Mistrial in 'thug music' case

A Florida judge has declared a mistrial in the prosecution of a white computer programmer who shot dead an unarmed black teenager after the jury said it was deadlocked.

In the latest racially charged case to grab the headlines in the US, Michael Dunn, 47, faces up to 75 years in prison after being convicted of three counts of attempted murder of the victim's friends and one of firing a deadly weapon.

But the jury failed to reach a verdict on the killing of Jordan Davis, 17, who was shot dead after a verbal altercation with Dunn at a petrol station. Dunn called the blaring rap songs Jordan and his friends were listening to "thug music".

The hung jury after four days of deliberation prompted a mix of anger and frustration among demonstrators who chanted "Justice for Jordan" on the steps of the courthouse in Jacksonville.

Dunn fired off 10 rounds in two bursts into the vehicle carrying four black teenagers in November 2012, killing Jordan, in a row with the occupants of the car about the volume of their music.

The verdict was given seven months after a similar high-profile trial in Florida in which George Zimmerman, a white-Hispanic man, was cleared of murdering unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

The trials have focused attention on Florida's controversial "stand your ground" law because both of the accused said they acted in self-defence.

Friends of Jordan's parents said they were "devastated" that Dunn had not been convicted of any offence in the killing of their son, who would have been 19 yesterday.

Florida prosecutors will decide whether to re-try the main murder charge against Dunn, who is already likely to be given life behind bars when he is sentenced on the four convictions next month.

The jury of eight whites, two blacks, one Asian and one Hispanic heard that Dunn and his fiancee, Rhonda Rouer, drove to a hotel after the shooting, ordered a pizza and spent the night there. He was arrested the next day.

Dunn testified that he opened fire in fear of his life after he saw what he thought was the barrel of a gun in the SUV's back window following the row about the loud music.

But Rouer told the jury that, on the night of the shooting, Dunn had not mentioned seeing a gun. She testified that he told her: "I hate that thug music" when the car with the four teenagers pulled up next to them, its stereo blasting loudly.

Prosecutors said that though the victim, who had no arrest record, used foul language in the verbal confrontation with Dunn, he was unarmed and posed no threat.

"Jordan Davis didn't have a weapon," John Guy, the assistant state attorney who also helped prosecute the Zimmerman case, said in his wrapping-up. "He had a big mouth. That man [Dunn] wasn't going to stand for it, and it cost Jordan Davis his life."

"My rear view mirror was shaking . my eardrums were vibrating," Dunn told the court. "This was ridiculously loud music."

He said that he reached for the gun in his car's glove compartment when he thought he saw a weapon in the other vehicle. He fired off a second burst of bullets as the SUV drove away.

Before the verdict, Trayvon Martin's parents offered their support to Jordan's parents, Ron Davis and Lucia McBath.

"The killing of 17-year-old Jordan Davis is yet another reminder that, in Florida, racial profiling and stereotypes might serve as the basis for imaginary fear and the shooting and killing of young teenagers," Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton said.