GUILTY FL - 'Hiccup Girl' Jennifer Mee charged in murder of Shannon Griffin

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I cant believe this! What a horrible ending to her whole saga. I had followed her drama over the past few years, the hiccup story and her running away and now this. I have to say that I was totally shocked this morning to see this. If she is guilty what a horrible horrible thing she has done.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/article1130215.ece
ST. PETERSBURG — A St. Petersburg teenager who made national headlines and appeared on numerous TV shows in 2007 over an unrelenting case of the hiccups has been charged with first-degree murder.
Police say Jennifer Ann Mee, 19, lured Shannon Griffin, 22, to a home Saturday where he was attacked and fatally shot by two men.
Griffin was pronounced dead at the scene.
Mee, Laron C. Raiford , 20, and Lamont Newton, 22, all of St. Petersburg, have been arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the killing, which police say was a robbery gone bad.
After Mee brought Griffin to 511 Seventh St. N, Raiford and Newton approached him with a gun and tried to take "miscellaneous items" from Griffin, police say. Griffin suffered several gunshot wounds to his upper body after he struggled, police said.
All three suspects admitted their involvement, police said.
A first court appearance for Mee has been scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Monday at the Pinellas Criminal Courts Complex in Largo.
Mee's hiccups started in January 2007 and lasted nearly six weeks. At one time, she was hiccupping 50 times a minute and couldn't attend school.
Mee generated international attention that year for the uncontrollable hiccups, routinely appearing on NBC's Today. Thousands of people from across the globe offered suggestions to help her stop after her story appeared in the St. Petersburg Times.
She tried all kinds of solutions, including consulting a chiropractor, acupuncturist and hypnotist. At one time, Mee took Valium to stop the hiccups long enough for her to sleep. She also used Prilosec, a medication used to treat acid reflux disease.
Mee briefly made headlines in January when she went missing. She was eventually found safe after making her way to a relative's home.
All the media attention came at a high cost.
In 2007, the competition for Mee's story became so frenzied that NBC's Today show changed Jennifer and her mother's New York hotel after another networrk's exhaustive attempts to get an interview.
Representatives from ABC's Good Morning America called Mee's home 57 times one day and slipped notes under her hotel room.
 
I wonder if her newly-found noteriety (back in 2007) had anything to do with this. After the hiccup situation, did people seek her out? Did she become involved with less-than-savory individuals due to all the publicity? Or was she just a bad seed all along? Althogh I remember the hiccup story, I didn't know anything about what kind of person she was, or home life she had.
 
I wonder if her newly-found noteriety (back in 2007) had anything to do with this. After the hiccup situation, did people seek her out? Did she become involved with less-than-savory individuals due to all the publicity? Or was she just a bad seed all along? Althogh I remember the hiccup story, I didn't know anything about what kind of person she was, or home life she had.

From what I remember there was alot of issues with her home life back then. I think it's St Petersburg and the economy too. Every day I see stories like this in the paper. People used to have pride in their community and St Pete was a great place to live with the stadium, the pier, parks, festivals,and beaches. Now its plagued with abandoned forclosed homes and delapitating empty store fronts. A perfect place for high crime.
 
The article says all 3 confessed so IMO she will be found guilty. Very sad.

Prayers for the victim and all who love him.

I also pray for justice.

Horrible.
 
The article says all 3 confessed so IMO she will be found guilty. Very sad.

Prayers for the victim and all who love him.

I also pray for justice.

Horrible.

Yes they did, but, that will probably be recinded by all saying they didnt get to talk to an attorney.They'll lawyer up. See it happen so often. Especially since I believe the death penalty can come into play because the murder happened in the commision of another felony, robbery. I think that qualifys for the DP. AND then JM will probably take I deal in exchange for testimony on the others, I can see it all now.
 
BTW, There is also a big drug problem in this area, especially pills. I wonder if this was the whole plan behind it, rob him for money or drugs or both. So many home invasions lately where a drug dealer was the victim. It's a crazy sick world out there and its so sad that this young lady choose the wrong path to take in life.
 
