Chris Lange, FISM News
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Stephen Cannon, the Missouri man who fatally shot retired St. Louis police captain David Dorn during a Black Lives Matter riot, has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Judge Teresa Counts Burke handed down the sentence on Thursday after a jury found Cannon guilty of first-degree murder in the slaying. Dorn was killed while trying to protect a friend’s pawn shop during a string of ongoing violent rioting and looting.
Judge Burke noted that “this is the maximum sentence the law allows.”
Cannon, 26, was also found guilty of first-degree robbery, unlawful possession of a firearm, and three additional criminal counts. He was given the maximum sentence for each count, adding up to a possible 30 years on top of the life sentence.
During sentencing, one of Dorn’s daughters spoke directly to Cannon, saying that her father was “murdered by the type of young man my father tried to save” and asked the judge to issue the maximum sentence. Dorn, a black man, was 77 years old at the time of his murder.
“I hope your eyes are woke,” Dorn’s son, Brian Powell, said to Cannon. “You still have time to get everything together and make amends with your maker.”
“It’s just sad,” Powell continued. No one wins in this situation. Everybody is hurt. We’re hurt. His family’s hurt. No one wins.”
Dorn’s widow, Ann, who also worked in law enforcement, said Cannon’s actions led her to retire early from the force but said, “Today I choose to be a survivor.”
“I’ll never give you a second thought,” she added.
BLM and Antifa riots erupted in major cities across the country in the wake of the death of George Floyd, a black man killed by former police officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, on May 25, 2020, during an arrest outside a Minneapolis grocery store. Protesters terrorized cities for weeks in the aftermath of Floyd’s death, torching and looting businesses and calling on authorities to defund the police, a cry taken up by dozens of Democratic lawmakers at the time.
On June 2, 2020, Dorn responded to a burglar alarm triggered by looters at Lee’s Jewelry and Pawn Shop on Martin Luther King Drive. Shortly after he arrived on the scene, Cannon allegedly fired 10 shots at the retired captain, four of which struck Dorn, resulting in his death.
Ann Dorn spoke of the tragedy of her husband’s murder, which was broadcasted live on social media, and how it affected her family.
“As I slept, looters were ransacking the shop. They shot and killed David in cold blood, and then live-streamed his execution and his last moments on Earth,” she said. “David’s grandson was watching the video on Facebook in real time, not realizing he was watching his own grandfather dying on the sidewalk.”
During the livestream broadcast, a man can be heard yelling, “You killed a man over some TVs. That’s somebody’s granddaddy,” according to the report.
The video ultimately helped investigators identify Cannon, who maintained his innocence throughout the trial.
“This ain’t justice,” he declared in response to the sentencing.