A white Florida girl who fatally shot a Black neighbor by her entrance door throughout an ongoing dispute over the neighbor’s boisterous youngsters was sentenced Monday to 25 years in jail for her manslaughter conviction.
Susan Lorincz, 60, was convicted in August of killing 35-year-old Ajike “A.J.” Owens by firing a single shot from her .380-caliber handgun in June 2023.
The capturing was the fruits of a long-running argument between the 2 neighbors over Owens’ youngsters taking part in in a grassy space close to each of their homes in Ocala, about 80 miles northwest of Orlando.
Prosecutors stated Owens had come to Lorincz’s residence after her youngsters complained that she had thrown curler skates and an umbrella at them, which Lorincz denied. Trial testimony confirmed Owens, a mom of 4 younger youngsters, was pounding on Lorincz’s door and yelling, main Lorincz to assert self-defense in capturing her neighbor.
Lorincz instructed detectives in a videotaped interview that she feared for her life. She additionally stated she had been harassed for a lot of the three years she lived within the neighborhood.
“I assumed I used to be in imminent hazard,” she stated.
Jurors didn’t agree along with her self-defense declare.
Owens’ household pushed for the utmost jail sentence after Lorincz was convicted by an all-white jury.
“While the ache of dropping Ajike, we’re hopeful that justice will prevail and that the court docket will give Susan Lorincz the utmost penalty for her actions,” stated Owens’ mom, Pamela Dias, in an e mail assertion earlier than Monday’s sentencing. “Ajike’s legacy will stay on by her youngsters, and we are going to proceed to struggle for justice.”
Lorincz’s lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Amanda Sizemore, sought a extra lenient sentence, an unspecified time period under the 11.5 years in jail that’s the lowest for her crime underneath state tips. Sizemore stated in court docket paperwork that there are a number of causes to justify a downward departure, together with a psychological dysfunction and claims that Owens was the aggressor and underneath “excessive duress” throughout the confrontation.
There had been protests within the Black group in Ocala when prosecutors took weeks to cost Lorincz with manslaughter, a lesser depend than second-degree homicide, which carries a possible life jail sentence. Marion County, which incorporates Ocala, has a Black inhabitants of about 12%, in line with census figures.
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