Yes they did, but, that will probably be recinded by all saying they didnt get to talk to an attorney.They'll lawyer up. See it happen so often. Especially since I believe the death penalty can come into play because the murder happened in the commision of another felony, robbery. I think that qualifys for the DP. AND then JM will probably take I deal in exchange for testimony on the others, I can see it all now.

Yep, I see it long and drawn out to.
 
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/article1130215.ece
snipped
"Mee's arrest report listed her current address as 610 5th Ave. N, where neighbors at the small stucco building appeared to be drinking beer around 8:30 a.m. Monday. One neighbor who was not drinking, 48-year-old Sam Hewitt, described Mee as friendly. He said she moved out a couple of weeks ago.

Hewitt said the apartment building was a rough place where crack dealers and crack addicts often hang out, and things are always getting stolen. He said Mee lived in the building two different times and was known to hang out with a boyfriend who sold some people in the building fake marijuana."
 
So where are her parents?? Im not defending her but it just seems like something is missing here. I doubt she was living in this crack apartment building with her parents.
 
She's 19. Not much parents can do with a 19 year old who wants to live like she was living.

JMO
 
Yes, but there is incite when you see where she came from and sort of can figure how she got to where she ended up. I found the moms mspace. I'll leave it at that and move on.
 
Lawyer: 'Hiccup girl' may use Tourette's defense

Posted: Oct 26, 2010 11:57 AM CDT
Updated: Oct 26, 2010 12:37 PM CDT


ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - The lawyer for a young Florida woman who was known for unstoppable hiccups and is now accused of murder said Tuesday he may present an unusual defense in her case: His client has Tourette's Syndrome.

Jennifer Mee, 19, was charged Sunday with first-degree murder after police said she lured a 22-year-old man to a meeting where he was robbed and shot a day earlier. St. Peterburg Maj. Mike Kovacsev said police do not believe she fired the gun.


more here

http://www.wave3.com/story/13389773/lawyer-hiccup-girl-may-use-tourettes-defense
 
Wow the cousin is really taking this hard. Poor guy. Hiccup Girl was getting SSI for hiccups? bizzare IMO

Cousin: Slain man in 'Hiccup Girl' case was just getting life back after Hurricane Katrina

