MIAMI – A white man who tried to run over Florida International University professor emeritus and social justice advocate Marvin Dunn, his son and four other Black men at the site of the Jan. 5, 1923 Rosewood massacre in Cedar Key, Florida was sentenced to only one year in prison.

Federal Judge Allen Winsor handed down the light punishment last week after Dunn and the other co-defendants requested leniency for 62-yearold David Allen Emanuel who was convicted on six counts of hate crimes.

The racially motivated incident occurred Sept. 6, 2022, when Dunn, his son, Frederick Douglas Dunn, and four other Black men were surveying the property to build a memorial for the massacre.

While he and the other men were surveying the land, Dunn said Emanuel, who lives nearby, drove up in his pickup truck with a Confederate flag and told them to park on their side of the road.

When Dunn told him it’s a public road, Emanuel allegedly shouted racial slurs, turned around his truck, and attempted to run over the six men.

Dunn said had they not moved out of the way in time, they would’ve gotten hit. He said the truck missed his 53year-old son by inches.

"My son almost got hit," Dunn said. "He jumped out of the way just in time."

Winsor sentenced Emanuel to 12 months plus one day in federal prison for each of the six charges and allowed the sentences to run concurrently.

The Justice Department had sought a “substantial” prison term of between five and six years.

Emanuel, a retired farmer in Levy County, must report to prison on Jan. 2.

He was also ordered to serve two years of supervised release after he finished his prison term.

Dunn told the South Florida Times he asked the judge for leniency when he and the five Black men agreed to have mercy on Emanuel’s family.

"I’m a Christian, so I believe in forgiveness and invited the other men to do so as well," he said.

SEE DUNN’S LETTER TO JUDGE WINSOR ON PAGE A6

Dunn said a letter from Emanuel’s son-in-law essentially sealed the men’s decision to ask the judge for leniency.

The son-in-law said a longer prison sentence would hurt the family, especially his grandchildren who want to spend as much time with him due to his failing health.

"That touched me because I’m a grandfather with seven grandchildren," Dunn said. "I know how important it is for grandchildren to be around their grandfathers."

Dunn, 83, said he’s the only Black person to own land in Rosewood which he purchased in 2008 to preserve property for Black history.

Dunn said once he returned to Miami, he called the FBI to file a criminal complaint and Emauel was arrested, tried and convicted by an all-White jury in September.

Dunn said he was facing 10 years for each count.

Winsor accepted Dunn and the other defendants’ request for leniency during the sentencing hearing, where family and supporters for Emanuel packed the courtroom.

“I do see he’s provided a lot of value to the community,” Winsor said. “I don’t think he’s going to do something like this again, but there’s a need for general deterrence, and it’s clear he did it because of race.”

According to reports, one of Emanuel’s defense attorneys, Darren James Johnson, said he suffers from health issues and instead of going to prison he should be ordered to complete some form of racial sensitivity training.

Johnson said the attack was not racially motivated because it was an isolated incident. “Race only became a factor after it began,” said Johnson.

The defense attorneys called on Cedar Key Police Chief Edward Jenkins, a Black man, to address the court during sentencing about Emanuel not being a racist.

Jenkins told the court that he’d never had any negative experiences with Emanuel during their many encounters.

Before sentencing, Emanuel, through his attorneys, said he plans to sell his house and move to another part of town to avoid Black visitors once the Rosewood memorial is built. “I’m not living across from a Rosewood memorial that thousands of Black people are going to come to,” he said.

Dunn said he was disheartened to hear Emanuel’s remarks.

Though he asked the judge for leniency for Emanuel, Dunn said he’s still angry over the racial injustices he has endured visiting his site in Rosewood. "I’m not over it," he said. "It’s just that peace is better than ongoing agony. I don’t want to go through this."