Woman jailed for firing warning shot is freed on bond in Florida

A Florida woman awarded a new trial after receiving a 20-year prison term for firing a warning shot has been released on bail, court officials said. Marissa Alexander had been held without bail while awaiting a new trial for firing a warning shot during a dispute with her husband, Rico Gray. She was free on bail in another case at the time, and had been sentenced in 2012 to 20 years for firing the shot. A Duval County Circuit Court judge ordered late Wednesday that Alexander should be released on bail because she has completed her sentence in the previous case "and that case is now resolved," court documents indicate. Bond was set at $200,009 and Alexander's release came with certain conditions, including that she remain confined to her home, wear an electronic monitoring device and avoid contact with Gray, WTLV-TV, Jacksonville, reported. During her initial trial in the warning shot case, Alexander turned down prosecutors' offer to serve three years in exchange for a guilty plea. Her conviction and sentencing became controversial because she had invoked Florida's Stand Your Ground law, while George Zimmerman, who killed an unarmed black teenager, was acquitted. Alexander, who is black, received the long prison term for aggravated assault even though she did not fire at her husband and testified he had physically assaulted her and was threatening to kill her.