Florida's 'Hiccup Girl' Sentenced to Life in Murder Case
Jennifer Mee, 2010. Photo courtesy of the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. Public domain.
A Florida woman who became widely known for her nonstop hiccups has been found guilty in a 2010 murder. Here's how Jennifer Mee's life took a dark turn.
'Hiccup Girl'
When Mee first made the news as "Hiccup Girl" in 2007, the then-15-year-old from St. Petersburg suddenly started hiccupping for no clear reason. The hiccups continued nonstop — except for while she was sleeping or talking — for three weeks.
At that time, Mee said on "Today" that the constant hiccups had become painful and were making her life much harder. She stopped going to school because of her condition and was spending most of her time trying to sleep, using Benadryl and Valium to help. She visited doctors and specialists and tried a litany of home remedies and medicines, but nothing seemed to help. Eventually, the hiccups stopped on their own, but they didn't go away for good. In fact, her hiccups reportedly returned, briefly, during her trial years later.
The Murder
A few years after her sudden celebrity as "Hiccup Girl", at the age of 19, Mee allegedly met Shannon Griffin on a social networking site and later invited him to a vacant house under the pretense of buying marijuana from him. Authorities believe Mee and Griffin, a Walmart employee who had recently moved to Florida, didn't know each other before their online meeting. Police said Mee led Griffin to the back of the house, where two men, Laron Raiford and Lamont Newton, were waiting with guns. Griffin was tragically shot multiple times with a .38-caliber revolver and died.
The three suspects were arrested just hours after Griffin's body was found. All of them, including Mee, were charged with first-degree murder, even though police said Mee didn't actually pull the trigger. Mee, Raiford, and Newton had all been living together, according to authorities.
Emotional Verdict
In her trial, Mee's lawyers argued that she struggled with schizophrenia and Tourette's Syndrome, and a court psychiatrist mentioned that her intelligence was considered "low normal," as reported by CBS News. But the jury in Pinellas County found Mee, then 22, guilty in September 2013. Mee cried in the courtroom in Clearwater as the decision was announced. Soon after, Judge Nancy Moate Ley explained that the only possible punishment for her crime was life in prison without parole.
Court 'Unfairly' Influenced?
Mee appeared on the third episode of "Killer Women" with Piers Morgan, where they met at her prison in Ocala. Morgan also spoke with Mee's mother and defense lawyer, who both said they believed Mee's past fame as the "Hiccup Girl" unfairly impacted the court's decision and led to her severe punishment.
"Her case of the hiccups wasn't a case of the hiccups, it was a curse of the hiccups," Rachel Robidoux, Mee's mother, told Morgan, according to the Huffington Post. "All of a sudden, people knew her name and she would talk to them on different chat sites. She's very naive, and I was afraid she was getting herself into something that she didn't really know what she was doing."
Mee's conviction and life sentence mark a tragic end to a young life filled with struggles. Despite her earlier fame as "Hiccup Girl," her story took a dark turn, leading to her alleged involvement in a murder. Her case has raised questions about how her past and mental health may have influenced her actions. Now, Mee faces life in prison, a harsh reality that reflects the seriousness of the crime, but also the complicated circumstances that led to it.
References: Florida 'Hiccup Girl' Found Guilty of Murder | Jennifer Mee Guilty: "Hiccup Girl" Convicted of First-Degree Murder | Girl Has Been Hiccuping for Three Weeks | How Notorious 'Hiccup Girl' Jennifer Mee Ended Up Jailed For A Murder 'She Didn't Commit'
