Marissa Alexander is free from jail in time to spend Thanksgiving with family she has not seen for much of the last three years.
The Florida woman — who had been serving a 20-year sentence for firing what she described as a warning shot at her abusive husband — was released from jail Wednesday night, according to a report from First Coast News. Her bond was set at $200,009.
Although no one was injured in the incident, a jury convicted Alexander of multiple counts of aggravated assault with a firearm in 2012, requiring a 20 year sentence thanks to Florida’s “10-20-Life” law, which sets mandatory minimum sentences for crimes committed with a gun. Her conviction was overturned in September when a judge ordered a retrial after finding that the jury instructions in her original trial were erroneous and had unfairly put the burden on Alexander to prove that she had fired her shot in self-defense.
Alexander has spent more than 1,000 days behind bars, according to her lawyers’ count, keeping her away from her youngest child for most of the first three years of her life.
The organizers behind the Free Marissa Now Mobilization Campaign cheered her release in a statement Thursday on the group’s Facebook page.
“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,” the statement read. “The Free Marissa Now Mobilization Campaign is more determined than ever to win complete exoneration for Marissa Alexander.”
Her new trial is set to begin March 31, 2014.
Morgan Whitaker