20. Unfair Sentences: Marissa Alexander & Rachel Hoffman - a podcast by Pink Collar Pod

This week, we talk about two women who experienced unfair sentences. Nathalie tells us the story of Marissa Alexander, a woman who was arrested after firing a warning shot when she was being threatened by her abusive husband. Even though the Florida Stand-Your-Ground law allows self-defense, apparently warning shots are not included in this definition...or may just aren't included if you are a black woman. Rachel talks about the case of Rachel Hoffman, a young woman who acted as a confidential informant for the police after being arrested for possession of marijuana (yes, I know CI's are not *technically* sentenced but it falls in the same vein/it's our podcast so we make the rules here). She was sent to buy ecstasy pills, cocaine, and an unregistered firearm from two men who were convicted felons with a violent past. Rachel was killed with the gun that she was sent to buy, leaving her friends and family devastated. Her parents joined together to fight for Rachel's Law that would give additional protections to confidential informants.

Nathalie's Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marissa_Alexander_case

https://www.nlg.org/guild-notes/article/marissa-alexander-a-miscarriage-of-justice/

https://www.freemarissanow.org/about-marissa-alexander.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fla-woman-marissa-alexander-gets-20-years-for-warning-shot-did-she-stand-her-ground/

https://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/Five-times-Florida-s-stand-your-ground-law-sparked-controversy_170229587/

https://ideas.time.com/2012/04/30/where-was-stand-your-ground-for-marissa-alexander/

http://billofrightsinstitute.org/educate/educator-resources/lessons-plans/current-events/stand-your-ground/#:~:text=Florida's%20%E2%80%9CStand-Your-Ground%E2%80%9D%20law%20states%2C%20%E2%80%9C,he%20or%20she%20reasonably%20believes

https://www.thedailybeast.com/angela-coreys-overzealous-prosecution-of-marissa-alexander

Rachel's Sources

The Throwaways, by Sarah Stillman

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/09/03/the-throwaways

Irv Hoffman, MA LMHC

https://braininst.com/irv-hoffman/

How One Mother Turned Tragedy Into Triumph: The Rachel Morningstar Hoffman Story, by Rex Thomson

https://liveforlivemusic.com/features/how-one-mother-turned-tragedy-into-triumph-the-rachel-morningstar-hoffman-story/

Leon County Drug Court

http://2ndcircuit.leoncountyfl.gov/resources/CCMU/Leon_County_Drug_Court_Program_Consumer_Expectations.pdf

A decade later, Rachel Hoffman’s tragic death helps to make police informants safer, by Jennifer Portman and Karl Etters

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2018/05/06/10-years-later-rachel-hoffmans-death-makes-police-informants-safer/580595002/

Proposal adds teeth to Rachel’s Law, by Sean Rossman

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2015/03/24/proposal-adds-teeth-rachels-law/70402966/

Police are responsible for the murder of my best friend, by Lindsey Kline

https://therooster.com/blog/rachel-hoffman-police-informant-responsible-murder-my-best-friend

From 2008: The left turn Rachel didn’t make, by Jennifer Portman

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2017/06/21/2008-left-turn-rachel-hoffman-didnt-make/417894001/

Botched Sting: Killed With Gun She Was Supposed to Buy, by Brianna Ross and Vic Walter

https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=5450550

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