As a long-time Duval county resident, I must say I am so relieved that the verdict is in, and that the justice due in the case has been served. I've tried to withhold judgment throughout, even during the trials, because you never know if you have all the facts in a case until they've been presented to the jury. So I've bit my tongue throughout, because I could see both sides of this.
When this shooting happened, it chilled me to the bone. A shooting like this, in an area I grew up in. A safe place, or at least not the scary, dangerous one it became to me after Michael Dunn visited town. A random shooting at that location was so very hard to imagine. Ok, so a non-random, gang-related shooting was unlikely, but possible. Crap like this happened in the inner city in Jacksonville, places that had reputations even when I first moved to Jacksonville in the late 1960s, or they happened in south Florida. This didnt happen in the suburbs of Jacksonville. This didnt happen minutes from where I lived just 3 years earlier, and it didnt happen to kids who went to the same high school that I had graduated from, and who cruised the same suburban shopping malls that I did at their age Or did it?
Had times changed that much? Was I so removed from my old community in my childhood home that it had truly turned the corner to that extreme? Was I perhaps that naïve, and random shootings were frequently occurring just minutes from when I shopped at those same stores, and fueled at those same pumps so many times? Id stopped for gum at that Gate like the boys, Id stopped for wine at that Gate like RR, I had dinner at that adjacent restaurant like witnesses had, so many times. Id always felt safe. Or at least not unsafe.
Was I that naïve? Had I missed so much deterioration in my own home community? Was my old stomping grounds now so scary after dark that dangerous thugs lurked on every street corner, brandishding guns and pretending to be in gangs? Were thugs, or wanna-be-thugs scaring aging computer programmers just after dark so badly that they risk getting killed? By the time of this incident, I was a computer programmer, like MD. Though I dont own a gun, I believed in the Castle doctrine, I even believed in SYG, like MD. If my life was threatened by a gang of hoodlums, I believed I had a right to defend myself from imminent harm, and as a woman if I had a gun (which I dont) and I felt someone was going to kill me, I wouldnt chance aiming to wound, because I might miss and then Id be killed. If I was fighting for my life, Id defend myself to the death. I know that. But was this really a life-and-death decision here? Now? Truly in my own backyard? That was hard to believe, and even harder to stomach.
When I first heard the local news, I believed the risk of harm was from gang fights. No, then Im told it was random. Wow. So was the threat from a gang-banger who thought they encountered a rival gang? No. Rival gang wanna-be? No. Then I learned the threat, the scariest part of that night was actually caused from a white anglo-Protestant. Not too different from me. Im a woman, but Im a technical geek, who believes I have a right to defend myself, and ok, Im not the most personable person in all social circumstances. I could almost understand where this guy might be coming from.
Except that I couldnt, I cant, and I never will be able to. Where Dunn claims he saw fear, I see the smile of my next-door neighbors son. Thank God that young mans graduated high school and enters college in a few months. Hes cruised with friends, played loud music, stopped for gum on his way to the mall to hit on high school kids of the opposite sex. Heck, who hasnt? Has my neighbors son mouthed off to cranky older men who fussed at them? Im sure he has. Did my friends? I know they did. There but for the grace of God
Did I (and those friends) still become honest, good, tax-paying and contributing members of society? I believe I did, and like to think we all did. But if there had been a Michael Dunn at every street corner when we grew up, that wouldnt be the case. If every adult today only sees threat when they see teenage boys, then heaven help us all. I am so relieved that a jury of my peers, and of MDs peers, decided MD is guilty. Right or wrong, it restores confidence to me that the suburbs in town, the places Ive grown up in, may still be comparatively safe, as long as zealots like MD are not returned to the streets.
"I didn't think that I would get the verdict of guilty as charged because of the makeup of the jury," Ron Davis said. "I didn't feel that it was an equal jury, the makeup of the jury. But the one thing that I forgot about, that there is a lesson to be learned, is that God will touch the hearts and the minds of people, no matter what color of their skin. And they will do the right thing and they will look at the facts of the case and they will also look at and listen to the witnesses."
