JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Michael Dunn was found guilty of first-degree murder by a jury Wednesday after four and a half hours of deliberations.
The verdict represented a huge victory for the State Attorneys' Office, which has devoted two years and prosecuted two high profile trials in an effort to convict Dunn in the death of Jordan Davis. Dunn was accused of killing the 17-year-old in November 2012 after a dispute over loud music.
The half-day deliberations were just a fraction of the 4-day, 30-hour marathon deliberations at the first Dunn trial in February.
The state argued Dunn's actions after the shooting – failing to call police, returning to his hotel with his fiancé for pizza and a cocktail – showed indifference to his crime and victim. "All of his actions are consistent with what?" Assistant State Attorney John Guy asked jurors. "With guilt."
Dunn's attorney Waffa Hanania argued that Dunn legitimately felt fear and acted upon that fear, within the legal scope of self-defense. She also accused the teenager's friends of lying to protect Davis' reputation, and to cover the fact "that Jordan Davis escalated this situation where he ended up dead."
Dunn testified Tuesday that he shot at the teens' SUV because he feared for his life. He claimed Davis hurled insults and threats of violence, and was stepping out of his vehicle with what Dunn believed was a gun when he grabbed his own handgun and began firing.
Dunn said the reason he didn't call police that night was because his fiancé wanted to go home, and he wanted to face a more familiar local police in Satellite Beach, rather than deal with Jacksonville law enforcement.
A jury previously convicted Dunn of three counts of attempted second-degree murder at his first trial in February for the teens inside the SUV with Davis when he died, but deadlocked on a murder charge for the death of Davis.