Marissa Alexander, a Florida woman who had been sentenced to 20 years for firing a gun to scare off her allegedly abusive husband, has been released from prison as she awaits her new trial,attorney Bruce Zimet said, CNN reported. Alexander was released on Wednesday night.
"We hope the decision means that the Florida justice system has relented in its vindictive, hostile and racist legal assault on this African-American mother of three," the statement by the Free Marissa Now Mobilization Campaign said.
Alexander was granted pretrial release with special conditions and a $150,000 bond, CNN reported. She will be under electronic monitoring at all times and on home detention until the completion of her case, as stated in legal documents.
In the 2010 incident, Alexander fired a bullet at a wall to scare off her husband who she felt had been threatening her. Nobody was hurt in the incident. This was Alexander's first brush with the law.
Faith Gay, one the attorneys representing Alexander said she felt grateful for the "thorough considerations" by the appeals court decision.
"We are looking forward to taking the case back to trial," she added.
The case prompted immediate criticism from the local NAACP chapter who said that blacks are more often arrested because of overzealous, subject to unfair sentencings by prejudiced judges.
