UPDATE
Nov 25, 2024 5:08 PM CST
A white Florida woman who fatally shot a Black neighbor through her front door during an ongoing dispute over the neighbor's boisterous children was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison for manslaughter. Susan Lorincz, 60, was convicted in August of killing 35-year-old Ajike "AJ" Owens, a mother of four young children, by firing a single shot from her .380-caliber handgun in June 2023. Owens' family pushed for the maximum prison sentence. Lorincz's attorney, Assistant Public Defender Amanda Sizemore, sought a more lenient sentence, an unspecified term below the 11.5 years in prison that is the shortest for her crime under state guidelines, the AP reports. She cited a mental disorder and claims that Owens was the aggressor and under "extreme duress" during the confrontation.
Aug 16, 2024 3:00 PM CDT
A white Florida woman was convicted Friday of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a Black neighbor amid an ongoing dispute about children playing loudly outside her home. An all-white jury in Ocala found 60-year-old Susan Lorincz guilty after 2½ hours of deliberation, the AP reports. Lorincz faces up to 30 years in prison at sentencing. Lorincz had claimed self-defense when she fired a single shot with a .380-caliber handgun through her front door on June 2, 2023, killing 35-year-old Ajike "AJ" Owens. She told detectives in a videotaped interview that she feared for her life as Owens yelled and pounded on her door.
"I thought I was in imminent danger," she said in the interview. The confrontation was the latest in a dispute between Lorincz and Owens over the latter's children playing in a grassy area near both of their houses. Lorincz said in the interview she had been harassed for most of the three years she lived in the neighborhood. The victim's family members broke down in tears after Lorincz left the courtroom with deputies. Lorincz showed no reaction or emotion when the verdict was announced. Circuit Judge Robert W. Hodges did not immediately set a sentencing date but ordered a background report on Lorincz.
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During closing arguments, prosecutor Rich Buxman had said there was no evidence that Owens posed an imminent physical threat to Lorincz but came to the defendant's house after her children complained Lorincz had thrown roller skates and an umbrella at them amid a long-running annoyance at their boisterous play. "It's not a crime to bang on somebody's door. It's not a crime to yell," Buxman told jurors. A lawyer for Lorincz countered that she was frightened by Owens' aggressive actions and was legally justified in firing her gun under Florida's "stand your ground" law. An autopsy found Owens weighed about 290 pounds; she was much larger as well as younger than Lorincz. "She can defend herself," said Amanda Sizemore, an assistant public defender.
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