# Michael Dunn, Steophan's hero, given life sentence **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 23, 2015, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-dunn-steophans-hero-given-life-sentence/735512 "2015-10-23T05:27:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-dunn-steophans-hero-given-life-sentence/735512/1 "2015-10-23T05:27:05Z")
Michael Dunn, the Florida man, who murdered Jordan Davis because he didn’t like Davis playing “thug music” just got sentenced to life in prison. I mention Steophan because his immediate response to the case was to declare that he was happy with it because “thug got killed” and when Dunn was convicted, he lost his shit and insisted that Dunn was innocent and acted in “self defense” when he shot to death an innocent black teenager for playing music loudly, which is pretty common amongst teenagers of all genders and races. Anyway, all reasonable people should be happy with this sentence. Goodbye Mr. Dunn and be careful about calling any of your fellow inmates “thugs”. They may not like it and they have, quite literally, nothing left to lose. [http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/michael-dunn-sentenced-life-without-parole-loud-music-killing-n228191](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/michael-dunn-sentenced-life-without-parole-loud-music-killing-n228191) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-dunn-steophans-hero-given-life-sentence/735512/2 "2015-10-23T05:28:56Z")
Good. Mr. Dunn deserves this sentence. Plus, he deserved it a year ago when it was handed down. ---
**Author:** ![canned\_mayhem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/53a042/32.png) [@canned\_mayhem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/canned_mayhem)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-dunn-steophans-hero-given-life-sentence/735512/3 "2015-10-23T05:32:05Z")
I agree with the sentence. However, next time I’ll bet he turns that shit down… ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-dunn-steophans-hero-given-life-sentence/735512/4 "2015-10-23T05:41:38Z")
> [@canned\_mayhem](#): > > I agree with the sentence. > > However, next time I’ll bet he turns that shit down… There won’t be a next time for Jordan Davis, you asshole; he’s dead. Mr. Dunn killed him. Are you really _that_ fucking stupid? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![canned\_mayhem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/53a042/32.png) [@canned\_mayhem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/canned_mayhem)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-dunn-steophans-hero-given-life-sentence/735512/5 "2015-10-23T05:45:59Z")
Thanks for pointing that out captain obvious… ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-dunn-steophans-hero-given-life-sentence/735512/6 "2015-10-23T05:53:44Z")
That’s low, even for the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-dunn-steophans-hero-given-life-sentence/735512/7 "2015-10-23T05:58:20Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > There won’t be a next time for Jordan Davis, you asshole; he’s dead. Mr. Dunn killed him. > > Are you really _that_ fucking stupid? 😕 Get down in that quarry **Bo** , lowflying aircraft overhead. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-dunn-steophans-hero-given-life-sentence/735512/8 "2015-10-23T06:28:38Z")
> [@canned\_mayhem](#): > > Thanks for pointing that out captain obvious… Wow. You are just making friends all over the place tonight. Had a bad day? Feeling the need to kick any puppies to round things off? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-dunn-steophans-hero-given-life-sentence/735512/9 "2015-10-23T12:12:58Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Good. Mr. Dunn deserves this sentence. Plus, he deserved it a year ago when it was handed down. Slow internet connection? ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-dunn-steophans-hero-given-life-sentence/735512/10 "2015-10-23T12:34:33Z")
I have no feelings about any of these people, but I am surprised it happened in Florida. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-dunn-steophans-hero-given-life-sentence/735512/11 "2015-10-23T13:29:22Z")
That a white guy was sentenced to prison for murdering a black kid in Florida? Or that a black kid got murdered by a white guy in Florida? > [@ddsun](#): > > Wow. You are just making friends all over the place tonight. Had a bad day? Feeling the need to kick any puppies to round things off? This is pretty much that guy’s shtick. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-dunn-steophans-hero-given-life-sentence/735512/12 "2015-10-23T13:39:25Z")
I was gonna say, I had thought this sentence came down awhile back and I see that it did–the article linked is from October of 2014. Why is this a pit topic now? ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-dunn-steophans-hero-given-life-sentence/735512/13 "2015-10-23T13:48:41Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > I was gonna say, I had thought this sentence came down awhile back and I see that it did–the article linked is from October of 2014. Why is this a pit topic now? Because I’m an idiot. E-mailed by a friend and thought he’d been convicted but sentencing was delayed. If people would like to pit me, go ahead. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-dunn-steophans-hero-given-life-sentence/735512/14 "2015-10-23T13:55:55Z")
