Michael Dunn, the murderer that gunned down Jordan Davis was convicted on 3 counts of attempted second-degree murder. He was also convicted of one count of firing into an occupied car. The jury was hung on the most important charge, first degree murder.
In other words the jury had no problems convicting Michael done for attempting to kill the three young black teenagers. They could not agree that killing the fourth black teenager was first degree murder.
What is disconcerting is that a conviction on first degree murder should not have been difficult at all. His fiancé said he described the music the kids were playing as thug music. It was Michael Dunn who confronted the kids. Before Michael Dunn shot up the SUV, a witness heard him tell one of the kids, “You are not going to talk to me like that.” His fiancé said at no time did he mention the kids had a gun. Michael Dunn left the scene without calling 911 or reporting the incident. No gun was ever found either in the SUV or in the vicinity.
According to CNN,
The incomplete finale to this emotional, hot-button trial — partly because of the fact Dunn is white and the teenagers who were shot at, including Davis, are black — echoed George Zimmerman’s trial for the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin about 120 miles down the road in Sanford, Florida. While stand your ground wasn’t used by Dunn, his lawyers did argue that he fired in self-defense.
Given the partially hung jury, State Attorney Angela Corey said prosecutors would press for a new trial in Duval County on the murder charge.
“Justice for Jordan Davis is as important as it is for any victim,” said Corey, whose office also handled the Zimmerman case.
Even without a final decision on the murder count — and pending defense appeals — the 47-year-old Dunn is looking at a lengthy prison term.
Prosecutor Erin Wolfson explained Saturday night that each attempted second-degree murder conviction carries a minimum sentence of at least 20 years. There’s also a 15-year sentence possible on the conviction for shooting in the teenager’s vehicle.
“You are looking at basically at life in prison,” Strolla said, even as he vowed to challenge the convictions. “At 47 years old, that’s a life sentence regardless of count one.”
The decision to convict on these counts, and not on murder, didn’t come easily for a jury that had deliberated for about 30 hours since getting the case late Wednesday.
Judge Russell Healey acknowledged earlier Saturday that the jury of four white women, two black women, four white men, an Asian woman and a Hispanic man was “struggling, obviously.”
Michael Dunn will be retried.
State Attorney Angela Corey said that Michael Dunn will be retried on the first-degree murder charge. This far the jury has declined to talk to the media.
Hopefully the prosecution will find some way include Michael Dunn’s neighbor who had some very damaging things to say about his character, use of drugs, and violent nature in this video. This verdict has had a personal effect on me. It furthers the realized narrative that one can kill black and brown men and have a good chance of no penalty, an acquittal by one’s peers. I expressed my personal distress here. Others as well feel a responsibility to speak out. It is time that all Americans come together and speak out against laws that make an acquittal for indiscriminate killing plausible,