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Friday, April 19, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Florida Man Gets Life |for ‘Loud Music’ Killing

(CN) - A Florida man convicted of first-degree murder for fatally shooting a teenager after an argument over loud music has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

In handing down the sentence, Duvall County Judge Russell Healey told 47-year-old Michael Dunn that his "life is effectively over."

"What is said is that this case exemplifies that our society seems to have lost its way," Healey continued.

Dunn was convicted of first-degree murder in September; a jury deadlocked on the charge in an earlier trial.

Prosecutors said Dunn, who is white, fired 10 times into a sport utility vehicle carrying four black teenagers outside a Jacksonville convenience store in November 2012. Jordon Davis, a 17 year old from Marietta, Georgia, was killed in the hail of bullets.

During his two trials, prosecutors said Dunn had gotten into a heated argument over the volume of music from the SUV. Dunn was convicted of three counts of second-degree murder at his first trial, largely because witnesses said he continued to fire at the vehicle as the driver tried to get away.

Dunn testified at both of his trials, maintaining that he only fired in self-defense, and that he continued shooting as the SUV pulled away because he feared one of the teens was armed and would shoot back at him.

Judge Healey sentenced Dunn to a minimum of 60 years in prison on the charges, to be serve consecutively with his life sentence.

At his sentencing, Dunn apologized to Davis's parents, saying he truly regretted what happened.

"If I could roll back time and do things differently, I would," he said.

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