After Partial Verdict, What Happens Next in 'Loud Music' Case? - East Idaho News
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After Partial Verdict, What Happens Next in ‘Loud Music’ Case?

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courtroom?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1392575061427iStock/Thinkstock(JACKSONVILLE, Fla.) — The partial verdict in a polarizing Florida murder trial upset both the prosecution and the defense.

Michael Dunn, 47, who was accused of murder for killing a teenager in a dispute over loud music, was found guilty Saturday on four of five charges.

The jury found Dunn guilty of three counts of attempted second degree murder for shooting at other teens in car and one count of firing a gun into an occupied car.

However, the jury could not decide on a verdict in the first-degree murder charge, even after deliberating for days.

Dunn was accused of killing Jordan Davis, 17, in a Jacksonville, Fla., convenience store parking lot after they argued on Nov. 23, 2102.

The verdict means that Dunn will spend at least 60 years in jail for the attempted murder charges, likely for the rest of his life. However, there’s a chance that the prosecution will not retry Dunn for Davis’ death.

For Davis’ family, the mistrial on the murder charge has left them wondering if there will ever be a definitive verdict.

“We will continue to wait for justice for Jordan,” Davis’ mother Lucia McBath told reporters after the verdict. “It’s sad for Mr. Dunn that he will live the rest of his life in that sense of torment and I will pray for him.”

The mother of Leland Brunson, another teen in the car with Davis during the shooting, issued a statement after the verdict saying, “Justice has been served but its not complete.”

State attorney Angela Corey said prosecutors plan to retry Dunn on the first-degree murder charge.

“We don’t back off trying to retry,” Corey said. “We intend to fully push for a trial right here in Jacksonville.”

Corey also defended her office’s decision to try Dunn on the first-degree murder charge and said they had not “overcharged” him. Corey’s office also prosecuted George Zimmerman, who was acquitted in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

Corey told reporters that if the defense attorneys thought their client had been overcharged they could have filed a motion to dismiss. The jurors had the option to find Dunn guilty on a lesser charge, including second-degree murder or manslaughter.

“I’m not really sure why any criminal defense attorney would ever complain or chronically complain about over-charges,” Corey said.

Dunn’s lawyer Cory Strolla said his client was shocked by the result.

“He’s in disbelief. It has not sunk in. Even when he sat next to me he said ‘how is this happening?'” Strolla told reporters.

Dunn is tentatively scheduled to be sentenced on March 24.

Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio

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