The fate of Michael Dunn, the 47-year-old man who pumped nine bullets into a parked SUV carrying three teenagers and killing 17-year-old Jordan Davis, lies with a Florida jury.
On the first full day of jury deliberations in the first-degree-murder charges against Dunn, the jury has asked to see a foam mannequin used as a visual aid to show where the teenager was struck, after an argument about the volume of the music coming from the vehicle in which Jordan was sitting, ABC News reports.
Also at stake for the jury of seven woman and four men is a potential national debate, since many see this shooting as the second time a Florida man has murdered an unarmed teenage black boy.
Dunn is being charged with first-degree murder for the November 2013 shooting, which could result in a life sentence. The jury has also been instructed that they can consider lesser charges including second-degree murder, manslaughter, justifiable homicide or excusable homicide, ABC News reports.
Wednesday during closing arguments prosecutors said there were several inconsistencies between Dunn's words and actions that night in November when he opened fire on the SUV.
CNN reports that Assistant State Attorney Erin Wolfson told jurors that Dunn fired 10 shots at the vehicle, three of them while the car was fleeing. She stressed the point that Dunn never took cover—but instead opened his car door—even though he would later tell detectives that he had seen a weapon, CNN reports.
Most importantly, "There was no gun," Wolfson told jurors.
She added that Dunn didn't tell his fiancee, Rhonda Rouer, that he had seen a gun until more than a month later, CNN reports.
Wolfson also pointed out that Dunn not only left the scene of the fatal shooting but went back to the hotel where he and his fiancee were staying and walked his dog.
The next morning, Dunn drove more than two hours away from the incident to return home even after having seen reports on the news the night before, never calling 911, Wolfson said, CNN reports. "This defendant didn't tell anyone because he thought he had gotten away with murder," she said. She also added that Dunn had no idea that a witness had taken down his tag number, CNN reports.
Loud music blared from the red Dodge Durango parked at the gas station.
Dunn would testify that he called the music "rap crap" to his fiancee. "His blood started to boil; he didn't like the music that was coming out of the car next to him; he got angrier and angrier," Wolfson said.
Dunn claims that he rolled down his window and asked the teens to turn down the volume. They did. Then, they turned it back up, Wolfson said. "He got angry at the fact that a 17-year-old kid decided not to listen to him," she said.
She added that Dunn then pulled a 9 mm gun out of his glove box and shot "systematically and methodically" at the SUV: "Nobody denied that Jordan was talking back. But this defendant took it upon himself to silence Jordan Davis forever."
On Tuesday Dunn testified that he saw Jordan reach down and pick something up. He claimed he saw "four inches of a barrel" from a 12- or 20-gauge shotgun above the window.
"You're not going to kill me," Dunn claimed he said to himself, and then louder, "You're not going to kill me, you son of a bitch!" Dunn told jurors that he opened the glove compartment, grabbed his pistol, dropped the holster at his feet, chambered a round and began firing, CNN reports.
Nine of the 10 shots fired hit the SUV and three bullets struck Jordan, with one of them cutting through his liver, his lung and his aorta.
Dunn's defense lawyer, Cory Strolla, fought back, claiming that no witnesses testified that they heard Dunn using any hate words, because he didn't. He also noted that Dunn and his fiancee had just left a wedding, where, his ex-wife testified, he had appeared to be in a good mood, CNN reports.
Strolla noted that the SUV left the gas station directly after the shooting for three minutes before it returned, which would have been more than enough time for the youths to have dumped a gun.
Since the detectives didn't secure the area upon arrival and didn't search the surrounding area until days later, the weapon that Dunn claimed he saw could have easily been disposed of, Strolla said.
Witnesses for the prosecution argued that Jordan couldn't have stepped out of the SUV to approach Dunn—which Dunn claims happened—because the child locks were engaged. But Dunn's attorney's argued that Jordan could have very easily lifted the handle through window which was open, SUV.
"You have lack of evidence, conflicts of evidence and reasonable doubt," Strolla told the jurors.
"That defendant didn't shoot into a car full of kids to save his life," Assistant State Attorney John Guy said during rebuttal, CNN reports. "He shot into it to preserve his pride. Period. That's why we're here."