LAKELAND, Fla. — Former Lakeland Commissioner Michael Dunn was sentenced to three years in prison Monday for the shooting death of an alleged shoplifter at his store in 2018.
Dunn in March pleaded guilty to manslaughter with a firearm — a lesser charge after earlier facing a second-degree murder charge, which carried a maximum penalty of life in prison.
In addition to the prison time, Judge Donald Jacobsen also sentenced Dunn to 10 years of probation and 200 hours of community service.
Dunn, now 51, was charged with killing alleged shoplifter Christobal Lopez, 50, as the man tried to leave the military surplus store Dunn managed in October 2018. Surveillance video from inside the Vets Army Navy Surplus in Lakeland shows Dunn grabbing Lopez as he tried to leave the store just before shooting him twice in the torso.
Dunn claims Lopez tried to shoplift a hatchet. According to Dunn, he confronted Lopez at gunpoint and fired when he says Lopez went to grab the hatchet from his waistband.
Dunn first asked for stand your ground immunity in the case given the claim that Lopez reached for the hatchet in his waistband. But that, however, was denied last year.
His lawyers earlier said that given the video, Dunn was not sure he could convince a jury he was defending himself. By pleading guilty to the lesser charge, Dunn faces up to 17.5 years behind bars.
With no mandatory minimum, it was possible Dunn could receive no prison time at all. His defense lawyers planned to ask for leniency.
“You know, he took a life. And he knows that,” said O’Mara, “And of course, he is remorseful for that.”