Marissa Alexander speaks out about case that put her in national spotlight

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Marissa Alexander at one time faced 60 years behind bars for firing a warning shot at her ex-husband.

Alexander talked to Action News Jax anchor Dawn Lopez about the night that changed her life and her new fight to change the law.

Alexander is on house arrest, but she’s busy working, to move on with her life. She fought a three-year court battle from behind bars.

"It's to be better, not bitter,” Alexander said. “I'm grateful. A lot of positive things have come from this from a law perspective and (I’m) raising awareness that I wasn't intending to do."

Alexander’s home in North Jacksonville is her base of operations while she serves out eight more months of house arrest. She and a friend also run a school lunch program business.

"People have been very encouraging (at) times I've been able to get out,” Alexander said. “They recognize me, and tell me they're praying for me. (They’re) really warm."

Alexander is frank about her trial on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. She testified that she fired a warning shot to get away from an abusive spouse.

“Those incidents, when it happened, were traumatic,” she said.

Alexander said there's nothing that she would've done differently that day.

"I wasn't able to leave, to get out. I locked myself in the bathroom,” she said in response to those who say she had the option to leave.

Alexander believes that the courts ignored the fact that she had delivered a premature baby girl just days earlier and she was in no condition to fight.

"I was exhausted. I was going to the hospital two times a day. Sometimes I'd stay in my truck and go back and feed her," she said.

Attorneys, civic and religious leaders and some lawmakers rallied behind her during her court battle -- even her ex-husband’s former girlfriends, who thought she had a right to fight back.

Alexander was granted a new trial, but in the end, she chose to end her fight with a plea deal.

“When I left they were 10, when I came back they were teenagers," Alexander said of her children.

The family is learning how to be together again. Alexander is also getting to know the baby girl she had to leave behind in the hospital

"I journaled so many times, hoping she would know me,” Alexander said. “Now she knows I'm Mom. She's excited to see me. I'm the most grateful about that."

Since Alexander’s case, changes have been made to the 10-20-life law. The Florida Supreme Court decided last year that it was unconstitutional for courts to stack time for the same felony charge.

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