JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The final pretrial hearing for Michael Dunn before his retrial on a murder charge in the shooting death of Jordan Davis was being held Thursday morning.
Jury selection is set for 9:30 a.m. Monday and is expected to last three days.
At Thursday's hearing, both sides discussed evidence photos, which include images of the gun, ammo, SUV and Davis' body, and the judge decided most will be allowed. Dunn's attorney said it's not necessary to show Davis' body, but the state said it shows the jury his youth and who the victim was.
The judge dismissed some photos that he said were not relevant, including that of the holster, a picture of five bullets from a magazine, several pictures of the magazine, one that shows the magazine not in the glove box, and a picture of someone holding ammo removed from the magazine.
"This jury is entitled to know how many shots he fired, everything to do with the gun, the ammunition, the size of it, how it entered the car, where it went, whether or not he knew there were human beings in the car, because the theory of transferred intent is an integral part of first-degree murder," State Attorney Angela Corey said.
Dunn's attorney, Waffa Hanania, said the way some of the pictures would be presented to the jury were confusing and misleading, particularly exhibits that show both sides of evidence, which she said is irrelevant.
"It's creating the impression that there were two guns, two holsters, two magazines that were associated with the gun in each exhibit," Hanania said.
Both sides also discussed whether part of the medical examiner's testimony would be allowed, and the judge decided it would be.
The defense objected to the doctor's analysis of dowel placement on Mr. Bendy, the dummy from the first trial, showing the path of projectiles in Davis' body. The defense said the doctor is qualified to determine cause and manner of death, but is not qualified to testify about where dowels should be placed on the dummy.
In February, jurors deadlocked on whether Dunn was guilty of murdering 17-year-old Davis, but convicted him on three counts of attempted murder for shooting at three other teens in the SUV Davis was riding in.
Dunn is accused of killing Davis when he fired into an SUV full of teenagers during a dispute over loud music at a Southside gas station in November 2012.
Last week, Judge Russell Healey heard arguments on whether the retrial will be held in Jacksonville or moved somewhere else in Florida. He deferred a decision and said the court will try to pick an untainted jury in Jacksonville, as is required by law.
If that proves undoable, the retrial could be moved or a jury could be picked in another county and brought to Jacksonville to hear the case.
It doesn't have to be a jury that's never heard of the case. It just has to be a jury that hasn't formed a fixed opinion about the case and is able to stay open-minded and render a verdict based on the testimony and evidence and not be influenced by outside factors.