commentary by Patrick H. Moore
In a peculiar twist in a peculiar life, Jenifer Mee, 22, she of the famous uncontrollable hiccups, is going to trial for first-degree murder in front of Judge Nancy Moate Ley in Pinellas County, Florida. Yes, Florida strikes again. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
Mee rose to national prominence and appeared on several national television programs as a teen in 2007 because of her out-of-control hiccuping. Her malady was so bad that her frame would be wracked by up to 50 spasms a minute. Tamara Lush writes for the Huffington Post:
Videos of her hiccuping gained her national attention, as did her attempts to quell the problem. She tried home remedies and consulted medical specialists, a hypnotist and an acupuncturist, until the hiccups finally stopped on their own. She appeared on several TV shows and while on the “Today” show, was hugged by fellow guest and country music star Keith Urban.
Now, alas, Mee faces a new problem, one she certainly won’t be able to solve on her own. She is charged with first-degree murder in the 2010 death of Shannon Griffin, a 22-year-old Walmart worker. The prosecutors intend to prove that Mee lured Griffin to a St. Petersburg home under the pretense of buying marijuana – but instead of being furnished with the green weed, Griffin was robbed at gunpoint by two of Mee’s friends. A struggle ensued and Griffin was shot several times by Mee’s co-defendants.
If the detectives are correct, this appears to be yet another social media murder. Law enforcement is alleging that Mee accepted a friend request from Griffin on a social networking website five or six days before the robbery. It is still unclear whether the victim had recognized Mee as the “hiccup girl.”
One of Mee’s co-defendants, LaRon Raiford, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in August. Her other co-defendant, Lamont Newton, who just happened to be Mee’s boyfriend at the time of the shooting, has not yet gone to trial.
The critical issue is whether Mee is a bystander or the person who planned the robbery; the prosecutors, of course, are claiming she played an active role in planning the crime. Like in several other states, under Florida law, a person can be convicted of murder if he or she committed a serious felony – such as robbery – and someone was killed as a result.
When I first heard about this case, I jokingly remarked that Mee needs to invoke the as yet untested “hiccup defense.” Although Mee’s attorney, John Trevena, apparently doesn’t plan on introducing the syndrome as a complete or partial defense, he did state that his client suffered from Tourette’s Syndrome, a neurological disorder that can cause involuntary movements and speech problems. He said that the hiccups were one symptom of Tourette’s and it will certainly be brought up during the trial.
“It won’t be used as a direct cause for what occurred but it might help explain her errors in judgment and her often thoughtless response to law enforcement,” said Trevena, who said that Mee did not participate in the robbery.
Trevena also stated that his client has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, a fact the jury will certainly be made aware of.
Mee has been custody pending trial since her October 2010 arrest, spending much of that time in isolation because detention deputies say she is a high profile inmate. She has experienced periodic bouts of hiccups while in jail, said Trevena, and is being treated with a drug called thorazine.
“It controls the hiccups,” said Trevena.
Mee wore a teal dress and her long, dark hair loose during the first day of the trial. She looked sadly at the potential jurors when the charge against her was read by the judge.
Jury selection is underway. The judge told potential jurors that the trial would probably wrap up by the end of the week.
If convicted, Mee will face life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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This is certainly a very sad case. Anyone who has ever had a bad case of the hiccups for even five minutes knows how painful they can be. And to be born with Tourette’s Syndriome and to suffer from schizophrenia on top of that. Ouch! And then to top it off by having an apparent drug rip-off deteriorate into what is being construed by the prosecutors as a first-degree murder. Poor Jennifer Mee. And poor Shannon Griffin. Imagine going to buy a little weed and having some bastard stick a gun in your ribs. You stick up for your rights and the next thing you know your life is over. All because you had the misfortune of meeting an unstable individual through social media. In my line of work, I am often struck by what bad luck my clients and their families seem to encounter on a regular basis. In this case, bad luck was working overtime — for everyone involved. As a result, Shannon Griffin is dead and the state is liable to be paying to house three convicted murderers for a grand total of 150 years or so. If I’m not mistaken, that comes to $4.5 million. Ouch!