and so i felt it very important that the governor look at mr. giles case and commute his sentence. but, again, although he encouraged florida to pray for the family of trayvon martin, i have yet to hear him speak to the flight of mr. giles. now phyllis, you started a change.org petition to commute michael s sentence. more than 100,000 people have signed. what does that mean to you as a mother? it means we have a lot of support, and the people do care and everyone wants to see justice in florida. that s what it means to me. senator, michael was sentenced to 25 years because of mandatory minimums known as the 10-20 life law in florida that means if you re in possession of a gun during a felony, you re sentenced to a minimum of 10 years. if you fire a gun during a felony, minimum of 20 years. and if you injure or kill someone with a gun, you re
he knows that i m doing this. so he is very hopeful that when the petition rolls up 200,000, he is very home. phyllis giles and state senator dwight bullard, thank you. thank you. so much for your time. and i promise we ll be following michael s story closely. thank you, reverend sharpton. thank you, sir. still ahead, is chris christie trying to avoid questions about the bridge scandal? we ll tell you what happened at a town hall held in very friendly territory. plus, the gop s ted nugent problem. why are some republicans trying to downplay his vile comments about president obama? but first, a new attack ad against obamacare is making headlines for all the wrong reasons. it s tonight s got you. [bell rings]
sentenced to 25 years. what is wrong with that law, senator? oh, naturally, what s wrong with it has been wrongfully applied in two high profile cases. in the case of ms. alexander, and of course in the case of michael giles. you see a situation in which you have a victim of domestic violence. and in the case of mr. giles, the victim of assault. so somehow you create the commission of a crime when there was no crime committed. and in both instances, you wrongfully convict both a woman who is being abused and, again, i can t reiterate enough, a war veteran who was being assaulted outside of a club here in tallahassee. and that for me is problematic in terms of its application. and it seems to be a constant occurrence, especially among people of color. phyllis, how long has michael been in jail now? just at four years, sir. how is he doing? is he still hopeful? he is hopeful, weapon this.
standing when he was fired. but a defense expert testified, quote, the initial trajectory of the bullet was just above the surface of the asphalt, suggesting he was knocked to the ground. michael giles was convicted of aggravated battery and sentenced to 25 years in jail. but his family says he was standing his ground, and they re fighting for his freedom. joining me now is phyllis giles, michael giles mother and florida state senator dwight bullet, who was been pushing for michael giles sentence to be commuted. thank you for being here. thank you, reverend al sharpton. phyllis, you believe this was a clear case of self-defense. now somebody question why mike. retrieved his gun. what would you like to say to those that would question that? when michael went to retrieve his gun, it wasn t planned.
but the headline, he is confident this battle is far from over. did michael dunn get away with murder? not yet. not yet. we heard from juror four yesterday who thinks dunn did get away with murder in the killing of 17-year-old jordan davis. but was there something the state could have done better? do you have run across your mind you wish you had done anything differently? always. there is always things you can do differently, different evidence, different argument, better performance. there is never a perfect trial. slow it be better the next time. so he is talking about different evidence and different arguments. what s the new strategy? and how could it affect the new trial? joining me now, former prosecutor faith jenkins, florida defense lawyer ken padowitz, and lisa bloom, legal analyst for avo.com. and she is also author of suspicion nation: the inside story of the trayvon martin injustice and why we continue to repeat it. thanks for being here. thank yo