Jennifer Mee

Jennifer Ann Mee (born July 28, 1991) is a convicted American murderer known as the "Hiccup Girl" for her long-lasting case of the hiccups. Mee appeared on national American television shows such as NBC's Today Show many times. Mee was arrested for first-degree murder in 2010. After a trial she was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2013. M. William Phelps wrote a book about her that was published in 2016. Her transmutation from "media darling" to convicted murderer attracted renewed national attention.

"Hiccup girl" case In 2007, when Mee was 15 years old, she gained international fame when she developed a case of uncontrollable hiccups. She appeared on television shows all over the United States hoping to find a cure. Mee claimed to be hiccupping 50 times a minute. National media competed to book her for morning shows.

Mee, Raiford, and Newton all lived together and were arrested within hours of the crime. According to Sergeant Skinner of the St. Petersburg Police Department, Mee and her accomplices admitted to their involvement in the crime.

Trial Prior to the trial, Mee's lawyer, John Trevena, offered to have Mee plead guilty in exchange for a 15-year sentence. Laron Raiford had been offered a sentence of 40 years in exchange for a guilty plea, but he rejected the deal.

During the trial, the prosecution played a recording of a jailhouse phone call between Mee and her mother. During the call, Mee told her mother, "I didn't kill nobody...I set everything up. It all went wrong, Mom. It [expletive] just went downhill after everything happened, Mom." Also, experts testified that Mee's DNA was found on the victim's shirt. Mee's lawyer claimed his client had schizophrenia. The judge ordered a psychological evaluation; however, it was determined that Mee was competent to stand trial. Another defense used by her lawyer was that Mee's hiccups were a symptom of Tourette's syndrome.

In 2013, Mee was found guilty of felony murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Her co-defendants – Laron Raiford and Lamont Newton – were both convicted of first-degree murder and also sentenced to life in prison. Her sentence was criticized in an article in the Hastings Women's Law Journal as purportedly disparate from that which would be imposed upon a similarly situated male.