No testimony from Florida white woman accused of manslaughter in fatal shooting of Black neighbor
A white woman from Florida charged with manslaughter in the fatal shooting of her black neighbor after a long-running feud, said Thursday she will not testify in her own defense now that testimony has concluded.
Susan Lorincz told Marion County Judge Robert W. Hodges that she chose not to testify after consulting with her attorneys. She said she was not forced to make that decision.
“I’m not going to testify,” Lorincz said.
“You made that decision voluntarily and freely?” the judge asked.
“Yes, of course,” she replied.
That was the defense’s rest after calling three expert witnesses on ballistics and crime scene investigations. Prosecutors wrapped up their case Wednesday. Lorincz, 60, faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted of the June 2023 shooting death of 35-year-old Ajike “AJ” Owens, her neighbor in Ocala, Florida.
The two had a long-running dispute over Owens’ children — she was a mother of four — who played wildly near Lorincz’s home. The night she was shot, Owens had pounded on Lorincz’s door and screamed loudly after Lorincz allegedly threw roller skates and an umbrella at the children, according to testimony. Lorincz fired one round with her .380-caliber pistol through the door, hitting Owens in the chest and killing her.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys will deliver closing arguments Friday morning, followed by jury instructions from the judge. The all-white panel of six jurors will then begin deliberations.
“When you deliberate the case, you have as much time as you want,” Hodges told jurors.
Owens’ family has expressed surprise that no black jurors were selected, given the racially sensitive nature of the case. The county clerk’s office said in an email Thursday that there were eight black people among the 70 in the original 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, citing data provided by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
Though she did not testify, prosecutors played taped interviews between detectives and Lorincz in which she maintained that she feared for her life and fired the gun in self-defense. Owens’ family and their attorneys have disputed that, arguing that Lorincz wanted to harm Owens from the beginning.
The case gained national attention as protests erupted in the black community as prosecutors debated for weeks whether to charge Lorincz with second-degree murder or manslaughter. and ultimately choose the least serious offense.
Ocala is located approximately 80 miles northwest of Orlando in central Florida.