This archive report was first published on 4 July 2019.
On July 4, 2019, a significant decision was made in the case of Marshae Jones, an Alabama woman who was shot while pregnant. The district attorney, D.A. Washington, chose not to prosecute Ms. Jones, citing her right to self-defense.
Ms. Jones was quoted as saying, “There was a barrage of insults — desecration of my integrity, my character, my name. I am a black woman in black skin. So, don’t tell me how I don’t appreciate the sensitivity of a woman and the rights of women.”
Lawyers from the firm White Arnold & Dowd, who represented Ms. Jones, released a statement expressing their gratitude for the district attorney's decision. They stated, “We are gratified the district attorney evaluated the matter and chose not to proceed with a case that was neither reasonable nor just.”
While many in Alabama and Pleasant Grove, a city of 10,000 people where the shooting occurred, defended the grand jury's decision, reproductive rights advocates in Birmingham welcomed the prosecutor's decision.
Shante Wolf-Sisson, a founder of the health and wellness organization BLK Pearl, expressed her hope for women's rights in Alabama, saying, “We could use a lot of hope right now.”
Both prosecutors and the police have sought to distance themselves from the charges in the wake of the national outcry. Police officers in Pleasant Grove arrested Ms. Jones's co-worker, Ebony Jemison, after the Dec. 4 shooting, but made statements to reporters that Ms. Jones was to blame for the fight.
