Angela Corey Seeks ‘Balance’ In Facts About Marissa Alexander Case

Veteran prosecutor “confused” by the “misinformation” circulating on the Internet

Florida State Attorney Angela Corey is incensed by voluminous media reports about the case of Marissa Alexander, the mother who has drawn national attention for being denied a “Stand Your Ground” defense.

Corey personally returned a call to Loop 21 on Monday evening to clear up “misinformation,” which she claimed has been reported by several news outlets, including this one. The top prosecutor is disputing misleading details of the case she alleges Alexander’s family and attorney intentionally spread.

“I’m very disappointed that the defense attorney had anything to do with it,” Corey said. “The family should be ashamed of themselves. They do know that the shot did not go into the ceiling. And how dare they mislead people into thinking that.”

“Rarely are shooting cases like this cut and dry,” Corey said. “We punish people for their actions, not for the fact that (Alexander) happened to miss 3 human beings, and thank God she didn’t kill them.”

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Corey acknowledged a decision by her office not to address media until after Alexander’s retrial motion was heard, and that informative trial transcripts are not readily available to the public. Loop 21 reached out to Corey’s office last week, before last Thursday’s hearing.

Loop 21 had correctly reported that Alexander’s gunshot at her estranged husband, Rico Gray, was fired into a wall near him and then travelled into the ceiling. In numerous interviews with Loop 21, Alexander’s lawyer and family representatives either recounted this point or omitted specifics of shot trajectory.

Any omission was unintentional, said Alexander attorney Kevin Cobbin, who told Loop 21 on Monday night that Corey’s choice to speak out, mere days before his client was to be sentenced to a mandatory 20 years in prison, was curious.

“She’s made that (misinformation) claim to me several times,” Cobbin said by phone. “I know the legal system that I work in very well. And I think Angela Corey believes that people don’t know it, so she can say (what she wants.)”

“This is an elected official,” Cobbin added. “There is no fact that anybody has, that anybody is misleading…I really don’t understand what she’s talking about.”

Cobbin acknowledged that he did not volunteer information in any press interviews that he believed might have hurt Alexander’s chances at a new trial, which a judge denied her late last week.

In a first interview with Loop 21, Cobbin did not mention Alexander’s conviction of battery against Gray, whom Corey said she gave a black eye, months after the 2010 shooting incident.