Marissa Alexander could have been a free woman as early as next year, but she instead faces 20 years behind bars after a judge denied her a new trial and an acquittal Thursday morning.
Defense attorney Kevin Cobbin spent about 40 minutes arguing on his client’s behalf. He based much of it on what he called limitations the court placed on testimony that could support Alexander’s claim of her husband’s reputation of abusing women.
Authorities said Alexander shot in the direction of 36-year-old Rico Gray during an August 2010 dispute at their home with his two children in the house.
It took a jury just 12 minutes to find Alexander guilty in March of three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Alexander, who rejected an earlier plea deal, said she was in fear of her life and fired the single shot as a warning to get Gray to leave. She said she had tried to leave through the garage before getting her gun, but the door wouldn’t work.
Circuit Judge James Daniel denied all of Cobbins’ pleas for a new trial, repeatedly referring to the accounts of two witnesses who did testify about Gray’s violent reputation.
Cobbin argued that the court also erred in denying Alexander immunity in a Stand Your Ground hearing in July 2011. He added that new evidence pertaining to the details of the incident was not known at the time of the hearing.
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