Black community leaders are taking a stand against the controversial “Stand Your Ground” law. On March 10, 2014 in Tallahassee, Florida, leaders across the country including Reverend Al Sharpton and the National Action Network are gathering in the Sunshine State to rally and a hold a prayer vigil in protest of SYG.
Sharpton will also be joined by Attorney Ben Crump and the parents of Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis. The march begins at 9:30am ET at the Tallahassee Leon County Civic Center, located at 505 W Pensacola St, Tallahassee, FL 32301. After the march is completed, the rally begins at the State Capitol located at 400 South Monroe St, Tallahassee, Florida, FL 32301. article via blackamericaweb.com
Michael Dunn is seen in the courtroom before the jury reached a verdict on Saturday. (Bob Mack, Associated Press / February 15, 2014)
During a press conference following Michael Dunn‘s murder trial, Florida state special prosecutor Angela Corey said he will be retried for the murder of 17-year-old Jordan Davis. RELATED: Michael Dunn Convicted on 4 of 5 Charges in Jordan Davis Murder Case
“We intend to fully push for a new trial….Justice for Jordan Davis is as important as it is for any victim,” said Corey.
As previously reported, Dunn, 47, has been found guilty of 3 counts of attempted second degree murder and one count of hurling a deadly missile. A mistrial was declared on the first-degree murder charge in the shooting death of 17-year old Jordan Davis.
The jury deliberated for four days and remained deadlocked on the 1st-degree murder charge and lesser charges, including second degree murder, manslaughter, justifiable homicide, or excusable homicide.
Protesters have begun marching over to the prosecutor’s office and demanding Corey’s resignation for, what they feel, is her failure to get justice for Davis. Corey was also the special prosecutor in the George Zimmerman murder trial. Last year, Zimmerman was found not guilty of murder in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
Both Martin and Davis were killed when they were 17-years-old. Tomorrow, February 16, would have been Davis’ 19th birthday. Trayvon Martin would have been 19-years-old on February 5. article via newsone.com
If anyone understands the pain that Jordan Davis’ parents are feeling at this moment, it’s Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin. The parents of Trayvon Martin offered their support to Lucia McBath and Ron Davis this weekend, who heard Michael Dunn’s verdict on the eve of what would have been their son’s 19th birthday. In a statement, Sybrina and Tracy said that this case is “yet another reminder that in Florida, racial profiling and stereotypes” may serve as the basis for illegitimate fear “and the shooting and killing of young teenagers.”
Dunn, a 47-year-old software developer, fired 10 rounds at a SUV carrying four teens in a Jacksonville gas station parking lot after an altercation over loud rap music. On Saturday, a jury found him guiltyon three counts of attempted second-degree murder and one count of shooting a deadly missile into a vehicle. However, the 12 jurors could not reach a decision on the top count of first-degree murder — meaning he was not convicted for three of the 10 shots that hit 17-year-old Davis and ultimately cost his life.
Although the jury did not convict her son’s killer of premeditated murder, Lucia McBath still expressed gratitude for the verdict. “We are so grateful for the truth,” she said. “We are so grateful that the jurors were able to understand the common sense of it all.” “[Dunn] is going to learn that he must be remorseful for the killing of my son,” father Ron Davis said at the post-trial press conference, “it was not just another day at the office.” article by Myeisha Essex via hellobeautiful.com
Michael Dunn is seen in the courtroom before the jury reached a verdict on Saturday. (Bob Mack, Associated Press / February 15, 2014)
A jury has found Michael Dunn, the Florida man accused of shooting unarmed teenager Jordan Davis to death during a dispute over loud music, guilty of four charges, but the jury was unable to reach a decision on the top count, first-degree murder. Dunn, who is white, fired 10 shots into an SUV, killing Davis, 17, who was black. The shooting in a convenience store parking lot in Jacksonville erupted after Dunn asked the teenagers in the vehicle to turn down their music.
Dunn was charged with first-degree murder, three counts of attempted second-degree murder and one count of firing into a vehicle in the Nov. 23, 2012, shooting. The jury couldn’t reach a decision on the first-degree murder charge, but convicted on the other four. Dunn contended he acted in self-defense. Prosecutors suggested that Dunn, 47, was angry because he was being disrespected by a young black man.
Dunn was remanded to the custody of authorities. Sentencing, which could total as much as 75 years in prison, was set for around March 24. The sequestered jury began its deliberations Wednesday, a week after opening statements began. That Dunn had fired into the SUV and killed Davis was never in question. What the jury had to determine was whether Dunn had acted in self-defense.
Trayvon Martin’s mother Sybrina Fulton speaks during a rally honoring Trayvon Martin organized by the National Action Network outside One Police Plaza in Manhattan on July 20, 2013 in New York City. Demonstrators have gathered in various cities across the country to protest the acquittal of neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman and press for his federal prosecution in the shooting death of teenager Trayvon Martin. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)
NEW YORK – On Tuesday, the mothers of Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis will testify on Capitol Hill. The topic: “Stand Your Ground” laws. Sybrina Fulton and Lucia McBath will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights. The hearing, according to a notice on the Senate Judiciary Committee website is entitled “‘Stand Your Ground’ Laws: Civil Rights and Public Safety Implications of the Expanded Use of Deadly Force.” Tallahassee, Florida-based state attorney William Meggs, and Harvard Law School professor and director of the Criminal Justice Institute Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr. are also expected to testify, along with a senior fellow from the Libertarian Cato Institute and John R. Lott, Jr., Ph.D., President of the Crime Prevention Research Center in Swarthmore, PA. Fulton is the mother of Trayvon Martin, whose shooting death and the acquittal of his killer, George Zimmerman, on second degree murder and manslaughter charges touched off more than a year of controversy regarding Florida’s “stand your ground” laws and similar laws across the country. (Zimmerman didn’t use “Stand Your Ground” as his defense, but it was referenced by one of the jurors in the case in interviews after the verdict, and it altered Florida’s jury instructions in cases like Zimmerman’s.) A foundation founded by Fulton and Trayvon Martin’s father, Tracy Martin, is working to amend “Stand Your Ground” laws in Florida and in the more than 20 other states with similar laws. George Zimmerman said he shot Martin in self-defense. McBath’s son, Jordan Davis, was shot to death on November 23, 2012 at a Jacksonville gas station as he sat in a car with three friends. Michael Dunn is expected to use the “Stand Your Ground” self defense law in his upcoming trial for Davis’ killing. Dunn is expected to go to trial in January.
