A 31-year-old Mississippi woman will spend decades in prison for fatally shooting her boyfriend when he returned to their home with McDonald’s for her and her children after an argument in which she told he would be “dead” if he came back.
Circuit Court Judge Gray Tollison sentenced Alexandria M. Griste to 20 years in a state correctional facility on Tuesday for the murder of Corey Lyles two years ago, according to The Oxford Eagle.
Tollison imposed the sentence following a three-day trial in which jurors considered for about three hours before convicting Griste of one count of imperfect self-defense manslaughter.
Imperfect self-defense refers to cases in which the defendant’s conduct in murdering the victim are not justifiable but do not demonstrate the necessary malice for a murder conviction.
According to a news release from the Oxford, Mississippi, Police Department, police responded to a home in the 2900 block of South Lamar Boulevard about 12:15 a.m. on June 8, 2022, for a reported gunshot. When first responders arrived on the site, they reported finding an adult male — later identified as Lyles — with an apparent gunshot wound.
He was pronounced dead on the scene, and Griste, who called 911, was arrested and first charged with first-degree murder.
According to the Eagle, trial testimony revealed that on the evening of June 7, 2022, Griste became upset with Lyles because he left the house without informing her. Before they argued, the pair discussed Lyles picking up McDonald’s via text message. At one point, Griste texted Lyles that if he returned to the residence, he would be “dead.”
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Lyles and Griste had been in a difficult relationship for roughly a year, and witnesses saw them shouting the day before at a softball game, according to Jackson CBS and CW affiliate WJTV.
Griste reportedly told police that when Lyles returned home, she went to her room and got a 9 millimeter handgun. She claims Lyles then approached her aggressively, prompting her to fire three warning shots, when Lyles proceeded to approach the house, Griste stated that she fired a shot through the front door window, striking him in the chest.
Griste’s attorney argued throughout the trial that his client shot Lyles in self-defense and never intended to murder him.
“What kind of world is it if a woman can’t protect herself and her children?” Griste’s defense attorney, Steve Farese, said during his closing argument, according to the Eagle.
But prosecutors argued that there was no evidence introduced showing the Lyles ever presented a danger to Griste. In fact, District Attorney Ben Creekmore told jurors that Griste was the one who antagonized Lyles and intentionally “stirred things up” before the shooting.
“It went from a heart in a text message to a bullet in his heart,” he reportedly said.
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