The youngest member of the jury that convicted Michael Dunn of attempted murder in the shooting death of unarmed teen, Jordan Davis, says the case had nothing to do with race.
Juror No. 8, a 21-year-old Black woman, said the goal was finding justice regardless of the skin color. “I never once thought about ‘Oh this is a Black kid, this was a White guy’ because that wasn’t the case,” she said.
Dunn, gunned down 17-year-old Jordan Davis at a Florida gas station in November 2012. The 47-year-old claims Davis and his friends refused to turn their “thug music” down, and after a verbal exchange, pulled a weapon out of his glove compartment an unloaded 10 bullets into the car holding Davis and his friends. The teen was hit with three of the 10 bullets.
The parallels between Dunn’s alleged misperception of the three Black teens have been compared to the Trayvon Martin shooting. “It was about justice,” the juror 8 said. “When I walked into it I just wanted to bring justice to whoever it was. If it was Michael Dunn I wanted to bring justice to him….if it was Kevin, Tommy, or Jordan, I wanted to bring justice to them.”
After the shooting Dunn drove back to his home, more than 90 miles away, before police arrested him. Dunn maintains that he thought he saw a gun in the teens’ car. He testified that his car mirror was “shaking” and his eardrums were “vibrating” from the teens’ loud music.
Of the shooting itself, the accused killer said he would’ve never put his freedom on the line if he didn’t believe his life was in jeopardy. “I got a place on the beach. I got a great house. I got a great girl. We just got a new puppy,” Dunn said. “There is no reason for me to jeopardize that.”
He was charged with, and pleaded not-guilty to, first-degree murder. Jurors were unable to reach a verdict on the murder charge, juror No. 8 also believes him to be guilty, of second-degree murder. Another juror shared a similar viewpoint on ABC’s Nightline earlier in the week.
Dunn is likely to be sentenced to more than 60 years in prison for the triple attempted murder convictions, and an additional charge for firing his gun.
According to special prosecutor Angela Corey, Dunn will be tried again for first-degree murder.
Watch the video of Juror #8 below.
Photo: YouTube