http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/article1130395.ece

Jennifer Ann Mee's unyielding case of the hiccups earned her fame as the "Hiccup Girl." Her arrest this weekend for first-degree murder has now brought her infamy.
But Douglas Bolden calls the 19-year-old something else: a predator.
Bolden is the older cousin of the victim in Saturday's murder, 22-year-old Shannon Griffin. Police said Griffin was shot and killed in a robbery gone awry Saturday night.
Mee is accused of helping orchestrate a robbery with two other men: Lamont Antonio Newton, 22, and Laron Cordale Raiford, 20. All three face charges of first-degree murder and are being held without bail in the Pinellas County jail.
"It's upsetting," Bolden said Tuesday. "My Shannon is a Hurricane Katrina survivor. I brought him here because my family was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
"He's never, ever been arrested in his whole life. He works a full-time job. All he was looking for was a date.
"Instead, he ran into a predator."
• • •
Bolden, 42, said in the days since his cousin's death he has heard all about the problems Mee has suffered: the Tourette's syndrome; the harsh medication she takes for her hiccups; her mental issues; and the domestic abuse she suffered, police said, at the hands of a boyfriend now in jail on unrelated charges.
Mee's mother, Rachel Robidoux, described her daughter in a radio interview as a "lovable, sweet little girl who wouldn't hurt a fly."
But Bolden said a question has kept him "sleepless" at night: Where was her family before Mee reached this point?
"Everybody's a victim in this," he said. "I don't want to see kids lose their lives to jail. But when do we hold parents accountable for letting their children become predators?
"These parents are producing predators, and when they get caught they run to them and say 'poor little baby.' They need to take accountability for it."
Shannon (pronounced Sha-NAHN) Griffin dropped out of school and life after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast and the family's home in Mississippi in 2005, Bolden said. Griffin was 17 then and became withdrawn.
So last year Bolden said he drove home and dragged his younger cousin back to Florida with him. He wanted to help Griffin get on with his life. Griffin recently completed his GED, Bolden said, and his first year working at the Walmart Supercenter in Pinellas Park. Griffin earned a week of paid vacation that he was going to take this week, Bolden said.
"He was literally traumatized after Hurricane Katrina — he wouldn't go out of the house, he wouldn't go to work," Bolden said. "I went there last year and said 'Look man, life is too short.'
"I literally threw him in my car and brought him over here for a new life, man. And now look at this."
• • •
Hours before his death Saturday, Griffin said he was going out to meet a girl. He was excited, his older cousin said.
But police said it was a trap, and Mee was the bait. Police said Griffin befriended Mee online the week before on the social networking platform MocoSpace.com. Then Mee arranged for Griffin to meet her at 511 Seventh St. N — an empty home.
Griffin pulled up outside on the scooter he recently bought. She led him to the back, police said, where Newton and Raiford were waiting.
They're accused of trying to rob Griffin, but police said he fought back and was fatally shot in the ensuing struggle. Griffin was shot three times in the chest and once in the shoulder as the six-shot .38-caliber revolver was emptied, police said.
Detectives don't believe the trio set out to kill Griffin, and in their panic to get away the suspects left behind a gun and a pair of shoes. Police still haven't identified who pulled the trigger — Mee has been ruled out — but under Florida law all three are culpable in Griffin's death.
The three have made incriminating statements, police said, and the victim's cell phone has been linked to one of the male suspects' phones. Police said they'll also subpoena online records to obtain evidence of Griffin's conversations with Mee on the Internet.
In fact, the case is set to go before a grand jury Thursday, according to St. Petersburg police Maj. Mike Kovacsev. There are only two sentences for first-degree murder: life in prison or death.
• • •
Mee gained international fame when she was 15 for her extreme case of hiccups, which lasted nearly six weeks. Her family said that even after that long bout of hiccups, she continued to be plagued with it, with recurring bouts sometimes lasting weeks at a time.
Mee's well-known nickname of "Hiccup Girl" has followed her, creating yet another media frenzy this week as word spread of her murder charge.
The family retained defense lawyer John Trevena late Monday night. By Tuesday morning, he was already being bombarded with news media calls to get Mee back on TV for interviews.
"It's just amazing to me," he said.
Trevena said he has gotten calls from "every national outlet you can think of," and also a number of international outlets. News organizations including CNNand Good Morning America started calling late Monday afternoon and "continued nonstop."
Kovacsev was interviewed early Tuesday morning by the Today show — where Mee made her television debut in 2007, then appeared repeatedly — and Good Morning America.
The two competing outlets fought to air the story of "Hiccup Girl" back in 2007. The Today show flew Mee and her mother to New York and hid them from Good Morning America, who inundated the family with interview requests.
Trevena has been involved in several high-profile cases and has always been a media-friendly lawyer, quick to speak to reporters. But he notices something different with this case.
The media, he says, are "desperate to get any little nugget no matter how minor or insignificant."
"I've been inundated," he said. "I haven't seen a wave of this magnitude since the wheelchair-dumping" case involving a Hillsborough County jail inmate being thrown from a chair.
However, Trevena said, don't look for Mee to be back on the Today show or any other programs giving interviews -— not for a while anyway.
• • •
The public, Trevena said, may be missing the larger issue in her case:
"When we refer to Jennifer in simplified sense as the 'Hiccup Girl,' she actually had a much more serious condition," the attorney said in an MJ Morning Show radio interview Tuesday morning. "And just saying hiccup, in many ways, oversimplified medically what is wrong with her."
Late Monday night, Trevena told the Times that his client's condition was "a much more serious neurological condition than anyone really realized."
But will that malady play any role in her defense?
Trevena said Tuesday that it's too early to tell whether Tourette's syndrome would be a viable defense. But it is an issue that he is researching.
"It sounds serious," he said. "It was serious enough for her to get permanent disability benefits."
• • •
Mee's grandfather, Robert McCauley, said Mee continued to fight her hiccup problem in recent years, and even obtained disability payments from Social Security.
The payments helped her but didn't provide quite enough money to live on, McCauley said. She supplemented the money by working at a call center for a while, he said. Court records show Mee was sued last year for eviction from an apartment at 807 Ninth Ave N in St. Petersburg.
Police interviews with Mee and her family in January show the girl's life spiraling out of control as an adult: She lived like a transient with a boyfriend accused of repeatedly abusing and controlling her.
But online, Mee portrayed herself as a tough bad girl. Her MySpace page — which was taken offline Monday night — is filled with vulgarities. She says she lives in "ST PISTOL" and calls herself a "female version of a hustla."
She also wrote, days before the murder, that she needed $100.
Mee also found a new boyfriend, police said, after her old boyfriend was arrested in March on charges that he choked and robbed a woman.
Mee was dating her alleged co-conspirator: Lamont Newton.
Trevena said he will contact prosecutors soon and see whether there is any possibility of a lesser charge than first-degree murder.
Times staff writer Danny Valentine and researchers Carolyn Edds and Natalie Watson contributed to this report. Jamal Thalji can be reached at thalji@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8472.
 
