Melissa Ross
Three years ago Monday on Nov. 23, 2012, – it was Black Friday that year – Michael Dunn, a 45-year-old white man, argued with a group of teenage friends at a Southside gas station in Jacksonville. Dunn was peeved about the volume of their hip-hop music .
The altercation would turn violent. Dunn fired 10 shots into the teens’ Dodge Durango, then fled the scene. One bullet killed 17-year-old Jordan Davis.
Davis’ story, his killing, and the two trials of Dunn all play out at 9 p.m. Monday on cable TV in “3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets,” an HBO documentary. Directed by Marc Silver, the film premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and won a Special Jury Award for Social Impact.
Dunn is serving a life sentence. Controversially, the first jury looking at the case deadlocked, unable to agree on whether Dunn was guilty of first-degree murder. Florida’s Stand Your Ground law would, once again, come under the microscope, as it factored into Dunn’s defense.
A second trial resulted in the first-degree murder conviction for Dunn. Meanwhile, Jordan Davis’ parents have become activists, now making the national media rounds as they discuss race, criminal justice, and gun violence.
