Michael Dunn jury deadlocks on murder, convicts him of lesser attempted murder charges

A Florida jury deliberating for a fourth day announced Saturday they were deadlocked on a murder charge, unable to make a decision on a case of a man who shot and killed a teenager during an argument over blaring rap music.

Michael Dunn, 47, a white software engineer, fired 10 rounds at an SUV carrying four teens in a Jacksonville gas station parking lot in November 2012, killing 17-year-old black teen Jordan Davis.

Jurors convicted Dunn on four other charges, of attempted second-degree murder against the three other occupants of the car, and of discharging a firearm into the car. Jurors convicted on lesser included charges of second-degree attempted murder and not the more serious attempted premeditated murder charges.

Jurors told Judge Russell Healey that they had been unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the murder charge, Healey instructed them to make one last effort to find a consensus, to no avail.

Earlier on Saturday, Healey said questions posed by the 12-member jury indicated they believed Dunn was not guilty of first-degree murder, and was justified in using deadly force to defend himself from Davis.

But the judge speculated that jurors might feel Dunn went too far by shooting the final volley of three bullets after he got out of his car as the teens were driving away.

"They may say justifiable use of deadly force was in play to (a) certain point and then it went away - there was no justification for those last set of shots," the judge said.

The trial has drawn international attention because of racial overtones and Dunn's claims of self-defense.

The sequestered jury began deliberating on Wednesday afternoon after a week of testimony and has so far spent more than 25 hours trying to reach a verdict.

Dunn testified earlier this week that he began shooting in a state of panic after he thought he saw the barrel of a gun in the back window as Davis started to get out of the car.

Prosecutors said Davis, who had no arrest record, used foul language when confronting Dunn after the argument broke out, but was unarmed and never posed a physical threat.

Legal analysts said questions asked by jurors in recent days suggested they may be deadlocked on at least one of the five charges.

If the jury acquits Dunn on the charge of first-degree murder, or they are hung, it would be a blow for the prosecution and the Davis family.

But if found guilty on the remaining three charges of attempted murder against the other teens in the SUV, Dunn would still be facing a lengthy sentence of at least 60 years in prison, legal analysts said.

He could also be retried for first-degree murder if the jury is unable to reach a verdict on that charge.

"It does sound like that the defense has raised enough reasonable doubt to keep the jury out deliberating for a while, and maybe even come back with a lesser charge on the main count, perhaps second-degree murder or manslaughter," said David Weinstein, a former prosecutor in Miami now in private practice.

(Additional reporting by Reuters' David Adams, writing by Colleen Jenkins; editing by Marguerita Choy and Bernard Orr)