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Thread: Hiccup Girl Jennifer Mee Sentenced in 2010 FL Slaying of Shannon Griffin

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    Hiccup Girl Jennifer Mee Sentenced in 2010 FL Slaying of Shannon Griffin



    Girl who hiccuped 50 times a minute for five weeks faces the death penalty after she's charged with murder

    A Florida teenager who became famous with uncontrollable hiccups has been arrested and charged with murder for killing a man during a robbery.

    She could face the death penalty.

    Jennifer Mee became known as 'hiccup girl' and left doctors baffled when she began hiccuping 50 times a minute in 2007.

    Now police in Tampa, Florida, say the 19-year-old was involved in the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Shannon Griffin on Saturday.

    Mee lured Griffin to a home where two men robbed him at gunpoint, according to police. When Griffin fought back he was allegedly shot and killed.

    Mee and the others admitted their involvement, police said. All three have been charged with first degree murder, a charge that carriese the death penalty in Florida.

    Mee became a mini celebrity with her hiccups. She appeared on multiple television programs and was flown with her mother to New York several times to appear on the Today show.

    Months of incessant hiccups left her temporarily unable to attend school as she disrupted other students.

    She tried home remedies and consulted medical specialists, a hypnotist, a chiropractor, and an acupuncturist, until the hiccups finally just stopped on their own.

    Mee is now no longer suffering from the hiccups, a police spokesman said.

    Mee's mother, Rachel Robidoux, wept as she described her daughter as a 'loveable, sweet little girl who wouldn't hurt a fly'.

    She said she was a shocked when she learned of the arrest and charges late Sunday night.

    'I don't think she knew what was going to happen because that's not Jennifer,' Robidoux said. 'She's not out to hurt anyone.'

    Robidoux said Mee had never been arrested or in trouble, but she had been concerned for some time about some of the people Mee had been spending time with after her hiccup notoriety.

    'All of sudden people knew her name and she would talk to them on different chat sites and they would act like they knew her when they didn't,' she said.

    'She's very naive and I just think she was getting herself into stuff when she didn't know what she was doing.'

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    "Hiccup Girl" Jennifer Mee Seeks $50,000 Bail as Hiccups Return in Court

    ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (CBS/AP/WTSP) The attorney for murder suspect Jennifer Mee, the Florida teen who garnered attention three years ago for her uncontrollable bout of hiccups, asked a Pinellas County judge to set his client's bail at $50,000 Tuesday while Mee sobbed and hiccupped in court.

    PICTURES: Jennifer Mee

    Mee, 19, is currently being held in the Pinellas County jail without bond.

    Trevena argued before the judge that Mee needed medical tests for possible brain damage and claimed that if released her family would watch her, but prosecutors disagreed, saying that Mee "has a history of running away from home" and that her family couldn't control her.

    Mee, of St. Petersburg, and alleged accomplices Laron Raiford and Lamont Newton, have been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of 22-year old Shannon Griffin.

    According to the St. Petersburg Police Department, Mee lured Griffin to a vacant home where the two others robbed him Oct. 23 and then shot him several times. Maj. Mike Kovacsev of the St. Petersburg police said authorities do not believe Mee fired the gun.

    Last Tuesday Trevena claimed his client had been diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome, a neurological disorder that can cause involuntary movements and speech problems, and that the condition may have played a role in the fatal robbery - an argument he may use in Mee's defense.

    The judge said he will consider the danger to the community, the case against Mee, and the flight risk she poses before issuing a ruling Friday.

    http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_1...38-504083.html

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    Judge denies bail for 'Hiccup Girl'

    Jennifer Ann Mee, the 19-year-old "Hiccup Girl," will stay in the Pinellas County jail pending her trial for first-degree murder, a judge ruled Friday morning.

    Defense attorney John Trevena sought to have the court set bail for Mee, whose unrelenting case of the hiccups at the age of 15 brought her fame in 2007. She was later diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome.

    Those charged with first-degree murder are usually held without bail pending trial. But on Tuesday, her attorney argued that the judge should set a reasonable bail —- $50,000 — that her family could afford. Her parents pledged to watch her 24/7 in their Spring Hill home and ensure that she attends every court hearing.

