The verdict is in \u2013 Guilty on four of five counts, but a hung jury mistrial on the fifth and foremost \u2013 yet State v. Michael Dunn <\/i>is far from over. The sentencing phase is still to come, and State\u2019s Attorney Angela Corey has promised a second trial in the death of Jordan Davis.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve now heard from two jurors, both of whom emphatically said race was not an issue in their deliberations. It certainly is to the media, though, and thanks to the media, it\u2019s a huge issue in public opinion.<\/p>\n
Pundits are saying that Dunn will spend the rest of his life in prison with multiple twenty-year sentences for attempted murder, including Florida\u2019s mandatory sentencing for crimes committed with guns and shots fired.\u00a0 I won\u2019t be counting those chickens until they\u2019re hatched. That outcome presumes consecutive sentences.\u00a0 The judge, who strikes this writer as having been very fair and impartial throughout the proceeding, has the option of giving the sentences concurrently.\u00a0 By some estimates, that could mean only twenty years total.\u00a0 One pundit expected 80% service of sentence before eligibility for parole: down to sixteen years.\u00a0 Credit for time already served in jail awaiting trial, and Dunn might be down to fifteen years, getting out of prison when he\u2019s still younger than me.<\/p>\n
Re-trial? Ms. Corey might want to rethink that. We know now that three people on the jury held out for self-defense in the shooting death of Jordan Davis.\u00a0 25% of the jury.\u00a0 That smells like reasonable doubt to me.\u00a0 Some of Dunn\u2019s advocates claim the teens<\/a> were seen removing something from their SUV and hiding it before returning to the shooting scene. I don\u2019t recall any such witness testimony actually going before the jury. However, if such a witness surfaces and proves willing to testify in the second trial, the \u201cphantom shotgun\u201d Dunn claimed Davis wielded is going to be a whole lot more solid, and his story a whole lot more credible, and it could turn into a Not Guilty.<\/p>\n