Trial of Susan Lorincz: Closing argument in trial of white woman who shot black neighbor

CNN
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The jury will hear closing arguments on Friday in the trial of a white woman accused of He shot and killed an unarmed black mother during an ongoing dispute over children playing near her home.

The panel will also receive instructions from the judge before deliberating whether Susan Lorincz was within her rights under the state's controversial self-defense laws when she shot through the front door of her central Florida apartment last June, killing 35-year-old Ajike “AJ” Owens, who had knocked on Lorincz's door.

Lorincz, 60, is charged with manslaughter with a firearm and has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, she faces up to 30 years in prison, according to District Attorney Bill Gladson's office.

Lorincz told the court Thursday that she decided not to testify after consulting with her lawyers. The defense concluded her testimony after calling ballistics and police training experts who testified about where Lorincz was standing when she opened fire and her mental state at the time of the shooting.

On Wednesday, jurors heard testimony from Ryan Stith, the lead investigator for the Marion County Sheriff's Office. Prosecutors asked Stith to read a letter Lorincz allegedly wrote to Owens' four children after telling her she would be charged in Owens' death.

“I am so, so sorry for your loss,” Stith read to the court. “I never wanted to kill your mother. I was terrified that your mother would kill me. I shot out of fear.”

Outside the courthouse, Owens' mother, Pamala Dias, told reporters that she had a hard time keeping her composure throughout the trial.

“'Difficult' is putting it mildly,” Dias said. “The amount of emotion, the disgust, the anguish, the pain – sitting there literally feet away from the woman who took my daughter's life… I have to dig deep into my strength and faith to get through all of this.”

In the video of her initial questioning shown to jurors Wednesday, Lorincz tells investigators she had previously argued with Owens because her children were playing loudly and leaving toys outside their house. But she tells police the situation escalated on June 2, 2023, after she confronted the children about the noise and threw away her roller skates.

Lorincz tells investigators she called police that night to report that neighborhood children were threatening to kill her. She says the operator told her to lock her door and officers were on their way.

But before police could arrive, Lorincz told investigators, Owens began “banging on my door” and saying, “I'm going to kill you.”

“She's banging so hard it looked like my door was going to fly off,” Lorincz said in the video. “And I just panicked and I was like, 'Oh my God, she's really going to kill me this time.' You know? And so I don't even remember picking up the gun, I just remember shooting.”

Lorincz's attorney argued that she feared Owens might harm her and believed she had “no choice” but to shoot.