https://mycbs4.com/news/local/gainesvil ... rder-trial" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/16/us/p ... ights.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://www.alligator.org/article/2021/ ... not-guilty" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;Prison recidivism is also a factor. Last March, two months after Florida began receiving registration forms from former felons, a man banged on the window of the restaurant where Mr. Irving was working and began to threaten him, according to court documents. The two men fought each other and Mr. Irving stabbed him with a knife.
Mr. Irving said he was defending himself. The state attorney’s office, referring to his past felony charges, determined the attack was attempted murder, a charge that could carry a sentence of life in prison.
Irving was arrested on March 27, 2019. During the argument, Irving said his co-worker Olivia Zavalza, who was 18 at the time, called him racial slurs after he told her she was doing her job incorrectly. Zavalza called her boyfriend, Anthony James Jr., who arrived, and a fight ensued between James Jr. and Irving. Irving said James Jr. took his phone before the fight resumed and Irving used a knife to defend himself.
“They painted a really one-sided picture,” he said. “That I was an angry, aggressive Black guy, and that most certainly wasn't the case.”
James Jr. had four stab wounds when police found him, and Irving had a 4 inch blade in his possession, according to the report.
During the trial, Irving’s attorneys argued James Jr. got on top of Irving during the fight outside Krispy Kreme and Irving used a knife to defend himself. The defense applied this to the state’s Stand Your Ground law, which means that a person who is attacked in a place where they have a right to be, such as their work, has the right to stand their ground and “meet force with force.”
However, State prosecution told the court a different story. Prosecutors argued Irving was the aggressor, and he had premeditated, or “conscious” intent, to attempt to kill James Jr.
To declare a guilty verdict, the jury had to decide beyond reasonable doubt whether Irving intended to cause the death of James Jr., according to court records.
Court records show the court instructed the jurors to find Irving not guilty of attempted first-degree murder if it had any reasonable doubt Irving planned to kill James Jr. in the heat of the moment due to “adequate” provocation.
In October 2019, Irving said he met with a lawyer who advised him to take a 10-year prison plea. Irving told him “hell no,” because he said if he took that deal, he would always wonder what might have happened if he tried for his innocence.