Jennifer Mee, 'Hiccup Girl' Found Guilty Of Murder, Receives Life Sentence [VIDEO]
Unfortunately for Jennifer Mee, she is now famous for a lot more than her unfortunate ability to hiccup uncontrollably for weeks on end. The 22-year-old has now been found guilty of first-degree murder and has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Mee first gained national recognition when she was 15-years-old, due to a condition that caused her to have nonstop hiccups for five weeks in a row. She would eventually go on the Today show, where she was given the unceremonious moniker of "Hiccup Girl."
From there, it does not appear that Mee's luck improved much. Prosecutors in court this week successfully argued that in 2010, Mee lured Shannon Griffin into a house, where she had two accomplices waiting to rob him. When he struggled during the robbery, Griffin was shot four times in the chest.
"I don't think there was ever any plan or any intent to murder Shannon Griffin. What is it that she set up?" queried her attorney, John Trevena.
Prosecutors wasted little time in answering Trevena's question. For them, Mee's guilt was evident in her crucial role as the person who would beckon Griffin to her untimely demise, regardless of the intent behind Mee's actions.
"Jennifer Mee participated and she participated in this fashion. . . . She was the bait that lured Shannon Griffin to a back alley that was dark where two of her cohorts waited," said prosecutor Jan Olney, adding: "and that is why Shannon Griffin is not with us any longer."
At one point during the trial, Mee's attorney attempted to argue that she was schizophrenic and therefore not responsible for her actions. A psychological evaluation proved otherwise, and the trial finally wrapped on Friday. It took the Pinellas County, FL jury a mere four hours to find Mee guilty of murder.
Under Florida law, if someone participates in a robbery that results in a murder, they are just as guilty as if they had been the one to pull the trigger.
Mee's involvement in the murder was never in question, as there was tape of her freely admitting that she had lured Griffin into a robbery gone wrong. It was the defense's hope that Mee would not get the life sentence, as she did not physically kill Griffin nor did she intend for him to die.
"I didn't kill nobody," Mee said to her mother in the recording. "...I set everything up. It all went wrong, Mom. It [expletive] just went downhill after everything happened, Mom."
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