Marissa Alexander has been released from prison on bond. Alexander is an African American mom from Florida who was convicted of aggravated assault and given 20 years for firing a warning shot to stop her abusive husband from physically attacking her. Adding insult to injury, she was not allowed to use “stand your ground” because the judge ruled that "real" domestic violence victims would run, not confront their abusers.
Radical Women and many feminist, civil rights and domestic violence groups have been part of a national defense effort led by the Free Marissa Now Mobilization Campaign. The efforts have borne fruit. Earlier this year, an appeals court overturned the guilty verdict because of grave errors and sent the case back for retrial. And now Marissa is home, spending the holidays and preparing for the second trial with her family.
You can read more about the decision to grant bond and let Marissa out of prison at:
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/topstories/article/336878/483/Marissa-Alexander-released-from-jail. A statement by the Free Marissa Now national organizing committee is below.
Unfortunately, Prosecuting Attorney Angela Corey intends to go forward with re-trying Marissa in March 2014. Help is needed to raise the funds for a victorious legal defense against a prosecution that is relentless in its pursuit of this injustice. Please give at
tiny.cc/freedomfundraiser. Or host a fundraiser in your town. For help organizing an event, contact FreeMarissaNow@gmail.com.
Together we will stop the persecution of this domestic abuse survivor.
In solidarity,
Margaret Viggiani
Radical Women
radicalwomenus@gmail.com
Date: November 28, 2013
From: Free Marisa Now Mobilization Campaign
Contact: FreeMarissaNow@gmail.com, Aleta Alston-Touré 904-631-1674
For Immediate Release
Statement to the Press
Victory! Marissa Alexander home for Thanksgiving
Words cannot express the relief and joy of everyone in the Free Marissa Now Mobilization Campaign that Marissa Alexander is home with her family this Thanksgiving Day. Ms. Alexander has been released on bond until a verdict is reached in her new trial that begins March 31, 2014. We hope the decision means that the Florida justice system has relented in its vindictive, hostile and racist legal assault on this African American mother of three. Ms. Alexander has been victimized twice -- once by her abusive ex-husband and again by the state of Florida, which has stolen nearly three years from her life for an act of self-defense that injured no one.
We are thrilled that Ms. Alexander will be able to prepare for her new trial amid the support and love of her children and family from whom she has been separated far too long.
But the battle is not over. 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 will keep organizing, education and keeping the pressure experiencing domestic abuse, and successful!
The Free Marissa Now Mobilization Campaign is more determined than ever to win complete exoneration for Marissa Alexander. We have launched the Marissa Alexander Freedom Fund campaign to raise $20,000 by the end of the year to help pay for legal costs of the new trial. Donors can give at tiny.cc/freedomfundraiser.
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!, and the Pacific Northwest Alliance to Free Marissa Alexander. To arrange an interview, please contactFreeMarissaNow@gmail.com or call 904-631-1674 (Jacksonville), 443-812-9503 (Washington, DC area), 206-473-0630 (Seattle).
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