    But Pinellas County Judge Donald E. Horrox denied the defense motion. He said the fact that Mee has lived as a transient since turning 18, moving from motel to motel, made her a flight risk. He also said there was enough evidence against Mee to keep her in jail.

    "Her admissions to the detective was that she was in fact involved in this felony murder, and that it was her intent for a robbery to occur for money," the judge said. "If those admissions were to be introduced at trial for a jury, those alone would be sufficient for her to be convicted of the offense."

    Mee and two others are charged in the Oct. 23 death of Shannon Griffin, a 22-year-old transplant from Mississippi who relatives said was getting his life on track after Hurricane Katrina devastated the family farm in 2005.

    Police said Mee lured 22-year-old Griffin so he could be robbed by co-defendants Lamont Antonio Newton, 22, and Laron Cordale Raiford, 20.

    Griffin thought he was going on a date when he pulled his scooter up to an empty house at 511 Seventh St., police said, and Mee led him to the back where the other two were waiting.

    But Griffin resisted, and police said he ended up being shot and killed with a .38-caliber revolver. He was shot three times in the chest and once in the shoulder as the six-shot revolver was emptied and then left behind at the crime scene.

    All three have been charged with first-degree murder under Florida's felony murder statute. Because Griffin died in the commission of an alleged felony — in this case, armed robbery —- all three can be charged with his murder.

    First-degree murder is punishable by life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty.

    Police have yet to say who pulled the trigger, but don't believe it was Mee. That was part of Trevena's argument that his client should be freed from jail because her role in the crime was hazy.

    But a detective testified Tuesday that she admitted her part in the plot, that the trio targeted Griffin because they needed money.

    Trevena and his client's parents also told the judge Tuesday about all of Mee's struggles since her brief time as a subject of media scrutiny.

    "She suffers from a variety of physical and mental health infirmities," Trevena told the judge Tuesday.

    According to the defendant's mother, Rachel Robidoux, and stepfather, Chris Robidoux, Mee dropped out of school in the 10th grade, struggles with basic literacy, may function at a much younger mental level and has lived as a transient since turning 18. She also still suffers occasional bouts of the hiccups.

    Robidoux also said that fame did her daughter no favors, exposing her to a bad crowd which easily led her astray. Mee fell into two abusive relationships, the family said, and was preyed upon because of her Social Security disability payments..

    Her last boyfriend was co-defendant Lamont Newton, who the mother said verbally abused Mee. Mee's other boyfriend was Reginald Lee Jr., but earlier this year he was locked up in the Pinellas County jail on charges that he choked and robbed a woman.

    http://www.tampabay.com/news/publics...cle1132395.ece

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    Hiccup Girl: 'I let the devil overcome me'

    Fame and misfortune seem to find Jennifer Mee, the 19-year-old Pinellas County woman who remains jailed awaiting trial on first-degree murder charges.

    This morning, she was featured in a jailhouse interview on a segment of NBC's "Today" show.

    Mee has been in the public eye since 2007, when, as a high school freshman, an incessant case of hiccups landed her on the national stage. She became known to millions as the Hiccup Girl.

    She went from being a hiccup victim to homicide defendant, charged last year with taking part in a plot to kill a Pinellas man.

    On the "Today" show, she said it all began with the hiccups.

    "Hiccup Girl" stuck, and she became known by that moniker far and wide.

    She didn't like it.
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    "People I never ever talked to came up to me and said they wanted to be my friend," she said in the "Today" interview.

    She said she fell in with the wrong crowd, and when she turned 17, she ran away from home.

    "I let the devil overcome me," she said.

    Now, she's in jail, along with two others charged in the killing of Shannon Griffin, 22, on Oct. 23.

    Prosecutors said she and the others – her boyfriend, 22-year-old Lamont Newton, and Laron Raiford, 20 – hatched a plan to lure Griffin out to rob him.

    Mee told investigators she was the one who contacted Griffin and asked him to come out.

    She said the homicide weighs heavily on her, though she had no part in the actual killing.

    "He was very young, only a couple years older than I was,'' she said of Griffin. "I think about it every day."

    She stopped short of accepting responsibility.

    "I didn't do nothing wrong," she said. "I'm not guilty of anything."

    The prospect of spending the rest of her life in jail "is always in the back of my mind," she said. "That is always there. I think about it each and every day.

