The court moved through five witnesses this morning, as they proceeded with the State’s presentation of its case in the “loud music” first degree murder trial of Michael Dunn, for the shooting death of 17-year-old Jordan Davis.
The first four witnesses were all first responders–three police officers and a Fire & Rescue paramedic–who arrived at the scene after the shooting had taken place. In order they were:
ASA Wolfson once again led direct with Shore.
ASA Wolfson was again on direct for Forster.
For all these first four witnesses, the state’s direct was largely procedural, as well as intending to diminish the ability of defense counsel Cory Strolla to create reasonable doubt on the basis of improper, inadequate, or incompetent investigative practices. Strolla’s remit on cross-examination was to try to accomplish precisely that objective.
It was the fifth witness of the morning, however, that took the greatest time and provided the most interesting testimony.
Kevin Thompson was one of the four young men in the Durango when Michael Dunn opened fire. He was seated in the front passenger seat, and directly across from Dunn in the driver’s seat of his Volkswagon. This was the first witness of the trial able to testify as to the actual events.
Assistant State Attorney John Guy, not active since giving the State’s opening, led direct on Thompson.
Also present in the court room during Thompson’s testimony were the parents of Jordan Davis, seen here to the left and right behind the woman in the foreground.
The camera also caught the impassive image of the defendant, Michael Dunn, several times during Thompson’s testimony.
Well, I’d hoped for a more substantive mid-day wrap-up, but court’s about to start again, so I’ll have to do that in the end-of-day post.
Don’t forget, if you’re following my live tweets at @LawSelfDefense, you MUST also follow me at @LawSelfDefense2, because Twitter inevitably shuts off one or another of my accounts from time to time due to the volume of my live tweeting.
See you all back in court!
Andrew F. Branca is an MA lawyer and the author of the seminal book “The Law of Self Defense, 2nd Edition,” available at the Law of Self Defense blog, Amazon.com (paperback and Kindle), Barnes & Noble (paperback and Nook), and elsewhere.
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