Marissa Alexander, a Florida native, was convicted of three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for firing into a wall near her husband, Rico Gray, and his two young children at the home he shared with Alexander in Jacksonville, FL. The incident occurred on August 1st, 2010.

The stiff sentence for Alexander is a result of Florida’s mandatory sentencing requirements for crimes committed in which a weapon is involved. Florida’s 10-20-Life statutes dictate that anyone who pulls a gun during a crime receives a mandatory 10-year sentence. Firing a gun during the commission of a crime equals a mandatory 20-year sentence. A conviction of shooting and killing another person during a crime receives a mandatory sentence of 25 years to life.

Alexander thought she could evade a prison sentence by arguing that she had only fired the gun in an attempt to ward Gray off. Gray, for his part, has openly admitted to being abusive to Alexander in the past. Alexander even turned down a plea deal to serve 3 years in prison for shooting at Gray because she felt so assured that she had been in the right, that Florida’s Stand Your Ground laws, which dictate that a person who has a weapon does not have to retreat if being physically threatened. Alexander was wrong. A jury came back with a conviction in only 12 minutes.

At first glance, it’s may be difficult to not feel that a miscarriage of justice has taken place. Rico Gray admits to being an abuser. Alexander claims she tried to get away from him after the two argued but says that her escape through the garage was thwarted by a malfunctioning garage door that would not open. After she realized that she could not leave through the garage, she grabbed her gun, which was also in the garage, and headed back into the house where she alleges that Gray threatened to kill her. She fired a warning shot. Gray fled the house with his two children and called the police. For a situation in which no on was actually physically harmed, a 20 year jail sentence may seem a bit harsh.

But then some other facts come out.

Rico Gray has 5 or 6 ‘baby mamas’–and admits to physically abusing all them except one–besides one. Mr. Gray has one child, a daughter, with Alexander. Grey is only 36 years old.

Alexander was released on bail after the incident in 2010 involving Grey; she was placed under a no-contact order and was ordered to stay away from her husband while awaiting trial. In violation of this order, she went to Grays’ home and ended up in an altercation that left him with a black eye. Alexander was arrested and charged with battery, to which she pleaded no contest; she was then reprimanded to jail–with no hope of bail–while awaiting trial for the incident in August.

It goes without saying that the fact that Ms. Alexander showed up at the home of Mr. Gray in violation of a no-contact order while out on probation didn’t help her case. If she was so afraid of this man, why would she show up at his home. Alexander claims that she went there to get her husband to sign some important papers to prevent their daughter from being dropped from his insurance. Gray claims that Alexander was dropping their daughter off at his home, and when he refused Ms. Alexander’s sexual advances she flew into a rage and struck him.

Alexander’s family has vowed to continue fighting her conviction.

What say you…was this a miscarriage of justice, or did the system work just like it was supposed to by putting a guilty women behind bars?