The trial of Michael Dunn, a white Floridian who fatally shot an unarmed black teen after complaining about his “thug music,” came to a contentious end last week when a jury deadlocked over the charge of first-degree murder, but convicted Dunn of three counts of attempted murder for firing at the deceased teenager’s friends. The confrontation occurred at a Jacksonville gas station in 2012, when Dunn, 47, asked 17-year-old Jordan Davis and his three friends to turn down the rap music in their SUV. Dunn testified that he acted in self-defense when he fired 10 shots from a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol, saying he’d seen Davis wield an object resembling a shotgun. But investigators found no evidence of a shotgun. “Jordan Davis didn’t have a weapon. He had a big mouth,” said prosecutor John Guy. “That defendant wasn’t going to stand for it, and it cost Jordan Davis his life.”
Dunn’s lawyer said his client was “devastated” by the verdict, which leaves him facing a possible 60-year sentence. Prosecutors also decried the verdict and said they would seek a retrial on the first-degree murder charge.
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