Susan Lorincz 60, Guilty of Killing Woman At Her Front Door in Florida

 By Annie Correal

New York Times

A white woman in Florida who shot a Black neighbor who confronted her at the door of her home last year in a case that prompted national outrage was found guilty of manslaughter on Friday by a jury in Marion County, Fla.

Susan Lorincz, now 60, shot Ajike (A.J.) Owens last June as the 35-year-old mother of four stood outside a door to Ms. Lorincz’s home in Ocala, a city about 80 miles northwest of Orlando.

The two neighbors had been involved in an ongoing dispute over neighborhood children — including Ms. Owens’s — playing near Ms. Lorincz’s home, the authorities said.

After Ms. Lorincz argued with the children and threw things at them, Ms. Owens went to Ms. Lorincz’s door to confront her, the police said. Ms. Lorincz fired a handgun through the door, striking Ms. Owens in the chest. She was not armed. 

Ms. Lorincz, whose lawyers argued that she had acted in self-defense, faces up to 30 years in prison. A sentencing date has not been set.

The panel of six jurors, who The Associated Press reported were all white, delivered its verdict after deliberating for just over two hours after closing arguments on Friday. The trial began on Tuesday.

“We’ve achieved some justice for Ajike,” Pamela Dias, Ajike Owens’s mother, told reporters outside of the courtroom after the verdict, according to The Associated Press. “My heart is a little lighter.”

Bill Gladson, the state attorney for the Fifth Judicial Circuit of Florida, said in a statement that “while today’s verdict can’t bring A.J. back, we hope it brings some measure of justice and peace to her family and friends.”

Lawyers for Ms. Lorincz declined to comment.

The case has garnered national attention for the delay in the arrest of Ms. Lorincz, because of Florida’s “stand your ground” law and the fact that prosecutors ultimately decided to charge her with manslaughter, not second-degree murder. 

Ms. Owens’s family, activists and lawyers, including Ben Crump, a civil rights lawyer who has played a prominent role in the Black Lives Matter movement, had called for the higher charge.

Mr. Crump and other lawyers working with the family had said Ms. Lorincz yelled racial slurs at Ms. Owens’s children. One of Ms. Owens’s sons was standing next to her when she was shot.

The case also reignited debate around “stand your ground” laws, which exist in about 30 states and offer legal protections for people who said they feared for their safety when they used deadly force.

“Not only was Susan Lorincz on trial today but so was Stand Your Ground,” Anthony Thomas, a lawyer for the Owens family, said in a news conference after the verdict.

 

On the day of the shooting, June 2, 2023, Ms. Lorincz shouted at the children and threw an umbrella and roller skates at them, according to the authorities. When Ms. Owens heard what had happened, she went to Ms. Lorincz’s apartment complex, the authorities said. 

During the trial, the defense said that Ms. Owens grew enraged after hearing that Ms. Lorincz had shouted and thrown things at the children and that she had threatened to kill Ms. Lorincz when she appeared at her door, causing her to panic.

In recordings shared during the trial, Ms. Lorincz told detectives that as Ms. Owens pounded on her door, Ms. Lorincz had feared for her life. One of her lawyers, Morris Carranza, said in opening arguments, “A.J. was pounding, and she was cursing.”

A neighbor testified to hearing loud pounding and shouting, though she could not make ou