Brother of murdered Petal native rips media for focus on "Hiccup Girl"

Posted: Oct 26, 2010 5:09 PM CDT
Updated: Oct 26, 2010 5:38 PM CDT


<snip>

"As far as he was concerned he was going to meet her for a date, and that when he got there she lured him behind this abandoned house or whatever and there were two guys behind the house waiting on him," said Merritt.

Merritt says he and his family are devastated about the death of Griffin, and they are frustrated that his death is being over shadowed by the "hiccup girl." Someone who is allegedly responsible for Griffin's death.

"What is her focus on it? She set up an innocent man to murdered, to be robbed at gun point and to be murdered. All you (media) can talk about is the girl with hiccups. He has a family too and his family is grieving right now," said Merritt.

Merritt says the family is planning Griffin's funeral for Saturday. The family also has a benefit account in Shannon Griffin's name at Bancorp South Bank for donations to help with his funeral arrangements.


more here

http://www.wdam.com/Global/story.asp?S=13392346
 
"Hiccup Girl" Jennifer Mee's Mom Believes Tourette's "Absolutely Played a Role," Says Report

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (CBS/AP) The Tourette's made her do it. At least that's what the attorney for Jennifer Mee, the Florida girl previously known for her nonstop hiccuping, says may be her defense during her murder trial - and her mother agrees.

Mee, 19, was charged Sunday with first-degree murder after police said she lured a 22-year-old man to a meeting where he was robbed and shot Saturday. Maj. Mike Kovacsev, with the St. Petersburg police in Florida, said investigators do not believe she fired the gun.

(snip)

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20021030-504083.html
 
"Hiccup Girl" Jennifer Mee's Mom Believes Tourette's "Absolutely Played a Role," Says Report

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (CBS/AP) The Tourette's made her do it. At least that's what the attorney for Jennifer Mee, the Florida girl previously known for her nonstop hiccuping, says may be her defense during her murder trial - and her mother agrees.

Mee, 19, was charged Sunday with first-degree murder after police said she lured a 22-year-old man to a meeting where he was robbed and shot Saturday. Maj. Mike Kovacsev, with the St. Petersburg police in Florida, said investigators do not believe she fired the gun.

(snip)

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20021030-504083.html

I have never heard of tourette's syndrome making someone violent - NEVER!

Salem
 
This case interests me as I have a son with mild Tourette's. Tourette's can certainly occur idiopathically (with unknown cause) but also frequently occurs with other disabilities/disorders. One of the growing populations of those with Tourette's are children prenatally exposed to alcohol and drugs. My son was prenatally exposed and also was diagnosed with Intermittent Explosive Disorder (a couple of notches down from ODD). Thankfully, I can say that he's all but grown out of his symptoms at age 22 and is a fine young man. It was a long haul, though, with some heavy duty drugs (used off-label) since age four.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourette_syndrome

"....In children with Tourette's, ADHD is associated with functional impairment, disruptive behavior, and tic severity. Other comorbid conditions include self-injurious behaviors, anxiety, depression, personality disorders, oppositional defiant disorder, and conduct disorders...."


These kids have a "lot on their plate". While this article does not specifically list violent behavior; ODD, personality disorders and conduct disorders almost always involve some level of violent and confrontational behavior. My guess is that the part of the brain which is damaged to a degree where tics would occur, might also be the source of these other disorders.

Add in Valium, far too much media attention, lack of supervision and the always tough transition from childhood to adulthood, and IMO, you've got a recipe for disaster.
 

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