JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Three days after jury selection began in the retrial of Michael Dunn, 12 jurors and four alternates were seated Wednesday afternoon.
Opening statements in the case are scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Thursday.
Circuit Judge Russell Healey allowed jury selection to proceed despite a defense motion to move the trial out of Jacksonville. Out of 66 potential jurors left Wednesday morning after two days of preliminary screening, 12 were selected to hear the case.
Eight of the jurors are men and four are women. Ten of the jurors are white and two are black. Among the four alternates are two white women, 1 black woman and one white man.
In the February trial, the jury was made up of four white men, four white women, two black women, one Asian woman and one Hispanic man. Those jurors found Dunn guilty of three counts of attempted murder for firing a dozen shots into an SUV full of teenagers during a confrontation outside a Southside Gate convenience store in November 2012. The panel however, deadlocked on the first-degree murder charge in 17-year-old Jordan Davis' death.
Legal experts said the jury breakdown for the retrial could favor Dunn more than before.
"We have a male-dominated jury now," said attorney Rhonda Peoples-Waters, who is not connected to the Dunn case. "The defense theory that he was acting in a somewhat self-defense manor and was fearful because he thought he saw a gun will play over better with males."
Healey acknowledged that most of the people on this panel know something about the November 2012 death of Davis and followed the February trial that ended in a hung jury, but he is comfortable that they can make an impartial decision based on the evidence they'll hear during this trial.
The February trial had four days of statements, testimony and opening statements, followed by four days of deliberations. Court observers expect this trial to go a little faster as their is only one charge: murder.
"I still think it will be a long protracted trial," Peoples-Waters said. "Because (the defense attorney) is going to have witnesses that'll go more into detail. Even with (the State Attorney's) office, they're going to use the medical examiner and other persons from the FDLE to better establish things that they did not clarify before as far as maybe the holes and the bullet holes.
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All 16 of the jurors and alternates will be sequestered -- kept isolated in the courthouse and spend the rest of their days at a hotel or in supervised activities.
"They are going to be away from their family and work and those types of things for a some time," said defense attorney Randy Reep, who is not involved in this case. "Judge Healey is going to be very specific in the instructions that he gives them not to do their own investigations."
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Dunn has claimed he saw Davis with what he thought was a shotgun and fired in self-defense. Police who processed the scene after the shooting found no gun in or around the SUV.
Once testimony begins, prosecutors are expected to call many of the same witnesses: the other three teenagers in the car, Gate employees, police officers and the medical examiner.
The defense is led by a new, court-appointed attorney, Waffa Hanania, and there are names on the list of witnesses who could be called to testify on behalf of Dunn in this trial that were not involved in the February trial.
"They can understand that the prior (defense) strategy maybe was not the strongest," Peoples-Waters said. "I expect her to argue that what Michael Dunn thought he saw was a gun vs. the way that Cory Strolla did it previously, just strongly arguing that Jordan Davis had a gun."
Healey banned news cameras from the courtroom during jury selection, but reporters are allowed to observe the process.
Dunn has yet to be sentenced for the February convictions. Regardless of the outcome of the retrial, it is doubtful Dunn will ever get out of prison, as he faces at least 60 years in prison -- 20 years each for the three attempted murder convictions.
Ron Davis, Jordan's father, said after the jury was selected Wednesday that he has faith in the justice system, and he is ready for the retrial to start.