Was Michael Dunn in fear for his life when he shot and killed 17-year-old Jordan Davis in the parking lot of a Florida gas station, or was he just angry over being disrespected?
That is the question at the center of the first-degree murder trial that began in Jacksonville Thursday.
Dunn, 46, is accused of firing at least 10 shots into the red Dodge Durango that the 17-year-old Davis and three other teen boys were riding in on the day after Thanksgiving 2012. He is charged with one count of first degree murder, three counts of attempted first-degree murder, and one count of shooting into an occupied vehicle. Dunn has pleaded not guilty and maintains that he shot at the teens in self-defense.
In his opening statement, prosecutor John Guy told the jury that just after Dunn pulled up beside the teens at the Jacksonville gas station around 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 23, Dunn said to his girlfriend, “I hate that thug music.”
Guy said that Dunn asked the teens to turn the music down and that he and Davis exchanged “F-bombs” because Davis “didn’t want to be told what to listen to or at what volume to listen to it.”
He continued: “Jordan Davis was upset, no doubt. He was cussing, no doubt…but he never threatened the defendant. He disrespected the defendant.”
Dunn’s defense attorney, Cory Strolla, told the jury a different story. Read more about the story here. Watch a news clip below
