Guns / Firearms

Florida's Next 'Black Kid Killed By White Gunman' Case Is Already Here!

Angela Corey's next high profile case looks... a whole lot like her last high profile case.

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After much fanfare surrounding her arrival on the case, Angela Corey really had very little to do with the George Zimmerman trial. Maybe she wanted to steer clear of a case she expected to lose. Maybe she was too busy pursuing the much easier case to convict a woman who intentionally missed someone.

Angela Corey’s next high profile case is actually eerily similar to the Zimmerman trial. Or perhaps it’s more fair to say disturbingly similar, since it suggests Florida has way too many “guy makes racist statements then shoots black teenagers” cases…

Before examining her new case, a few words on the “warning shots” case referenced above. In the hours after the verdict, social media exploded with comparisons between the 20-year sentence a black woman received for firing warning shots and the fact that Zimmerman walked, suggesting racial bias in the disparity. That’s actually kind of dumb. The reason the jury convicted in the warning shots trial was the fact that she fired her warning shots in the direction of two kids. That’s actually really terrible. Some people in Florida don’t want to encourage gunplay that recklessly endangers innocents, despite what Florida’s legislators might say about the God-given right to open fire in a crowded mall. The injustice in the warning shots case was the 20-year sentence, occasioned by draconian mandatory sentencing rules unable to bend to consider the circumstances an abused wife faced.

Anyway, back to Corey’s new case. Michael Dunn is charged with first-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder. Channeling Sideshow Bob, Dunn is being charged with a crime he didn’t even commit — I mean, attempted murder?

The incident took place last year:

Last November, Dunn opened fire on a Dodge Durango with Davis and three other black teenagers inside after a dispute over their loud music at a Southside Boulevard gas station in Jacksonville. Before the shooting, police said Dunn turned to his girlfriend and said, “I hate that thug music.”

Dunn told police he thought the teenagers were pointing a gun at him during an exchange of words. But no gun was found in the vehicle or on any of the teenagers.

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While Dunn has not yet explicitly raised the “Stand Your Ground” law, he’s expected to do so because unlike Zimmerman, who claimed that he was pinned to the ground and incapable of retreating, Dunn was in a car. The Wild West culture of the Stand Your Ground law is the only way Dunn can justify what he did next:

Instead of calling 911 or waiting for police to arrive, Dunn then fled the scene with his girlfriend, went back to his hotel and ate pizza, and later returned to his home without calling police.

Who doesn’t enjoy a good pizza after pumping a few rounds into a car full of kids? Seriously though, Dunn had to be pretty secure in the knowledge that opening fire was the right thing to do to leave the area and not worry about calling the authorities. Justified or not, “shooting at a human being” is worth letting the cops know about.

On the other hand, that’s just going to be a lot of pizza-less red tape.

Lawyer for man accused of killing Jordan Davis predicts Corey will seek payback over Zimmerman acquittal [Florida Times-Union]
Here’s Florida’s Next Trayvon Martin Case [Mother Jones]

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Earlier: Florida Lawmaker Stands His Ground Against Me Over ‘Stand Your Ground’ Law

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