Florida man sentenced to life in prison over loud-music killing

A Florida man convicted in the shooting of an unarmed black teenager after a dispute over loud music will spend the rest of his life in prison, a county judge said Friday.

Jackelyn Barnard, director of communications for the state’s attorney’s office in Duval County, Fla., told the Los Angeles Times that Michael Dunn, 47, was sentenced to life in prison, after being convicted this month of first-degree murder in the killing of 17-year-old Jordan Davis.

“It is a very vicious act to fire 10 shots directly at a car with four human beings in it, so we believe that the sentence is a very appropriate punishment for what Michael Dunn did,” State Atty. Angela B. Corey told the Los Angeles Times.

In November 2012, Dunn became embroiled in an argument with Jordan and three other teens after he asked them to turn down their music in a convenience store parking lot in Jacksonville.

Dunn, who claimed he was acting in self-defense and told police he had seen the butt of a shotgun in the teens’ car, fired 10 shots, striking Jordan three times.

Investigators did not recover a weapon, and prosecutors argued that Dunn opened fire because he felt disrespected by Jordan and his friends.

Dunn was convicted of first-degree murder Oct. 1. He was previously convicted of three counts of attempted murder, but the jury deadlocked on the first-degree murder charge.

The 47-year-old had been sentenced to an additional 30 years in prison for each attempted murder charges. He will not be eligible for parole at any point.

While maintaining he was in “fear for his life” during the 2012 clash with Davis, Dunn apologized to the victim’s family in court on Friday.

“I want the Davis family to know that I truly regret what happened,” he said shortly before he was sentenced. “I’m sorry for their loss, and if I could roll back time and do things differently, I would.”

The shooting, which took place just six months after the killing of teenager Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Fla., drew national attention because Dunn is white and Jordan was black, as are the other teens.

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