Marissa Alexander custody fight reignites

Estranged husband Rico Gray has wedding ceremony before divorce is final

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Marissa Alexander is back in the courtroom but this time for a different reason.

The 34-year-old, known for a 2012 incident where she fired into the wall during an argument with her estranged husband, is still involved in a divorce with that man.

Alexander was first convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison on aggravated armed assault charges, but that conviction was overturned. Last November, Alexander came to a plea agreement in which she had to serve 65 more days in jail. She was released six months ago.

The case garnered international attention.

DOCUMENTS: Motion for contempt against Rico Gray |
Response to emergency motion for child pickup |
Request for expedited dissolution of marriage |
Motion to strike dissolution of marriage motion

News4Jax investigator Vic Micolucci uncovered documents from the ongoing divorce case and custody dispute between Alexander and her estranged husband, Rico Gray.

Page after page of documents detail the couple's on-going divorce case, which started in 2012, after the incident where Alexander fired a shot during a fight with Gray. She claimed Gray was abusive and that she was defending herself.

Alexander was back at the Duval County Courthouse Wednesday to deal with the divorce.

The divorce stalled as Alexander's criminal case went to trial in 2013. Her sentence was eventually overturned, and she got out of jail in January. In recent months, the divorce case has heated back up. Gray's attorneys said the two had agreed to bifurcate the marriage -- in other words -- legally divorce while still leaving some factors, like custody and alimony, for the court to decide.

But "just recently, the Wife's counsel has told the Husband's counsel that the wife no longer agrees to the bifurcation," Gray's lawyer wrote in one document.

That happened just days before Gray was set to marry another woman, which meant he legally was not allowed to remarry.

Dale Westling is an attorney who practices family law. He's not involved in Alexander's case but analyzed it for News4Jax.

Pictures News4Jax found show Gray and his fiancee still had a "ceremonial" wedding celebration at a local church and venue, but they couldn't put it on the books.

"Some folks do it. They have a religious ceremony and then the 'legal ceremony' later on," Westling said. "You can have all the ceremonies that you want, but you aren't married."

According to court records, it appears Alexander didn't want the couple's 5-year-old girl daughter to attend the wedding. She called for an emergency child pickup order, but the judge denied it, saying there weren't "sufficient allegations" to believe this was really an emergency.

Pictures showed the daughter ended up going to her father's wedding.

Alexander is now contesting the custody of her daughter. Gray currently has the girl for five nights, and Alexander has her for two. Westling said if the couple can't reach an agreement on how they'll split custody, the judge will.

"It is not going to be over anytime soon, and they are not going to be friendly ever. That's what it appears," Westling said. "Which, of course, is a very bad thing for your child, especially after what the child has already gone through."
 
Westling said three years is "too long" for a divorce case. He said it's much longer than most cases he deals with. But, looking at the documents, he thinks it'll probably be another year until the divorce is finalized.

The latest court document in the divorce case is a motion from Alexander's attorneys, accusing Gray of violating the judge's orders by interfering with custody. So far, the judge hasn't responded. 

The attorneys on both sides of the divorce said they couldn't comment because the case was ongoing. Alexander declined to comment. Gray did not respond to a request for comment.