MIAMI (Court TV) — A Florida woman charged with second-degree murder took the stand to defend her actions, telling jurors she shot and killed her boyfriend in self-defense after he violently attacked her during a drug-fueled rage.
Daisy Link, 32, testified that she fired a single shot at Pedro Jimenez Sr. on June 25, 2022, after he grabbed her by the hair and threw her to the ground outside her South Florida home. The bullet struck Jimenez in the foot and thigh, severing his femoral artery and causing his death.
Daisy Link testifies in her murder trial on Oct. 15, 2025. (Court TV)
“I wasn’t scared of him when he was sober. It was when he was a monster, on drugs, that I was scared,” Link told the jury during her testimony.
Link described a tumultuous nine-year relationship with Jimenez that was marked by domestic violence and drug abuse. Just five days before the fatal shooting, she said Jimenez pistol-whipped her with a gun, leaving her with severe head wounds that required medical treatment.
“It’s not like I didn’t love him, I did,” Link said, explaining why she didn’t immediately call the police after the pistol-whipping incident. Link explained that she worried that if she reported Jimenez to the police, he would be deported.
On the day of the shooting, Link said her mother had come from Texas to help her and her two children escape the abusive relationship. But when Jimenez arrived at the house that afternoon, he was under the influence of cocaine and became enraged when Link admitted she was seeing another man.
“I’m already scared. I can see that he’s using. I can see that he’s been using all day,” Link said. “From what happened a couple days before, my head is still healing.”
The confrontation escalated when Jimenez accused Link of infidelity and became increasingly violent. Link said he choked her multiple times and stole her purse and phone before leaving and returning repeatedly throughout the afternoon. During the final confrontation, Link said she went outside to smoke a cigarette and had the gun with her for protection.
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“Then he charges at me,” Link testified. “He grabbed me by my hair, he threw me to the floor.”
Link said she grabbed the gun and pointed it at Jimenez, telling him to leave. When he turned to head toward the house, Link said she became concerned he would lock her out, and she fired.
“I pointed it at him and told him ‘leave, leave already,'” Link said. “I took a shot. I initially aimed towards the floor as I lifted the gun. I didn’t expect it to hit him. I just thought the sound would scare him off.”
After firing the shot, Jimenez ran away and Link initially thought she had missed him.
“I didn’t – that’s why I didn’t think he was hit at all,” she testified.
When she found Jimenez collapsed in an alley behind her home, Link called 911 and attempted to render aid by applying a tourniquet to his leg. Medical examiner Dr. Benjamin Mathis testified that Jimenez died from blood loss after the bullet severed his femoral artery.
Prosecutors have argued that Link was the aggressor in the relationship and point to evidence that she initially told police she shot Jimenez to scare him. They also presented testimony about a 911 call five days before the shooting, where Link was accused of attacking Jimenez with a skateboard. Under cross-examination, Link admitted that she shot an unarmed man who was running away from her toward the house. The admission came as prosecutors challenged Link’s claims of self-defense, noting that her own mother didn’t call the police despite allegedly seeing the defendant being choked.
Link’s defense attorney, Antonio Tomas, has argued that his client was trying to leave the relationship but that Jimenez was “out of control, unhinged and dangerous.” Family members testified that they had traveled from Texas to help Link escape the abuse.
If convicted of second-degree murder, Link faces up to life in prison.
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