First-degree...means you planned this out, and you knew precisely what would occur. Second-degree...means you just did it on the spur-of-the-moment, and there was no intent or plan in progress. So, it’s hard to imagine anyone coming up to a first-degree verdict.
If folks aren’t happy with the process...they can go to North Korea and just throw some dice on the floor to figure your verdict, and wait to be shot...with the innocent or guilty vote.
Weren’t there jurors in Zimmerman who thought he was guilty too? This is more media nonsense designed to fan the flames.
I wonder if there would be so much outrage if the defendant was black.
I have, previously, gotten in trouble for saying this in a less than politically correct manner so I will say it as politely as possible. There are really no circumstances where I can see myself approaching a black male or group of black males out on the streets and initiating any kind of conversation with them for any reason and I am quite happy to have them extend the same courtesy to me. This is especially true for groups of young black men. I will say it again. I will NEVER EVER under any circumstances approach a black man or a group of black men and initiate ANY kind of conversation with them because this is the kind of trouble that it leads to in this exceedingly hostile era. Call it racist if you want but I call it common freaking sense.
The killer got what he deserved. Case closed.
2nd degree would have been a lock.
Angela Corey must deliberately overcharge to assure acquittal and the accompanying outrage from the low-information types.
I saw this juror on ABC this morning —
She said that the jury was divided 9 to 3 on the murder one count with 3 holding out for self defense.
It’s hard to understand their agreement on the other counts but inability to find a compromise on this one.
It would be nice to hear from one of the other three — did they really believe that he had a gun in the vehicle or were they just being absurd to make apolitical point against Stand Your Ground.
The reason I say this is because of the interview with Davis’s parents following this lady’s interview. His parents said that justice will have been achieved for her son when Stand Your Ground is amended — not when Dunn is convicted of her son’s murder.
I couldn't hear the radio in my car over the noise. It was so loud and distorted it scared the crap out of one of my dogs and made my broken inner ear vibrate in a very painful way. OMG Make it STOP!
This went on for each of the next three long wait lights, each about a block apart, and I was lucky to finally find a break in traffic to get away from the painful noise.
After that, I could see how someone could get shot for inflicting that sort of discomfort/pain on others and I can see how someone might "snap" and pull the trigger, trading one kind of noise for another.
A lot of the law for this was originally formulated after jury decisions in the 19th Century, mostly West of the Mississippi. Importantly, juries back then were not terribly different from juries today, and there were pro- and anti-gun jurors. Much of what they did concerned both the context of the event, and the common sense involved.
In this case, he approached their vehicle to ask them to turn down their music. Just that, by itself, was a civil act and not unusual. But then, when they turned their music back up, this was an act of defiance and passive aggression. But still legal.
His major error was in arming himself and returning to their vehicle. This was a major blunder in two ways. First it made him an armed aggressor. And second, he made the deadly assumption that having a gun gives you control and domination over others.
At that point, it didn’t matter whether they were armed or not, because that in no way mitigates his bad behavior. At that point, the assumption has to be that his gun was not for defense, but for either coercion or attack.
He started a fight, and murdered a man. And having returned to his vehicle and retrieved a gun, then going back, shows premeditation, not irrational heat of anger.
Dunn claims that after he asked the antisocial unmannerly punks to turn down their extremely loud “music” they responded by pointing a shotgun at him and he shot at them in self-defense. I believe him. He is being railroaded because he killed a son of Obama.
Its all emotional with these people who want to convict everyone of 1st degree murder.
This guy Dunn is guilty of poor judgement leading to the death of someone and he is prolly guilty of attempted murder or agravated manslaughter but not 1st degree murder. In any case he is going to the slam for a long time.
It doesn't sound like the degree of the murder charge was the issue. Three jurors thought it was self defense, and probably would have hung the verdict if it had been second degree murder or even manslaugher.