Man who shot teen in loud-music dispute convicted of murder in retrial with 'racial overtones'
Jurors in Florida on Wednesday convicted a software developer of first-degree murder in the shooting death of a teen following a dispute over loud music in a gas station parking lot.
Jurors convicted 47-year-old Michael Dunn in a retrial, report First Coast News, CNN and the New York Times. Prosecutors claimed Dunn fatally shot 17-year-old Jordan Davis in anger when the teen cursed and showed disrespect after Dunn asked Davis and his friends to turn down the music blaring from their car.
Dunn had testified the music was “obnoxiously loud” and “it was hurting my ears,” but he maintained he fired in self-defense, Reuters reported in a story recounting his testimony.
Dunn had claimed he fired after Davis pointed a shotgun at him. Police didn’t find any shotgun and witnesses said they didn’t see one. Prosecutors said Dunn showed indifference when he returned to his hotel and ate pizza after the shooting without calling police.
“From the start, the Dunn case was infused with racial overtones,” the Times says, “renewing the national debate over racial profiling and its possible consequences. Mr. Dunn is white and the teenagers black.”
In the first trial, jurors convicted Dunn of three counts of attempted murder for firing his gun at other teens in the car but they could not agree on the first-degree murder charge. The second jury—consisting of 10 whites and two blacks—was less diverse than the first, the Times says.
The victim’s father Ron Davis, said the verdict on Wednesday made Jacksonville “a shining example that you could have a jury made of mostly white people, white men,” that can return a just verdict in a racially charged case. “Hopefully this is the start where we don’t have to look at the makeup of the jury,” he said.