[A documentary about the shooting](http://www.sundance.org/projects/3-minutes-8df53225-273b-4ca9-9842-95fb12b1f038) won an award at Sundance this year, if you want to pretend the story is topical again. And the lead prosecutor is a [candidate for a judgeship](http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2015-10-22/story/jacksonville-prosecutors-leads-list-12-candidates-submitted-governor-2). And Dunn just filed his initial appeal [in August](http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2015-08-18/story/michael-dunn-attorney-files-appeal-says-dunn-should-not-have-been). And the victim’s mother [testified before a legislative committee earlier this month](http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2015/10/20/senate-committee-approves-open-carry-changes-stand-your-ground/74269134/) against a proposal to shift the burden of proof for Stand Your Ground immunity to the prosecution (the one I have another pit thread about). ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-dunn-steophans-hero-given-life-sentence/735512/15 "2015-10-23T14:15:14Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > This is pretty much that guy’s shtick. He is to mayhem what canned laughter is to genuine guffaws. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-dunn-steophans-hero-given-life-sentence/735512/16 "2015-10-23T14:54:38Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > That a white guy was sentenced to prison for murdering a black kid in Florida? Or that a black kid got murdered by a white guy in Florida? More surprised that some random citizen should blast away killing anyone for no good reason: this is not the behaviour we associate with the good-hearted people of that level-headed state. Still, even in the land of saints people ‘of any race and gender’ cranking out loud crap music \* may one tempt to retaliate with bazookas, so my indignation is muted. - Plus lawn-mowers. Still, I see from the same page a four-yr-old girl was shot dead in a [**road-rage**](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/parents-girl-killed-road-rage-shooting-she-was-just-beautiful-n449481) incident in New Mexico. Simply driving up and pumping bullets into the car. However all the parties appear to be Hispanic, so no similar outrage need be felt: no wicked racism involved. Still, although I generally admire America’s gun freedoms, things like this chill one’s enthusiasm. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-dunn-steophans-hero-given-life-sentence/735512/17 "2015-10-23T15:56:12Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > That’s low, even for the Pit. Which? ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-dunn-steophans-hero-given-life-sentence/735512/18 "2015-10-23T16:57:51Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > I mention Steophan because his immediate response to the case was to declare that he was happy with it because “thug got killed” and when Dunn was convicted, he lost his shit and insisted that Dunn was innocent and acted in “self defense” when he shot to death an innocent black teenager for playing music loudly, which is pretty common amongst teenagers of all genders and races. That’s a rather ridiculous failure to explain both what happened in the case and my views on it. The music _was_ turned down, if I remember correctly by the guy who’s car it actually was. Davis then allegedly threatened Dunn, which is why Dunn shot him. I’ve argued that that is possibly self defence (and that possibly is all you need to be acquitted), but that Dunn deserves his conviction for attempted murder for shooting at the rest of them as they drove away. So, no claims that anyone should have been shot for not turning music down, but a claim that it’s fine to shoot someone who’s threatening you, but not to shoot someone driving away. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-dunn-steophans-hero-given-life-sentence/735512/19 "2015-10-23T20:11:32Z")
Well, when you say it that way, you sound very reasonable! “Possibly self defense” just [del]bled[/del] flowed out of the evidence presented at trial. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-dunn-steophans-hero-given-life-sentence/735512/20 "2015-10-23T20:28:56Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > That’s a rather ridiculous failure to explain both what happened in the case and my views on it. > > The music _was_ turned down, if I remember correctly by the guy who’s car it actually was. Davis then allegedly threatened Dunn, which is why Dunn shot him. > > I’ve argued that that is possibly self defence (and that possibly is all you need to be acquitted), but that Dunn deserves his conviction for attempted murder for shooting at the rest of them as they drove away. > > So, no claims that anyone should have been shot for not turning music down, but a claim that it’s fine to shoot someone who’s threatening you, but not to shoot someone driving away. So how’s the pen pal exchange going? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-dunn-steophans-hero-given-life-sentence/735512.md?page=2)