Former prosecutor analyzes Michael Dunn jury

Deliberations to continue Saturday in Dunn trial

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jurors in the Michael Dunn trial have spent the equivalent of more than four work days in the jury room, dissecting evidence, discussing their opinions and deciding on guilty or not guilty.

Channel 4 spoke with a former prosecutor to get perspective on the way the jury has kept this case in their hands since Wednesday.

"It indicates that they're going to be splitting the baby," said former Assistant State Attorney Wesley White.

That was White's first-blush reaction to Friday's question by the jury asking, "Can they decide a verdict on some charges, but not all charges?" White has tried capital crimes, including a death penalty case that put Gregory Larkin on death row. If he were prosecuting this case, he said, he'd be encouraged.

"You believe you're going to take something home, you're going to get a conviction. It may not be the conviction you want, but you're going to take home a conviction. Since it's a gun crime, you know there will be significant penalties involved with that conviction. So you're feeling pretty good," said White.

White said he thinks the jury, sequestered from their families and stuck in this room as long as they deliberate, is not feeling good right now. All of those factors add to what White calls a difficult choice about who and what to believe really happened.

"In order to determine whether that rings true, they have to look at other things he did. He took flight, which is an admission of guilt, and he didn't tell his girlfriend, at least according to her testimony, that's indication that something just doesn't ring true here. So I think (the) jury has to take those things, extrapolate back to what he did testify to, in regard to that interchange," said White.

"That makes it tough on (the) jury?" asked Channel 4's Kent Justice.

"It does, makes it real tough. You have to decide if this guy, in general, is telling the truth, or if he's fabricating the story after the fact," said White.


About the Authors:

Kent Justice co-anchors News4Jax's 5 p.m., 10 and 11 p.m. newscasts weeknights and reports on government and politics. He also hosts "This Week in Jacksonville," Channel 4's hot topics and politics public affairs show each Sunday morning at 9 a.m.