In the first interview with a jury member since the controversial verdict was handed down in the trial of Michael Dunn, who shot and killed 17-year-old unarmed Jordan Davis, one juror spoke with Byron Pitts of ABC News. She says that the jury vote was deadlocked 9-3 to convict Dunn of first-degree murder.
Pitts, who spoke with The Root after his exclusive interview, says that juror No. 4, as she was known, and who would only give her first name, Valerie, believed that race was not a factor in the shooting. She also claims that the race of the victim or the accused was never mentioned during the deliberations, which she told Pitts became very heated and included shouting and profanity.
Dunn was charged with and found guilty of three counts of attempted second-degree murder for shooting into the car that included Jordan and three friends, but the jury was deadlocked on the one count of first-degree murder for the fatal shooting of Jordan.
Valerie told Pitts that the jury was deadlocked from the beginning on the first-degree-murder charge with an initial vote of 10-2, and that by the end of more than 30 hours of deliberations, one of the jurors in the guilty camp had doubts, making the final vote 9-3.
The 30-something home nurse administrator told Pitts that she believes Dunn got away with murder and that the majority of the jurors felt that Dunn instigated the confrontation and that he had several options to back away.
Valerie agrees with State Attorney Angela Corey's decision to retry Dunn on the first-degree-murder charge.