A white Florida girl who fatally shot a Black neighbor by means of her entrance door throughout an ongoing dispute over the neighbor’s boisterous kids was sentenced Monday to 25 years in jail for her manslaughter conviction.
Susan Lorincz, 60, was convicted in August of killing Ajike “A.J.” Owens, 35, by firing a single shot from her .380-caliber handgun in June 2023. She had confronted a most of 30 years behind bars. Circuit Decide Robert Hodges opted for a barely lesser time period amid proof that Lorincz had been abused as a toddler and had psychological well being issues.
“The shooting was completely unnecessary in this case,” Hodges mentioned throughout a day listening to. “The shooting, I find, was based more in anger than in fear.”
The capturing was the end result of a long-running argument between the 2 neighbors over Owens’ kids enjoying in a grassy space close to each of their homes in Ocala, about 80 miles northwest of Orlando.
Prosecutors mentioned Owens had come to Lorincz’s residence 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 say self-defense in capturing 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. Jurors who heard the trial proof didn’t agree the capturing was in self-defense.
In a press release to the choose, Lorincz apologized to Owens’ household however mentioned she was “literally terrified” of Owens the night time of the capturing.
“I so wish I could go back and change things so she was still here,” Lorincz mentioned. “I never intended to kill anyone.”
Owens’ household pushed for the utmost jail sentence after Lorincz was convicted by an all-white jury. Owens’ mom, Pamela Dias, mentioned in court docket Monday that she now could be the only caregiver of her daughter’s 4 kids, who’re deeply traumatized by the killing.
“We’re hurting with a pain that will never, never go away,” Dias mentioned. “There’s a hole in our heart that will never mend. Susan destroyed our family.”
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 underneath state tips. Sizemore mentioned 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 “extreme duress” through the confrontation.
The choose mentioned such a departure was not warranted, particularly contemplating the impression of their mom’s violent loss of life on her kids.
“They’ll live their whole lives without their mother, which I think is a very significant harm inflicted by Ms. Lorincz,” Hodges mentioned.
There have 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 response to census figures.