A Florida man who posted a photograph of his wife’s body on Facebook was found guilty Wednesday of second-degree murder.
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The verdict represents not only justice for Medina’s wife, 26-year-old Jennifer Alfonso, and her family but also for a society where domestic violence, the not-so-silent-killer, has reached epidemic proportions.
Medina said in the police statement he posted the Facebook photo, taken with his cellphone, to show family what he did and explain why.
Medina was also convicted of illegally firing a weapon inside a dwelling and with child neglect because Alfonso’s 10-year-old daughter was in the home at the time of the slaying.
After killing her he posted the picture of her lifeless body on Facebook writing: “I’m going to prison or death sentence for killing my wife”.
The jury got the case of 33-year-old Derek Medina after more than two weeks of testimony, although he did not take the stand himself. Medina’s attorneys claimed Alfonso had pulled a kitchen knife on him, but a medical examiner testified that the angle of the eight gunshot wounds indicated that Alfonso must have been cowering below Medina at the time of the murder.
Medina faces 25 years to life in Florida state prison. If he had been convicted of first-degree murder as initially charged – which requires proof of planning and premeditation – the life sentence would have been automatic. But when she allegedly continued with the threats herself and attempted to “punch” him, he shot her.
“He planned to execute Jen, and he executed his plan”. The girl did not witness the shooting. His attorney, Saam Zangeneh, said there will be an appeal. Facebook was notified of the content and employees removed the picture and disabled Medina’s page and that of his deceased wife, according to Facebook.
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It ended in the kitchen, where Medina claims he was threatened with a knife, leading him to go back upstairs for his gun followed by the fatal shooting. He claimed Alonso “was an avid user of synthetic drugs such as Ecstasy, that she battered her husband and that she was deeply involved in the occult and Satan worship”. He said such evidence shows Alfonso was the aggressor that morning.
