OCALA, Fla. — Susan Lorincz wasn’t three steps outside the courtroom when the silence finally broke.
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“Oh my God, thank you, Jesus,” a woman’s voice said amid the quiet sobbing from the rows behind prosecutors.
Once they exited the courtroom, Ajike Owens’s friends and family were less reserved. They practically stumbled into each other’s arms, laughing and hugging tightly. They took the elevator upstairs together to debrief with prosecutors.
Then, they came downstairs and outside the Ocala courthouse to face a wall of cameras.
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“I find some peace with that verdict,” Pamela Dias said, thanking the jurors. “Although my daughter is gone forever… we’ve achieved some justice for Ajike.”
The family’s attorney, Anthony Thomas, said a civil lawsuit against Lorincz would be forthcoming now that the criminal trial was over.
He said the world was on notice that “Stand Your Ground” was not a license to take another person’s life without consequences.
“No, you cannot claim to be in fear of your life,” Thomas said, adding a sarcastic emphasis to the word “claim.”
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The four women and two men sitting on the jury left observers hanging until the very end. During closing arguments Friday, few gave off any signs of agreement with either side, though one of the jurors shook her head as prosecutor Rich Buxman insisted Lorincz had no right to pull the trigger.
“As a society, we do not condone shooting somebody because of an act that may happen in the future,” Buxman said.
During their two-and-a-half hours of deliberations, the panel only asked two questions. The first was to re-hear both of Lorincz’s 911 calls. The second requested additional information about pre-existing damage to Lorincz’s front door that had been repaired.
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Defense attorney Amanda Sizemore brought up the damaged door during her closing argument in her efforts to convince jury members that Lorincz’s claim she was afraid for her life should be taken at its word.
Any play for doubt, though, was not enough.
Lorincz faces 30 years in prison at her sentencing hearing. It’s expected to happen this fall, but a date has not been set.
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