Siwatu-Salama Ra, 28, a mother-of-two, was convicted in 2018 for waiving the firearm at a three-time felon, who, she said, rammed her car into hers and started making threats towards her family outside her home

A Detroit activist who was forced to give birth in jail last year after she was sentenced to two years in prison for brandishing a registered, unloaded firearm to defend herself could be heading back behind bars once again as prosecutors seek a new trial after her original conviction was overturned.

Siwatu-Salama Ra, 28, a mother-of-two, was convicted in 2018 for waiving the firearm at a three-time felon, who, she said, rammed her car and started making threats towards her family outside her home.

Seven months pregnant at the time of her sentencing, Ra was handed a mandatory two-year prison term, despite being a registered gun owner, living in a ‘Stand your Ground’ state and having no prior criminal record.

Ra recalled for the Reno Gazette Journal the horror she endured giving birth at the Huron Valley Correctional Facility, shackled to a bed as officers stood near-by laughing and playing on their phones, after an appeal to delay her sentence until after she’d given birth was denied.

‘No woman should have to sit and bear the pain of giving birth alone while officers laugh and chuckle and play on their phones while you’re trying to bring life into this world,’ she said.

Long maintaining the incident was an act of self-defense, an appeals court threw out Ra's conviction in August, calling her actions ‘reasonable’, with her attorney claiming her trial was littered with a ‘parade of errors’ from the beginning.

But on Friday, Ra’s nightmare was reignited when she appeared in Wayne County Court, tears dripping from her eyes, to the news prosecutors will be re-trying her on assault and gun charges.

Ra recalled for the Reno Gazette Journal the horror she endured giving birth at the Huron Valley Correctional Facility, shackled to a bed as officers stood near-by laughing and playing on their phones, after an appeal to delay her sentence until after she’d given birth was denied

On Friday, Ra’s nightmare was reignited, as she appeared in Wayne County Court, tears dripping from her eyes, as she heard prosecutors will be looking to re-try her on assault and gun charges

‘It felt like they just wanted to punish me more,’ Ra, a co-executive director of an environmental justice group who represented Detroit at the Paris Climate talks, said outside the court.

Though no shots were fired and no one was injured in the July 16, 2017, altercation, the prosecution argue that Ra acted in anger, not self-defense, when she pulled the gun from her glove box, and that Ra was the aggressor, rather than the other woman involved.

‘I expected that this case would be simple. I thought that I had the right to protect myself and my family. That’s why I thought we had gun laws,’ said Ra told the Journal. ‘I thought that justice would be served. ... I prayed that justice would show itself ... and I was wrong.’

According to the activist, the incident was sparked when a woman showed up at Ra's mother's house to pick up her high school daughter. The teen was asked to leave, court records show, because she had gotten into a previous fight with Ra's niece, and wasn't welcome at the house.

Ra, who was standing on the front lawn, says the girl’s mother was angry and started yelling from her car when she arrived at the home. The woman then backed into her parked car as her daughter played inside, and then drove toward her on the lawn, almost hitting her.

Ra ran to get her daughter out of the car, handed her over to her niece and ordered them to go inside. She then went back to the car, pulled an unloaded gun from the glove box and pointed at the woman, telling her to leave.

Though no shots were fired and no one was injured in the July 16, 2017, altercation, the prosecution argue that Ra acted in anger, not self-defense, when she pulled the gun from her glove box, and that Ra was the aggressor, rather than the other woman involved

I expected that this case would be simple. I thought that I had the right to protect myself and my family. That’s why I thought we had gun laws,’ said Ra told the Journal. ‘I thought that justice would be served. ... I prayed that justice would show itself ... and I was wrong’

On the contrary, however, the prosecution say the woman didn’t hit Ra’s car on purpose, but rather ‘scraped it by accident’ in a panic when Ra pulled out the gun.

The woman in the car took photos of Ra with her cellphone when she pulled the gun, which prosecutors used at trial to convince the jury Ra was out of control and angry.

Ra’s attorney, Wade Fink, says he’s frustrated with the continuation of the case, and the ‘miscarriages of justice’ he witnessed in his client’s initial trial. Particularly that a judge wouldn’t let her have her baby first – despite prosecutors agreeing – and that he was not allowed to cross examine the other woman about her criminal history.

Fink said the jury were never able to hear the other woman involved had three felony convictions, including assault with a shotgun, and was on parole for felony assault at the time of the incident.

‘For two judges to keep this pregnant woman behind bars knowing the facts of the case?’ Fink said. ‘That just encapsulates how the system has been wrong here.’

The attorney says he believed he should’ve been able to make the argument to the jury the woman was lying about what happened that night because she knew she’d be heading back to jail for breaching the terms of her probation.

Ra’s attorney, Wade Fink, says he’s frustrated with the continuation of the case, and the ‘miscarriages of justice’ he witnessed in his client’s initial trial. Particularly that a judge wouldn’t let her have her baby first – despite prosecutors agreeing – and that he was not allowed to cross examine the other woman about her criminal history

‘No woman should have to sit and bear the pain of giving birth alone while officers laugh and chuckle and play on their phones while you’re trying to bring life into this world,’ Ra, a co-executive director of an environmental justice group who represented Detroit at the Paris Climate said.

‘The Michigan Court of Appeals remanded the case for a new trial. The court's ruling was largely based upon the absence of a requested jury instruction,’ Fink said.

‘I remain hopeful that [Wayne County Prosecutor] Kym Worthy is going to look at this and say enough is enough.’

That's justice. Just dismiss it,’ said Fink. ‘For God’s sake, let this woman get on with her life.’

Ra had already spent nine-months in prison by the time her conviction was overturned in August.

However, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office declined to comment on Fink’s request.

‘The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office will re-try this case. The Michigan Court of Appeals remanded the case for a new trial. The court’s ruling was largely based upon the absence of a requested jury instruction,’ a statement from a spokesperson reads.

A new trial date has been set for February 18.