OCALA, Fla. (AP) —A Florida girl who fatally shot her neighbor by means of the entrance door throughout an ongoing dispute over the neighbor’s boisterous kids faces sentencing Monday 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. Lorincz faces a most sentence of 30 years in state jail as a result of a firearm was used.
The taking pictures was the fruits of a long-running argument between the 2 neighbors over Owens’ kids taking part in in a grassy space at each of their homes in Ocala, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of Orlando.
Prosecutors mentioned Owens had come to Lorincz’s dwelling after her kids complained that she had thrown curler skates and an umbrella at them, which Lorincz denied. Trial testimony confirmed Owens, a mom of 4 younger kids, was pounding on Lorincz’s door and yelling, main Lorincz to assert self-defense in taking pictures her neighbor.
Lorincz informed detectives in a videotaped interview that she feared for her life. She additionally mentioned 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 mentioned.
Nonetheless, 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.
“Whereas the ache of shedding Ajike, we’re hopeful that justice will prevail and that the courtroom will give Susan Lorincz the utmost penalty for her actions,” mentioned Owens’ mom, Pamela Dias, in an e mail assertion earlier than Monday’s sentencing. “Ajike’s legacy will reside on by means of her kids, and we’ll proceed to combat for justice.”
Lorincz’s lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Amanda Sizemore, sought a extra lenient sentence, an unspecified time period beneath the 11.5 years in jail that’s the lowest for her crime beneath state tips. Sizemore mentioned in courtroom 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 beneath “excessive duress” through the confrontation.
There have been protests within the Black neighborhood in Ocala when prosecutors took weeks to charge 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.
