While supporters had been hopeful that she might be granted freedom Wednedsay, Marissa Alexander must remain in prison for the time being while she awaits word from a judge, who refused to make a decision at her bond hearing.
Alexander’s lawyers argued in court Wednesday that she was not a flight risk because of her ties to the community and her children, and that she was no longer a risk to Rico Gray, her husband. (They are in divorcing.) The state argued that she should not be granted bond because nothing had changed since her first trial, when she was denied release because of her volatile and at times violent relationship with Gray, according to the Grio.
The judge said Wednesday that he would rule on bond at a later, unspecified date, according to NBC local station WTLV.
The 32-year old had been serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted of multiple counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after she fired what she described as a warning shot at her abusive husband Rico Gray. Her conviction was overturned in September when Judge James Daniel ordered a new trial, finding that the jury instructions in her first trial had been “erroneous” and unfairly put the onus on Alexander to prove that she had fired in self-defense.
Alexander has spent more than a thousand days incarcerated, according to her lawyers’ count, keeping her from witnessing most of the first three years of her youngest child’s life.
Her conviction inspired outcries and comparisons to the George Zimmerman trial, with critics complaining of a racial double standard. Domestic abuse critics rallied to her defense as well, with some calling for the charges against her to be dropped entirely after her retrial was ordered.
The next pre-trial hearing date is set for January 15, 2014.
Morgan Whitaker