    "I try not to let that eat away at my brain," she said. "I'm scared, I really am."

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42431264...news-tampa_fl/

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    'Hiccup Girl' Jennifer Mee seeks plea deal in murder case

    Attorneys for "Hiccup Girl" Jennifer Mee and two others are talking to prosecutors, apparently hoping to work out a plea agreement in their murder cases.

    The discussions were mentioned in court on Wednesday, during a pretrial hearing for Mee and fellow defendants Lamont Newton, 23, and Laron Raiford, 21.

    Mee, 20, of St. Petersburg, gained nationwide notoriety as a teenager because of a case of hiccups that wouldn't quit. A video of her hiccuping became a 2007 Internet sensation.

    But the story was grimmer when her name surfaced again in October 2010. St. Petersburg police said Mee, Newton and Raiford plotted to meet Shannon Griffin, 22, to rob him. Instead he was shot and killed.

    All three of the accused gave statements to police, blaming each other. In her recorded statement, Mee said, "I thought they were just going to rob the man."

    In court on Wednesday, Newton's attorney Anne Borghetti said "we have tried to work this case out and we're still trying to work this case out."

    Assistant State Attorney Jan Olney said prosecutors had had discussions with attorneys for all three of the accused.

    Mee's attorney, John Trevena, said after the hearing that he was in "active negotiations" with prosecutors and was optimistic a plea arrangement could be worked out. "It's undisputed that she wasn't even present when the gun was fired," Trevena said of his client.

    Raiford's attorney, Edward Liebling, declined to comment about any possible negotiations.

    The defense attorneys said on Wednesday that if this does go to trial, they would like the defendants to be tried separately, instead of together. A Feb. 7 trial date has been set, but it's not clear which of the three, if any, would go on trial then.

    The sentence for a first-degree murder conviction would be life in prison without the possibility of parole. Olney said the state is not seeking the death penalty.

    All three defendants have been held without bail since their arrests. Mee last year sought to have her bail set at $50,000, but a judge denied her request.

    Griffin, the victim, moved to the Tampa Bay area after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the home where he lived with family in Sheeplo, Miss.

    "I literally threw him in my car and brought him over here for a new life, man," his uncle Doug Bolden said at last year's bail hearing, "and now look at this."

    http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/...r-case/1205174

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    Date set for 'Hiccup Girl' murder trial

    Jennifer Mee, who became famous for a bout of hiccups that lasted for weeks, has a date for her murder trial.

    In 2007, Mee’s struggle with constant hiccups earned her the nickname “Hiccup Girl.” She appeared on the NBC’s "Today Show" and doctors were stumped, but the hiccups eventually went away.

    Mee is now facing a first-degree murder charge for allegedly luring a man into a robbery that ended in murder.

    CNN reports that Mee met 22-year-old Shannon Griffin by “friending” him on a social networking site. Around 10 p.m. the night Griffin died, he told his family that he was going to meet a woman. Griffin drove his scooter to an encounter with Mee at a vacant home. Police say Mee led Griffin to the back of the home, where Laron Raiford and Lamont Newton were waiting with a .38 caliber handgun.

    Police say the robbery went awry and Griffin was shot and killed when struggling with the defendants.
    On Monday, a Pinellas County, Florida, judge set a September 10, 2012, trial date for Mee and her two co-defendants.

    In the hearing Monday, the judge also considered a request to have Mee and her two co-defendants tried separately, but decided to rule on that issue on a future date.

    Ron Stuart, the public information officer for Pinellas County Courts, says the defendants are considering plea deals that could resolve the cases.

    http://www.hlntv.com/article/2012/01...s-murder-trial

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    Jennifer Mee court hearing

    A Pinellas County judge is schedule to announce on Friday afternoon whether Jennifer Mee will be tried separately from her co-defendants on a murder charge.

    Mee gained national attention as the so-called "Hiccup Girl" in 2007 when she could not stop hiccupping for weeks.

    She allegedly helped her two roommates, Lamont Newton and Laron Raiford, lure a 22-year-old to a dark alleyway in October 2010 where they allegedly shot the victim during a robbery attempt.

    All three roommates are charged with murder. They currently are scheduled to stand trial together in September.

    Defense attorneys are pursing having the trio tried separately and a judge could announce if that will happen at a hearing beginning at 1:30 p.m. in Clearwater.

