A judge shot down a motion to dismiss Marissa Alexander's trial at a Thursday hearing at the Duval County Courthouse.

"We're obviously very disappointed," said Kevin Cobbin, Alexander's attorney.

Judge Daniel H. James told Marissa Alexander he didn't believe she was reasonably in fear of death or bodily injury when she fired the gun.

Alexander, of Jacksonville, is facing 20 years in prison for firing a warning shot through the roof of her home during a domestic dispute with her husband in August 2010.  She says Rico Grey was beating her at the time and, fearing for her life, she went and got her registered firearm from her garage and fired one warning shot through the roof while Grey and his two children were standing in the kitchen.  The prosecution disputes that, saying the original shot went through a wall and then traveled up into the roof of the home.  She was convicted on three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Prosecutors say four months after the incident, Alexander went back to Grey's home to break up with him, and ended up hitting him.  She was arrested and charged with domestic battery, to which she plead guilty.  It was for this reason that Judge James felt that Alexander was not in reasonable fear for her life, and therefore, he says, was not authorized to use deadly force.

Under Florida's 10-20-life law, any felony during which a firearm is discharged carries a mandatory sentence of 20 years.  State attorney Angela Corey says Alexander had a shot to take a plea deal which would have only put her in prison for three years, but she refused.

"As late as the Friday before trial, before we were picking a jury on the following Monday, my two prosecutors were willing to let her take the three year minimum mandatory.  That's the goodness of the 10-20-life law," says Corey.

Cobbin says he doesn't take issue with the judge's ruling on the motion, but rather the specifics of the 10-20-life law, saying someone like Marissa Alexander shouldn't go away for as long as the law requires.

"Whether she acted improperly or not, somewhere along the way, she does not deserve to serve 20 years," said Cobbin.

Congresswoman Corrine Brown doesn't think this case should have even seen a courtroom.

"I think, first of all, it sends a wrong signal...this person could get 20 years, but in a death, the person didn't even get arrested?" says Congresswoman Corrine Brown, referring to the Trayvon Martin shooting.

Brown says she's baffled that George Zimmerman was allowed to walk free after he admittedly killed Martin, yet Marissa Alexander has been in jail for over a year for allegedly protecting herself.  She thinks the law needs to be altered to include more specific rules and regulations that govern when the law applies and how it can be applied in certain situations.

"I definitely think, if nothing else, it should be clarified or modified."

Alexander is scheduled to be in court on Friday, May 11 for a sentencing hearing.  Cobbin says they do plan to appeal the guilty conviction.