A Florida woman has been sentenced to 20 years behind bars for firing a gun into the ceiling of her home in front of her husband and their two young children. Though Marissa Alexander, 31, was claiming she shot in self-defence, citing the state’s now-infamous Stand Your Ground law, the jury and prosecutors said in this case, the law could not be invoked. During the 2010 altercation between now 36-year-old Rico Gray, Alexander had left the room during the argument to retrieve the gun. The 31-year-old mother had rejected a plea bargain from the State Attorney’s Office for three years, but Alexander rejected it, in hopes of convincing the jury that her story corroborated with the evidence. Last week, she filed a motion to have her trial dismissed on the controversial Stand Your Ground law. However, Judge Daniel James rejected the motion as Alexander could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she was in danger of sustaining bodily harm.
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