South Carolina Jury Find Black Man Who Confessed to Killing White Man Not Guilty of Murder, Spend Less Than 2 Hrs In Deliberations

Information Liberation ^ | May 31, 2021 | Chris Menahan

[Angelino97]

Devon Dontray Dunham has been found not guilty of murder in the shooting death of unarmed former volunteer fire chief Ernest Martin Stevens, 77, despite his confession and 19 witnesses taking the stand against him.

The shooting took place near Stevens' home in Hardeeville, South Carolina on Aug 10, 2017.

According to Dunham's lawyer, an armed Dunham "wanted a ride" from Stevens and approached him while he was sitting in his Ford F-150 in a parking lot "but felt threatened" by him and saw him "reach for something" so he decided to unload all 8 rounds of his 9 mm handgun into Stevens' truck before running away.

Dunham struck Stevens with four bullets that hit his jaw, left arm, back and chest and fatally injured his heart and lung.

Stevens was unarmed.

Dunham initially lied to police and "denied knowing anything about the shooting" and "said he wasn't in the city at the time" before confessing and claiming he "wasn't trying to hurt him" when he unloaded into his car.

Dunham appears to have been acquitted because his lawyer made vague insinuations that racism may have been at play. Even though said insinuations were swiftly shut down by the judge, at least one member of the jury appears to have decided that was all they needed to hear and found him not guilty after less than 2 hours of deliberations.

[jeffersondem]

“Did I ever say he didn't or shouldn't have a trial? There is no defense for the fact he won't even be charged! Did you read everything I wrote?”

If I did I did not understand it.

I thought Ralph Yarl was the one shot and that the shooter was likely going to be charged with something.