Sept. 22 date set for trial of man charged in teen’s killing

Michael David Dunn will go on trial Sept. 22 for a second time on a first-degree murder charge in the Jacksonville death of 17-year-old JordanDavis.

Circuit Judge Russell Healey set the date during a pretrial hearing Monday morning. The trial is expected to take twoweeks.

A jury previously deadlocked on whether Dunn was guilty of killing Davis, but did convict the Brevard County man of three counts of attempted murder for attempting to kill teenagers Tevin Thompson, Tommie Stornes and Leland Brunson.

Dunn, 47, is accused of killing Davis at a Southside Gate gas station in November 2012 while in town for his son’s wedding. Dunn fired at Davis and three of his friends during a dispute over the teens’ blaring music.

Dunn maintains he was threatened and saw a gun, so he defended himself. Only Davis was hit and killed.

The friends with Davis and other witnesses said there wasn’t a gun in the teenagers’ sport-utility vehicle. The case has drawn international attention because Dunn is white and all four teenagers are black.

Healey also denied a motion from prosecutors to sentence Dunn now for the three attempted-murder convictions. Healey said it made more sense to wait until after the second murder trial concluded.

Prosecutors had argued that Florida’s rules of criminal procedure state that a sentencing should occur “as soon as practicable after the determination of guilt.”

Dunn’s attorney, Cory Strolla, had previously argued that having a sentencing hearing before the retrial would be unfair. He said his client cannot properly prepare a statement for a pre-sentencing report or testify at the sentencing hearing because it would place him “in a very precarious legaldilemmaregarding his 5th-Amendment right against self-incrimination.”