Carl Omar Dixon was an abusive man towards his wife Jacqueline Dixon. Things got so bad that she requested an order of protection against him in 2016 after he punched her in the face. Finally, in late July 2018, he charged at her one last time and she shot him.
Even though she had every legal right in the "stand your ground" state of Alabama to defend herself against this man, she is facing murder charges. Sign my petition to ask the DA to drop charges against Jacqueline who was just protecting herself and her children from their abuser.
This might seem shocking, but the truth is,
this happens all the time. Women defend themselves against abusive partners and then are charged with murder, and this is especially true for women of color. In the moment, these women are faced with two choices: kill or be killed. They choose to defend their own life and then society punishes them for the rest of their life for it.
In many cases, like Jacqueline's, their aggressor had a history of domestic abuse. Jacqueline had followed the rules and filed an order of protection against him. Yet he showed up anyway and she defended herself.
Unfortunately women like Jacqueline, black women in abusive relationships, are almost never granted the "stand your ground" defense by police or prosecutors. According to a law professor, "Prosecutors have near total and
unreviewable discretion and Davis says that in this case, in which the defendant is a domestic violence survivor, Jackson has the 'discretion to pursue something less [than a murder charge] or even to forego charges altogether.'"
So now we need to convince this prosecutor to drop the charges so Jacqueline can get back to her two children, who do not deserve to lose both parents.