re: #115 Decatur Deb

Starting with the FL woman doing 20 for a sloppy warning shot.

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Alexander’s defenders have a case that her sentence is excessive. Her 20-year prison term is mandatory under Florida’s “10-20-Life” statute, which established a minimum 20-year sentence for discharging a firearm while committing a “forcible felony,” any felony that “involves the use or threat of physical force or violence against any individual.” But it does not take a thorough knowledge of the law to recognize a difference between Alexander’s “assault” and more common instances of that particular crime. Take into account that Alexander had no prior convictions and was not a threat to the “public” (just to her husband), and some of the outrage is understandable. Cases like this bring the wisdom of mandatory minimum sentences into question and show how important it is that judges and prosecutors have recourse to more lenient sentencing.

Alas, leniency is not Angela Corey’s strong suit. But Florida’s best-known prosecutor has pointed out that Alexander rejected a plea deal that would have reduced her sentence to three years. Alexander preferred to go to trial — where it took jurors twelve minutes to return a guilty verdict.

Twelve minutes of jury deliberation suggests something besides “institutional racism,” particularly when the six-person jury, split evenly among men and women, included an African American man. It suggests strong evidence and an undeniable conclusion. Twenty years in prison is excessive, but the jury’s verdict was the right one.

Read the whole thing. Even if you don’t like National Review, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better article on Melissa Alexander’s case.