On January 20, her next day in court, Bresha Meadows will have spent 175 days behind bars. Last summer, when she was only 14 years old, Meadows was arrested for allegedly shooting her father to death as he lay sleeping. Meadows and her family maintain that the girl, her siblings, and her mother were subject to years of his brutal abuse and say she was acting in self-defense—not just to protect herself, but to save her family members, as well.
It's an account that's backed up by court records, including an order of protection that Meadows' mother, Brandi, filed in 2011. According to news accounts, Meadows often found herself on the other end of the barrel; the gun she used to do the deed was one her father allegedly used to taunt and coerce his family.
Meadows is being tried for aggravated murder, but her supporters see her as a victim—both of her father's abuse, and of a series of callous and unjust institutions. According to news accounts, Meadows twice ran away to her aunt, a police officer, to ask for help. Her aunt notified social services, but the social workers reportedly interviewed Meadows' parents together, making a disclosure of domestic violence all but impossible. And, despite potential red flags of abuse, including her dropping grades, nobody else in Meadows' life attempted to intervene.
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