    Read more: http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/new...#ixzz1pwjbtO4g
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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    Murder case hearing Monday for 'hiccup girl'

    The Pinellas County girl who became nationally known for a case of hiccups has a courtroom hearing today regarding a more serious situation.

    Jennifer Mee, now 20, is accused of luring a man to a St. Petersburg home, where two other men killed him during a botched robbery attempt. Mee, along with the two men, face first-degree murder charges.

    On Monday, Mee's attorney will ask for a separate trial from the other two defendants. The judge also may set a trial date during today's hearing.

    Mee, 20, and co-defendants Lamont Newton, 23, and Laron Raiford, 21, are accused of plotting to meet 22-year-old Shannon Griffin in St. Petersburg and rob him.





    Instead, Griffin was shot and killed.

    Mee had befriended Griffin on a social networking site in October 2010. A week after meeting online, they made plans to meet at a home in the 500 block of Seventh Street North. When Griffin arrived, Mee lured him to the back of the home where the men attempted to rob him, authorities said.

    Griffin struggled with the men and was shot three times, officials said.

    Mee was 15 when she gained international fame in 2007 for her extreme case of hiccups. The hiccups lasted six weeks. She appeared on national television multiple times while dealing with the hiccups.

    http://www.baynews9.com/content/news..._hearing_.html
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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    Jennifer "Hiccup Girl" Mee, co-defendants to get separate murder trials next spring

    Three people accused of robbing and killing a man who moved to the area after Hurricane Katrina will not be tried together, a Pinellas County judge decided Monday.

    Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Nancy Moate Ley said defendants Lamont Newton, 24, Laron Raiford, 22, and Jennifer Mee, 21, will get separate trials next spring.

    An attorney for Mee, who shot to nationwide fame as a teenager and picked up the nickname "Hiccup Girl," said that will ensure fairness, since all three gave statements to police blaming each other for the October 2010 death of Shannon Griffin, 22.

    Griffin had moved from Mississippi to the Tampa Bay area after Hurricane Katrina. His family said he had a job and had enrolled in college classes.

    He met Mee online a week before his death. St. Petersburg police said Mee — who drew national notoriety in 2007 for an unceasing bout of hiccups — Newton and Raiford plotted to rob Griffin. Instead he was shot and killed at a vacant home just north of downtown.

    Ley set Raiford's trial for April 2, Newton's for April 23 and Mee's for May 14.

    http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/...s-next/1262349
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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    "Hiccup Girl" co-defendant rejects plea deal in murder case, report says

    A Florida man charged along with so-called "Hiccup Girl" Jennifer Mee in the shooting death of a St. Petersburg man turned down a plea deal Wednesday that would have reduced his sentence if convicted of murder, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

    Pictures: Jennifer Mee, "Hiccup Girl," arrested for murder

    Laron Raiford, 22, turned down an offer to plead guilty in exchange for a 40-year prison sentence but his defense attorney said he wanted to continue negotiations, according to the newspaper.

    Raiford, 21-year-old Mee and 25 year-old Lamont Newton are accused of luring 22-year-old Shannon Griffin to a St. Petersburg house in October 2010 where he was robbed and shot.

    Mee gained national attention while she was in high school in 2007 for having an uncontrollable case of hiccups. After many months of remedies that didn't work, the condition went away on its own.

    In Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court Wednesday, Judge Nancy Ley told Raiford it was his right to go to trial but also urged him to consider the plea offer, the Times reports. Ley said if he was convicted of first-degree murder, he would face life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    Ley said that if Raifor accepted the plea deal, he'd likely get out of prison when he's around 60 years old, the Times reports.

    "When you're 22, 60 seems like you should be in the old folks home, but when you get there you think, 'Well, that isn't so old,' " Ley said.

    Ley added that Raiford could be convicted of first-degree murder even if he wasn't the one who pulled the gun and fatally shot Griffin. Under Florida's felony murder law, participating in the robbery that resulted in Griffin's death can still get Raiford convicted of murder, according to the newspaper.

    Raiford told the judge he understood, the Times reports.

    Raiford has another court hearing on April 10, according to the newspaper. Mee and Newton are also awaiting trial at a later date.

    http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_1...e-report-says/
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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