After deliberating for three hours, a jury found Alexandria Griste guilty of imperfect self-defense manslaughter on Friday in the shooting death of her boyfriend Corey Lyles in June 2022.

The prosecution and defense rested their cases Thursday afternoon after three days of testimony. On Friday morning, they gave their closing arguments, each reiterating the testimony and evidence presented during the trial.

According to testimony, on June 7, 2022, Griste and Lyles were arguing via text after he left the home without telling her. During the text argument, they discussed Lyles picking up food from McDonald’s for her and her children. Then the argument continued via the texts. Griste sent a message to Lyles that if he came home, he would be “dead.” She retrieved a 9 mm gun from her sock drawer and waited for him to pull up where they continued to argue. She said she only wanted to warn him and make him leave the property.

Griste told investigators that Lyles was angry and was aggressively coming at her. She said she fired three warning shots but Lyles didn’t stop advancing, and then shot him in the upper left chest area through a window in their door. Lyles’ body was found several feet away from the door.

District Attorney Ben Creekmore said there was no indication that Lyles meant to harm Griste since he returned to the house with food for Griste and her two children and remained in his vehicle for several minutes. It was Griste who came out of the house and “stirred things up,” Creekmore said.

“It went from a heart in a text message to a bullet in his heart,” Creekmore told the jury.

Defense attorney Steve Farese told the jury that the state did not present any evidence that proved his client was not in fear for her safety and that she had been open and cooperative with the police from the start when she called 911 to report she had shot Lyles.

She told detectives that Lyles was an MMA fighter and she was scared and that he had hurt her before, although no evidence of past abuse was presented during the trial. She said she didn’t mean to kill him but she did mean to shoot him.

“What kind of world is it if a woman can’t protect herself and her children?” Farese said during his closing argument.

Click here to read more about the evidence and testimony presented during the trial.

Circuit Court Judge Gray Tollison instructed the jury that they could find Griste guilty of first-degree murder, her original charge, or guilty of imperfect self-defense manslaughter or not guilty of either.

Imperfect self-defense is when someone kills another person due to an honest but unreasonable belief that they or someone close to them was in danger of death or great bodily injury.

Griste faces up to 20 years in prison.

A sentencing hearing will be held at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 22 at the Lafayette County Courthouse.