Oh How Sad, Michael Dunn Is Going To Prison For Life. Wait, Did We Say 'Sad'?

Michael Dunn, convicted last month for the murder of 17-year-old Jordan Davis, was sentenced today to life in prison with no chance of parole. Since prosecutors did not seek the death penalty in Dunn's first-degree murder trial, the conviction carried a mandatory life sentence. Judge Russell Healey told the would be ground-stander:

Mr. Dunn, your life is effectively over. What is sad, is that this case exemplifies that our society seems to have lost its way.

Or maybe it's just a sign that a substantial segment of this society got exactly what it wanted when it passed laws encouraging Responsible Gun Owners to administer their very own 9-millimeter justice when they see fit, because after all, when seconds count, the police are just minutes away, and our society has always been about dishing out violence to black boys. 

Dunn shot Davis to death at a Jacksonville, Florida, convenience store after an argument about loud music, when he thought he saw a gun, or at least four scary black teenagers, inside the SUV Davis was sitting in. No gun was found, and after the killing, Dunn drove off to a motel and ordered pizza. He only called 911 after returning home to Satellite Beach and hearing on the radio that police were investigating the killing.

In February, Dunn was convicted of three counts of attempted murder for firing at the other three kids in the SUV, but the jury deadlocked on the charge of murder for the victim who actually died.

At his sentencing hearing today, Dunn apologized to Davis's parents, although as a gun-wielding sociopath, he also had to mention that he still considered himself to have acted in self-defense in killing their son:

"I want the Davis family to know that I truly regret what happened. If I could roll back time and do things differently, I would," he said. "I am mortified that I took a life whether it was a justified or not."

That's awfully considerate of him.

Davis's mother, Lucia McBath, explained that she had instilled values of love and forgiveness in Jordan, and added, "Therefore, I too must be willing to forgive and so I choose to forgive you Mr. Dunn for taking my son's life." We guess she is a way better person than we are. Actually, we knew that already. Go read Ta-Nehisi Coates's conversations with Lucia McBath, the first published during Dunn's first trial, and a follow-up that ran shortly after Dunn's conviction in the second trial.

And now, let's remember Jordan Davis and his parents' loss, and never give the pathetic nothing of a human being Michael Dunn much thought again, except to hope that his conviction will stop some of the morons who think they need to be ready at all times to blow away the bad guys. Or black kids listening to music.

[ Miami Herald / The Atlantic / The Atlantic again]