State Represntative Neil Combee wants to exclude people who fire self-defense warning shots from minimum-mandatory-sentencing laws.
The Polk County Republican based his idea on the case of Marissa Alexander, sentenced to 20 years for firing a warning shot during an argument with her estranged husband. The bill, filed Thursday, comes a day after an appeals court granted Alexander a new trial.
Combee’s proposal will make cases like Alexander’s exempt from the state’s mandatory “10-20-Life” sentencing laws, reports The Tampa Tribune. Anyone who shows a firearm during the commission of a felony gets 10 years in prison; if someone is shot and wounded during the crime, the sentence becomes 25 years to life.
In 2010, Alexander fired a shot at a wall, after feeling her husband was threatening her. She had never been arrested before.
Even though no one was injured, the judge said state law mandated him to sentence her to 20 years in prison, since he found Alexander guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Alexander continues to assert that it was a warning shot.
The judge dismissed Alexander’s “stand your ground” claim because she could have run out of the house to escape her husband. Instead, she got the gun and returned inside. Alexander also rejected a plea deal for a three-year prison sentence, choosing to go to trial.
Four months after the shooting, Alexander was also charged with domestic battery in another assault on her husband. She pleaded no contest.
Although experts attribute the 1999 law with reducing violent crime in the state, Combee said the rules on mandatory minimum sentencing needs clarification, especially for gun-related offenses.
“I can’t imagine and don’t believe anyone intended that “10-20-Life” should apply to someone who felt they were threatened,” Combee told the Associated Press. “What crime did she commit? She wasn’t robbing a store.”
