Florida’s Dictionary According to Legislators
Florida lawmakers seem to be reading a different dictionary from the rest of us if you examine the Jennifer Mee case.
Jennifer was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of a letter after being part of a fatal robbery.
At no point did he intend to kill the victim.
So we come to our first word, “Premeditated.”
What does that word mean?
“Planned in advance”, “a premeditated attack”.
In Jennifer’s case, the robbery was planned in advance but not the victim.
I understand that murder in the first and second degree is premeditated murder.
So how did Jennifer come to be charged with first degree murder?
The next word is “homicide.”
At school, the teacher told us that the difference between murder and manslaughter is that murder is when you kill someone intentionally, while homicide is when you accidentally kill someone.
So if a drunk driver kills someone, is it homicide or manslaughter?
What is the difference between someone who deliberately drives a car into a crowd and someone dies, and someone else who makes a mistake in judgment, such as texting someone while driving, and has an accident as a result?
“intention.”
It is their intention that determines whether they have committed manslaughter or manslaughter.
The dictionary describes intention like this: “If you intend to do something, you are determined to do it.”
There is no doubt that Jennifer never intended to kill the victim.
So how can you be guilty of murder?
I don’t know which is worse, being convicted of first degree murder or being sentenced without the possibility of parole.
This was a high profile case due to Jennifer’s notoriety as the “Hiccup Girl”. It polarized more than a community, it made television news beyond Florida, so I wonder if Jennifer would have received the same sentence if this had been a common murder case in America.
Judges are supposed to rise above emotions during court cases, but I can’t honestly say whether or not in this case the judge stood up on the emotion of the case or what prompted him to pass such a sentence, but I’m interested in hear the justification for it.
The bottom line is that Jennifer shouldn’t have been charged with first-degree murder in the first place, but then sentencing her to life in prison without parole is a sentence that rational-thinking people would consider inhumane.