I can't seem to get Jordan Davis out of my head. Find out who he REALLY was. These articles always cut to my heart.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mikehayes/the-life-and-last-days-of-jordan-davis?utm_term=3zb1j3e#2fglovo
Judge Russell Healey set the start of Michael Dunn's sentencing hearing on Tuesday morning. The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. Oct. 17.
(snip)
http://www.news4jax.com/news/michael-dunn-in-court-for-sentencing-hearing/28986050
Does anyone know if the Davis family will be allowed a victim's impact statement to the judge prior to sentencing?
Does anyone know if the Davis family will be allowed a victim's impact statement to the judge prior to sentencing?
(http://www.police.ufl.edu/victim-services/florida-state-statute-960crime-victim-bill-of-rights/)9. Submit a Victim Impact Statement orally, or in writing, to the judge, prior to the sentencing of an offender who pleads guilty, nolo contendere, or is convicted of a felony crime.
In Florida, there is a Victim's Bill of Rights, FL Statute 960 (http://www.sao4th.com/how-we-can-help/information-for-victims/)which lists the resources and services to which victims and witnesses are entitled.
It is the family's right to submit, either verbally in open court, or in writing before the sentencing, such a statement.
(http://www.police.ufl.edu/victim-services/florida-state-statute-960crime-victim-bill-of-rights/)
Hi wendiesan,
The topic of a Federal Victims' Bill of Rights is a topic that is near and dear to my heart, as you know :heartluv:
It remains very upsetting to me that we do not have a Federal amendment to our Constitution guaranteeing not one single solitary right to victims of crime in the adjudication process. This imbalance in the inherently adversarial process is so unfair. :moo:
It is good to know Florida has a VBoR at the State level. I wasn't able to access your link, however.
Is this the link you're referring to?
State Attorney, 19th Judicial Circuit, What Florida Law Provides Victims
http://www.sao19.org/additional_rights.htm
I'm not familiar enough with FL to know if the 19th Circuit's jurisdiction includes the Court where Jordan Davis' case was heard.
I hope folks across the US use their voices and get behind the next wave of advocacy for VBoR in every state and at the Federal level. I've linked Mr. Marc Klaas' mentioning of it via the KlaasKids Foundation site before, but the bill didn't pass. :sigh:
Every victim of crime deserves to have unalienable rights - especially those who can't speak for themselves.
:twocents:
:grouphug:
:justice:
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
(k) Notification of right to submit impact statement.—The state attorney shall inform the victim of the victim’s right to submit an oral or written impact statement pursuant to s. 921.143 and shall assist in the preparation of such statement if necessary.
921.143 Appearance of victim, next of kin, or law enforcement, correctional, or correctional probation officer to make statement at sentencing hearing; submission of written statement.—
(1) At the sentencing hearing, and prior to the imposition of sentence upon any defendant who has been convicted of any felony or who has pleaded guilty or nolo contendere to any crime, including a criminal violation of a provision of chapter 316, the sentencing court shall permit the victim of the crime for which the defendant is being sentenced, the victim’s parent or guardian if the victim is a minor, the lawful representative of the victim or of the victim’s parent or guardian if the victim is a minor, or the next of kin of the victim if the victim has died from causes related to the crime, to:
(a) Appear before the sentencing court for the purpose of making a statement under oath for the record; and
(b) Submit a written statement under oath to the office of the state attorney, which statement shall be filed with the sentencing court.
(2) The state attorney or any assistant state attorney shall advise all victims or, when appropriate, the victim’s parent, guardian, next of kin, or lawful representative that statements, whether oral or written, shall relate to the facts of the case and the extent of any harm, including social, psychological, or physical harm, financial losses, loss of earnings directly or indirectly resulting from the crime for which the defendant is being sentenced, and any matter relevant to an appropriate disposition and sentence.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -
As Michael Dunn is due to sentenced on convictions of murder and three counts of attempted murder, his lawyer filed a motion for a new trial.
The attorneys are challenging multiple rulings by Circuit Judge Russell Healey during Dunn's second trial in the death of 17-year-old Jordan Davis. They claim the trial should have been moved from Duval County, that testimony from the deputy medical examiner about gunshot trajectory should not have been allowed and a juror was dismissed without evidence of misconduct.
(snip)
http://www.news4jax.com/news/michael-dunns-lawyers-file-motion-for-new-trial/29160086