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'Hiccup Girl' Jennifer Mee Charged With Murder In Florida

By Tanya Roth, Esq. on October 26, 2010 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Could there be a link between incurable hiccups and a life of crime? You might think so after hearing that the girl known nationally as the "Hiccup Girl" has been charged with murder. Nineteen-year-old Jennifer Mee was charged with first degree murder for the robbery and shooting of Shannon Griffin, 22. Authorities say Griffin was robbed at gunpoint and fatally wounded when he was lured by Mee to a Florida house.

Sounds like this might be a case of terribly bad karma. Jennifer Mee received national attention as a re-occurring guest on the "Today Show" for having a condition that caused her to hiccup up to 50 times a minute, NBC reports. Mee's hiccups finally dissipated for unknown reasons, but that is when her real problems began.

Mee lured the victim to the apartment where he was robbed at gunpoint and shot, said Sgt. T.A. Skinner of the St. Petersburg Police Department. Although Mee did not pull the trigger, she is still being charged with murder. This is an example of the felony murder rule.

Felony murder is a legal theory that allows accomplices in a violent felony such as rape, or robbery, to be charged with any death occurring during the commission of the crime, even if they were not the one to actually cause the death. The reasoning behind this is that when someone undertakes a dangerous act such as a committing a felony, any reasonable person would realize that it is possible, if not probable, that someone could get killed. Consider it just one more reason not to go around robbing people.

NBC reports Mee and the others involved have admitted their parts in the crime. The "Hiccup Girl," who may now be known by a less flattering name, is currently being held without bond pending an October 24th appearance in Pinellas County Court in Clearwater, Fla. Sadly, unlike the hiccups, these charges wont go away on their own.

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