you try giving every man you now advice on how to prevent rape?
47. If you know someone who is a rapist, do something about it. Do not ignore, tolerate, pretend you don’t know or don’t care, or congratulate him. DO SOMETHING about it, such as, telling him he is the scum of the earth, reporting him to the police, beating him up, or put up a billboard with his picture, his name and the word Rapist in bright red letters on his front lawn.
48. If you’re a rapist, go to therapy for a few years, perhaps the rest of your life, spend some time in a psychiatric hospital, perhaps dozens of times, perhaps years, and try to figure out how to live with yourself and what you did, which is exactly what many women who are raped by people such as you must do.
49. Donate money to RAINN, since you haven’t succeeded in stopping rape from happening yet, so we still need these sexual assault centers, and maybe you should try being the person who donates money to them, rather than the people who were raped. http://www.rainn.org 1-800-656-HOPE. Or donate money to your local sexual assault crisis center. Or donate money to one of the women you know who has been raped so she can go to therapy, because statistically, there is little chance that you do not know several rape “survivors”.
50. SEND THIS TO EVERY MAN YOU KNOW. And when you get the next email telling every woman on the planet what to do to prevent herself from being raped, and it says, “forward it to every woman you know”, don’t do it. For an example, see the message below and consider how ridiculous it is that women should have to live in a world where we write, read, and send each other these kind of messages, and know that it is not fair, and wonder for a minute, why you never got a message like this before addressed to men.
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Late-night string of consciousness: reality or delusion?
There is no justice. There is no karma. There is no god. Monsters will often live happy lives, unaffected by the horrors of their actions. Their victims will often know nothing but further victimization and more suffering. People will stand up for the monsters, claiming that they are “people” and have rights too, while simultaneously blaming the victims. Befriending the monsters in order to not be victimized themselves and blaming the victim to silence the fear that it could happen to them.
Life isn’t fair. It is a miserable existence, in which distractions are the only comfort.
Love, friendship, meaning, right/wrong, justice, karma, god.. all man -made ideas.. all distractions.
Each day we shield ourselves from the reality with these made-up ideas.
Think about it. Would you be so happy if you were forced to examine the harshness of what we call “life” ?
We are so dependent on these delusions that they have become a part of what we know life to be.
Are we that afraid that maybe, our lives don’t have meaning, and maybe we were trying to make “life” more than what it is?
If the delusion of justice, karma or god is what you need to get by then so be it. But one day you might be confronted with the realization that is was quite possibly all just a fallacy. Then what? Was it worth it?
