Verdict Reached in Loud Music Murder Trial

A Jacksonville, Fla., jury reached a split verdict Saturday in the trial of the man accused of shooting into a car of teenagers and killing one of them after an argument about the music they played.

The shooting killed Jordan Russell Davis, 17, of Marietta.

After four days of deliberating, the jury convicted Michael David Dunn on three counts of attempted second-degree murder and one count of firing a gun into an occupied vehicle.

The jury couldn’t decide on the first-degree murder charge and a mistrial was declared.

Dunn, 47, who is white, was accused of killing Davis, who was black, in 2012 after an argument over the music coming from the vehicle in which Davis and three friends were sitting.

Dunn allegedly fired 10 shots into the vehicle in a Jacksonville convenience store parking lot .

The case drew comparisons to last year’s highly publicized George Zimmerman-Trayvon Martin case in nearby Sanford, Fla., which resulted in Zimmerman being acquitted of second-degree murder.

On a late November 2012 evening, Davis and the other teenagers were sitting in an SUV in the convenience store parking lot when Dunn and his girlfriend pulled into the store’s lot.

Dunn reportedly asked the teens to turn down the music playing in their vehicle. After he and Davis exchanged words, Dunn shot and killed Davis, authorities said.

After fleeing the scene, Dunn was arrested at his home the next day on charges of murder and attempted murder.

According to the police report, Dunn said he saw a gun and felt threatened. Police never found the weapon. 

According to WSB TV, Davis split time at his mother’s home in Marietta and in Jacksonville with his father.