A white Florida woman on trial for manslaughter in the fatal shooting of her Black neighbor after a lengthy feud said Thursday she will not take the witness stand in her own defense as testimony wrapped up.
Susan Lorincz told Marion County Circuit Judge Robert W. Hodges that she opted not to testify after consulting her lawyers, adding that she was not coerced into the decision.
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“I am not going to testify,” Lorincz said.
“You've made that decision freely and voluntarily?” the judge asked.
“Yes I have,” she replied.
With that, the defense rested after calling three expert witnesses on ballistics and crime scenes. Prosecutors finished their case Wednesday. Lorincz, 60, faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted in the June 2023 shooting 35-year-old Ajike “A.J.” Owens, her neighbor in Ocala, Florida.
The two had a long-running dispute over Owens' children — she was a mother of four — playing boisterously near Lorincz's home. The night she was shot, Owens had been pounding on Lorincz's door and yelling loudly after Lorincz allegedly threw roller skates and an umbrella at the kids, testimony showed. Lorincz fired one round from her .380-caliber handgun through the door, hitting Owens in the chest and killing her.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys will give their closing arguments Friday morning, followed by jury instructions by the judge. Then the all-white panel of six jurors will begin deliberations.
“When you deliberate the case, you'll have as much time as you want,” Hodges told the jurors.
Owens' family has expressed surprise no Black jurors were selected given the racially sensitive nature of the case. The county court clerk's office said in an email Thursday that eight Black people were among the 70 in the initial jury pool. In contrast, 49 were white and 10 were listed as Hispanic, two as Asian and one as “other,” the clerk's office said, based on records provided by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
Although she did not testify, prosecutors played recorded interviews between detectives and Lorincz in which she insisted she was in fear for her life and fired the gun in self-defense. Owens' family and their attorneys have disputed that, contending Lorincz intended to harm Owens from the beginning.
The case gained national attention when protests erupted in the Black community while prosecutors debated over several weeks whether to charge Lorincz with second-degree murder or manslaughter. opting ultimately for the lesser offense.
Ocala is about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of Orlando in central Florida.