As American as apple pie

Michael Dunn, the white man who murdered Jordan Davis, a 17-year-old African-American, while arguing over the loudness of the music being played, was found guilty on four of the five counts with which he was charged.

The jury found Dunn guilty of 3 counts of attempted murder in the second degree and one count of firing a firearm at a moving vehicle. Each count of attempted murder carries a sentence of 20 years, while the firing of the gun would add another 3 to 15 years. Mr. Dunn, who is in his 40s, will most likely spend the rest of his life behind bars.

After the Trayvon Martin debacle, most people are overjoyed that this murderer has been brought to justice. However, Michael Dunn is not a convicted murderer. The most serious charge of murder in the first degree resulted in a hung jury. Therefore, despite finding him guilty of attempted murder, the death of Jordan Davis goes unresolved.

What does this mean? Although Dunn will go to jail, it will not be for the murder of a black adolescent. I ask myself, if Dunn fired his gun and killed Jordan and then walked away from the scene, would he have been convicted of any crime? Would it have been Trayvon Martin all over again? Killing of black males still remains legal and excusable.

Angela Corey was the special prosecutor in this case as she was in the Trayvon Martin case, for which she has had to endure much criticism. Once again, she has failed to get a conviction on a slam-dunk murder case. However, Ms. Corey was successful prosecuting Marissa Alexander, a black woman who was abused by her husband, for firing a gun aimed at the ceiling. Despite the fact that this woman was being threatened by her abusive husband and she aimed the gun at the ceiling, she was convicted and sentenced to 20 tears for the illegal firing of a weapon.

Yet, race was never allowed into Dunn’s trial proceedings. Dunn’s racist comments in letters he wrote while incarcerated, was not allowed to be introduced as evidence as to his state of mind when he shot Jordan.

Who was Alfred Wright?

Alfred Wright was a 28 year old African-American, a physical therapist, married, and living in the infamous Jasper, Texas who disappeared in November 2013.

The Sabine County Sherriff’s Office initially conducted a search for the missing man. But it wasn’t until weeks after the search was called off that family members located his body. The actions of the deputies have raised numerous questions from Alfred’s family.

County investigators ended their search for Wright only three days after it began, although they were able to locate his keys, wallet, and clothing.

Fifteen days after the authorities gave up their search. Wright’s family did their own search and found his body lying face down in the woods only a few yards from the command post of the initial search. He was found unclothed and it was determined that his body was in too good condition to have been out in the woods for 18 days.

The initial autopsy by the Sabine County authorities ruled out homicide and stated that a drug overdose caused his death. But a private autopsy ordered by Wright’s family found severe trauma that was “definitely suspicious of homicidal violence.” According to the second autopsy of his remains, it was discovered that the body was missing an ear, two teeth, and the tongue and throat had appeared to have been slashed.

The question here is whether the authorities are involved in a cover-up.

Alfred Wright was married to a white woman. Is there a connection?

And so, the killing of blacks continue to mount on a daily basis but we cannot allow race to be part of any prosecution. How interesting.

Dave Alpert has masters degrees in social work, educational administration, and psychology. He spent his career working with troubled inner city adolescents.