The parents of slain teen Jordan Davis said they were “shocked” and “dismayed” by the verdict on the first-degree murder charge in the shooting death of their son.
“Michael Dunn should understand that the victim was the one that had a bullet go through his lungs, a bullet tear his aorta,” Ronald Davis said of his son’s killer during an exclusive interview Wednesday on The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell. “The victim was the one that was choking on his own blood and was gasping for air. The victim was a 17-year-old teenager that should have had his whole life in front of him that was seeing his life go away in seconds, and he probably was so fearful –and his friends were looking on watching their best friend die in a moment of seconds–that’s the victim.”
According to jailhouse phone calls released this week by the Florida State Attorney’s office, Michael Dunn told his fiancée, “I’m the victim.”
On Saturday, a Florida jury convicted Dunn on three counts of second-degree attempted murder. The 47-year-old fired his gun 10 times at the car that Davis and three of his friends were riding in. Based on the three convictions for attempted murder, he will likely be sentenced to at least 60 years in prison.
But, the jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict on the first-degree murder charge in the shooting death of Davis.
“I’m very happy the charges have been brought forth for Michael Dunn for the boys, justice has been served for them,” Lucia McBath, Jordan’s mother, told Lawrence O’Donnell. She added that she’s “just a little dismayed that we have to continue to fight, a longer fight than we expected for Jordan.”
She vowed to fight on and also had a message for Dunn: “He will pay.”
“What I would say to him is that not only did you take Jordan’s life but you took my future. I won’t have grand-children, I will never have a daughter-in-law,” McBath said. “I don’t have those things anymore, but what he’ll need to understand is that in some way shape or form: he will pay — even if we don’t ever receive the verdict for Jordan.”
She added, “He will pay because he is going to spend the rest of his life in jail. And I feel sorry for him for that.”
Dunn’s defense attorney said he plans to appeal the three convictions.
Sarah Muller