Music death suspect compared self to rape victim
|
| Defendant Michael Dunn is brought into the courtroom just before 5 p.m., where Judge Russell Healey announced that the jury was deadlocked on charge one and have verdicts on the other four charges as they deliberate in the trial of Dunn, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2014, for the shooting death of Jordan Davis in November 2012. Dunn is charged with fatally shooting 17-year-old Davis after an argument over loud music outside a Jacksonville convenient store. |
JACKSONVILLE,
Fla. (AP) -- The Florida software designer accused of killing a
black teenager during an argument over loud music compared himself to a
rape victim, telling his fiancee in a recorded jailhouse phone call that
the police were trying to blame him for the shooting when he was only
defending himself.
In a series of taped phone
calls and jailhouse visits released Tuesday by prosecutors, Michael Dunn
also expressed surprise at the media attention his November 2012
shooting of 17-year-old Jordan Davis outside a Jacksonville convenience
store had drawn and expressed confidence that he would be exonerated
once a jury heard all the facts.
Dunn, 47, was
convicted Saturday of three counts of attempted second-degree murder
for shooting at three of Davis' friends who were all inside an SUV, but
the jury hung on a first-degree murder charge for Davis' death. Dunn,
who is white, has argued that he fired at Davis after the teen
threatened him and raised a shotgun or something that looked like one
after he asked the teens to turn down their rap music. No shotgun was
found in the SUV.
Dunn is facing 60 years in
prison when sentenced and State Attorney Angela Corey says she will
retry him on the murder charge, which carries a potential life sentence.
A phone message left for Dunn's attorney, Cory Strolla, was not
immediately returned.
In a December 2012 phone
call with his fiancee, Rhonda Rouer, Dunn compares himself to a rape
victim, saying the detectives wanted to blame him for the shooting, not
Davis and his friends. Inmates at the Duval County Jail are warned that
all phone conversations and visits will be recorded and can be shared
with prosecutors except for those with their attorneys.
"So
not to wallow in, you know, despair or anything, but you know I was
thinking a lot about this today and I was like I'm, I'm the victim
here," Dunn told Rouer. "I was the one that was being preyed upon and I
fought back.
"And then, you know, it's not
quite the same, but it made me think of like the old TV shows and movies
where, like, how police used to think when a chick got raped, `Oh, it's
her fault because of the way she was dressed.' Yeah, and I'm like, so
it's my fault because I asked them to turn their music down," he said in
a laughing voice. "I got attacked and I fought back because I don't
want to be a victim and now I'm in trouble. I refuse to be a victim and
now I'm incarcerated."
Dunn then told Rouer
that he had no motive to shoot Davis other than self-defense. Apparently
referencing his engagement to Rouer and his son's wedding, which he had
attended right before the shooting, he said his life had been
"perfect."
"On TV they always talk about
motive. You know you've got to have motive, you've got to show motive.
Well, what's my f------ motive?" he asked Rouer.
"I
mean as I was trying to tell the police, I wouldn't do this at this
point in my life. They're like, what's the
matter, what's going on in
your life, and I was like, it's perfect. My life is great and I would
never do anything like this to jeopardize that."
"The
more I think about it, I am just super confident that if they take this
to trial it's going to be a short deliberation cause, you know, um,
just because. I cannot imagine why those two boys (Davis' friends) are
fibbing. So they are."
In another conversation with Rouer, Dunn expressed his frustration, saying, "I'm the victor, but I was the victim, too."
In
an earlier conversation with his father, Phillip Dunn, shortly after
the shooting, Michael Dunn seems surprised the case had gotten the
attention of the Jacksonville and national media.
"Well, it's gone viral," Phillip Dunn said.
"In a good way or a bad way?" Michael Dunn asked.
"A bad way," his father said. "Shoots black kid over . loud music."
"I made it very clear to the police," Dunn said.
"Yeah, that it had nothing to do with it. We know what's going on," Phillip Dunn said.
Dunn indicated he understood his situation early.
"I'm hoping to be exonerated . it's either that or life," he said at one point.
"No, I don't think so . I think you're going to come out good," his father said.
"I sure hope so, Pop."
"You're a good person. I think pretty much anybody'd have done the same thing," Phillip Dunn said.
Later in the conversation, Phillip Dunn reflected on his son's situation.
"What
a shame. Here you had the world by the tail. All your bills were paid,
you had 10 grand in the bank.
Life was good. Your boy just got married.
It's kind of a shame," Phillip Dunn said.
