Update, February 15, 7:20 p.m. ET: A Florida jury has found Michael Dunn guilty on four counts, including three charges of attempted murder. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on a fifth charge of first-degree murder. Judge Healey has thus declared a mistrial on this count alone, according to CNN.
Original story, February 15, 7:00 p.m. ET: After deliberating for four days in the trial of Michael Dunn, a middle-aged white man who shot and killed a black teenager during a dispute over loud rap music, a Florida jury has reached a verdict on all counts except a first-degree murder charge.
Michael Dunn, 47, fired into an SUV carrying four black teenagers at a gas station parking lot in Jacksonville, Florida, killing 17-year-old Jordan Davis. Dunn was charged with pre-meditated murder, three counts of attempted first-degree murder, and one count of firing a deadly missile into an occupied vehicle. It is the most severe count, pre-meditated murder, which the jury has yet to decide.
Dunn testified earlier this week he fired in self-defense, believing he saw a gun pointed at him from the window of the SUV. Prosecutors say the teens were unarmed and that Dunn shot at the car because he felt disrespected. Jurors will have to decide if Dunn had reasonable belief his life was threatened, as Florida self-defense law goes.
Judge Russell Healey, who is presiding over the trial, has asked the jurors to keep deliberating. Via CNN:
“I want you to go back into the jury room, then taking turns tell each of the other jurors about any weaknesses of your own position,” the judge told the jurors, several of whom looked down and nodded as he spoke. “You should not interrupt each other or comment on each other’s views until each of you has had a chance to talk.”
If jurors are unable to reach a decision after several more hours or days, a hung jury on this one count is possible.
Correction: The orginial article misspelled the last name of Judge Russell Healey. The text has been corrected.
