Jacksonville, FL – Activists, some coming from as far away as California, converged on the Duval County Courthouse bright and early on Jan. 27. Hopes were high, as Marissa Alexander was due for another day in court and faced the possibility of being released from jail.

Jacksonville, FL – Marissa Alexander took a plea deal offered by the State Attorney to avoid an upcoming trial on Dec. 8 where she would have faced up to 60 years in prison. Alexander was charged in 2012 with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after firing a warning shot to defend herself from her estranged abusive husband.

Jacksonville, FL – On June 10, Circuit Judge James Daniel pushed back Marissa Alexander's retrial date from July 21 to Dec. 1. Alexander is a 33-year-old African-American mother facing 60 years in prison for firing a warning shot to fend off her abusive husband. Originally convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and sentenced to 20 years in prison, Alexander received a new trial in 2013 when a District Court of Appeals judge overturned the decision.

Jacksonville, FL – 150 people attended the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's (SCLC) annual “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Awards Dinner” on April 26. Hosted at the Sheraton in Deerwood, the dinner drew clergy, politicians and activists from across the Jacksonville community.

Racist persecution of African American mother in warning shot case continues

Jacksonville, FL – Florida State Attorney Angela Corey announced on March 1, 2014, that her office is seeking a maximum 60-year sentence in the retrial of Marissa Alexander, beginning in late July.

Demand 'Free Marissa now!' and 'Justice for Jordan Davis'

Jacksonville, FL – 40 progressive activists marched together in the city's annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. parade on Jan. 20. These activists commemorated King's legacy by demanding freedom for Marissa Alexander, the 33-year-old African American mother whose conviction for resisting domestic abuse was recently overturned, and justice for Jordan Davis, a 17-year-old African American youth murdered in 2012 by a white vigilante in Jacksonville.

Jacksonville, FL – Protesters from across Florida gathered in front of the Duval County Courthouse on October 31 for the first status hearing in the retrial of Marissa Alexander, the 33 year old African American mother who fired a warning shot to fend off her abusive husband.

Jacksonville, FL – On Sept. 26, a Florida appeals court ordered a new trial for Marissa Alexander, the African American mother given a 20-year prison sentence for firing a warning shot to fend off her abusive husband. The announcement comes after more than a year of protests across the country that raised the demand, “Free Marissa now!”

Jacksonville, FL – With their fists and their voices raised, more than 450 people took to the streets of downtown Jacksonville on July 20 to protest the acquittal of George Zimmerman and demand justice for Trayvon Martin.

African American woman gets 20 years for firing warning shot to ward off abuser

Jacksonville, FL – On May 11, students from the civil rights group Dream Defenders protested at the sentencing hearing of Marissa Alexander, a young black woman who was convicted of aggravated assault stemming from an episode in 2010 where she fired a warning shot at her abusive ex-husband Rico Gray, who had previously beaten her.