The "hiccup girl" is on trial for first-degree murder in the 2010 slaying of a 22-year-old man she allegedly lured to a house and killed with the help of two others in an apparent drug robbery gone wrong.
Jennifer Mee, 22, had suffered throughout her teen years from an uncontrollable hiccupping fit that eventually landed her on nationally syndicated TV programs such as the "Today" show to discuss her condition.
At one point in 2007, Mee was documented as having hiccupped up to 50 times in a minute,
the Associated Press reported.
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The hiccups eventually stopped on their own, after Mee had reportedly attempted numerous home remedies, an acupuncturist, and a hypnotist.
Prosecutors accuse Mee of luring 22-year-old Shannon Griffin, a Wal-Mart worker, to a St. Petersburg, Fla., home under the pretense of buying marijuana from him. When he arrived at the residence, Mee and two associates reportedly tried to rob Griffin at gun point, eventually shooting and killing him after the victim resisted.
It is unclear how Mee and Griffen knew each other.. Police say the victim had friended the "hiccup girl" on a social media website just five to six days before the fatal encounter occurred, the AP noted.
Authorities however could not say whether or not Griffin had recognized Mee as the "hiccup girl," before he friended her.
Mee's co-defendant, LaRon Raiford, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in August; however the other co-defendant, Lamont Newton, who was also Mee's boyfriend at the time of the crime, has yet to go to trial, the AP reported.
The center of contention in the trial is whether Mee had planned the robbery and played an active role in Griffen's murder. Under Florida law, people can be convicted of murder if they commit a serious felony crime — such as robbery — and someone was killed as a result, the AP noted.
Mee's attorney, John Trevena, is reportedly arguing that his client was suffering from Tourette's Syndrome at the time of the killing, which being a neurological disorder can cause involuntary movements and speech problems.
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"It won't be used as a direct cause for what occurred but it might help explain her errors in judgment and her often thoughtless response to law enforcement," Trevena told the AP, while still claiming that his client had not participated in the robbery.
Pinellas County Judge Nancy Moate Ley, after questioning prosecutors and attorneys in the case on Monday, told potential jurors that the trial would likely wrap up by the end of the week.
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