General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I don't think Michael Dunn is enjoying his Pyrrhic victory. [View all]Laxman
(2,421 posts)he didn't win anything. He was found guilty on four counts and will be tried again on the fifth. It's highly likely that the failure to reach a verdict on that count was because jurors couldn't agree on the degree of that count, not because they didn't want t convict him. He's going to jail for a long time on the four counts he was convicted on and he is probably going down on the fifth.
Now its possible, but not likely, that there was a holdout for "not guilty" on that murder charge. We will probably never know. But we may if a juror or two decides to talk. I think its far more probable that there were one or more holdouts for 1st degree murder who wouldn't compromise. I don't know that I would have if I were on the jury. And if you ask 100 people here on DU, you'll get likely get a wide range of opinions on what each person would have done in a similar circumstance. If you believed he was guilty of 1st degree murder, would you have compromised to 2nd or even manslaughter just to return a conviction?
I've tried over 100 jury trials in my lifetime and assuming you know what happened in the jury room is a losing game. You just don't know. "Pre-meditated" is a tricky instruction. I know what it means because I was a prosecutor. Going back and getting the gun out of the glove compartment IS pre-meditation. Some jurors might have gotten that, some might think it means having a plan. That's the way deliberations go.
Now he's facing re-trial on the murder charge alone-as a convicted felon. He's going down on that charge too.