• Security incident: ISF was recently accessed by intruders. Please change your password, and change it anywhere else you used it. Read more

The state of FL v. George Zimmerman

Status
Not open for further replies.
Jury selection Day 2 just wrapped up. They followed the same procedure as yesterday - screening jurors for pre-trial publicity. As yesterday, all candidates had prior knowledge of the case.

The court examined 9 10 prospective jurors (by my count) - 3 male and 6 female including the first African-American candidate. B-2 from yesterday sent a note to the judge. I'm thinking this was the Rose Perez juror from Chicago who had concerns about child care. That's just my guess from media reports which have often been wrong.

ETA: Missed one:

B-12: WF
B-29: BF
B-30: WM (Dismissed for cause)
B-76: WF
B-07: WM
B-35: BM
B-37: WF
B-51: WF
B-55: AF
B-02: WF (Questioned at bench about a personal issue)
B-65: BF
B-86: WF
E-06: WF
E-40: WF
E-54: WM
 
Last edited:
According to WFTV all of the potential jurors today have passed this round and will be back.

The next round will be more personal and difficult and will involve gun ownership, etc.

Also saying that during questioning a challenge for cause may be entertained by the Judge but the peremptory challenges (strikes) will not be done until the very end of questioning / voir dire
 
According to WFTV all of the potential jurors today have passed this round and will be back.

The next round will be more personal and difficult and will involve gun ownership, etc.

Also saying that during questioning a challenge for cause may be entertained by the Judge but the peremptory challenges (strikes) will not be done until the very end of questioning / voir dire

I first read that as "will be black" and thought, "Zimmerman's a dead man."
 
Day 3 of jury selection was more of the same. The parties examined 10 new juror candidates to screen for pre-trial publicity. Apparently they now want 30 vetted for publicity before moving on to Round 2. This makes a bit more sense - there will be at least 20 pre-emptory challenges to pick a jury of 6 + alternates and also probably some challenges for cause in Round 2.

Today's highlight was one candidate asserting "self-defense is murder" no matter the circumstance in response to the state's questioning. Team Zimmerman passed on their examination of that juror and went straight to the challenge for cause. I guess that's one way to get out of duty. In my circuit court, if you do something like that you stay on the venire and serve jury duty in the waiting area. Of course, the young man could actually hold this belief, so I shouldn't read too much in that statement. Another candidate, E7, was (reportedly) dismissed for a Facebook post on a group sympathetic to Martin. Apparently Zimmerman presented the post to the court, who asked the candidate if he had posted it and he confirmed it was him.
 
The Day 4 headline is that the court has announced a sequestered jury and the parties have stipulated that the trial would be 2-4 weeks, down a bit from the 4-6 week estimate made earlier.
 
A black female candidate who was cleared for Round 2, B-65, was excused for hardship at the end of yesterday's voir dire. She complained that her job only pays 40 hours of jury duty and that her child support alone does not cover the bills. Florida, like most other states, only pays a pittance to jurors - $30/day.

The court also revealed that they would continue Round 1 until 40 candidates were screened for pre-trial publicity. This number started at 21, but all parties agreed to more prospects. From my understanding, they are between 25 band 30 at the start of today's voir dire.
 
Dismissed juror candidate E-7 was escorted from court property for being disruptive as a spectator inside courtroom. Apparently the candidate was trying to confront Team Zimmerman about Facebook research.
 
In his presser, O'Mara announced that the Frye hearing would be taken up again Monday at 4PM and may continue Tuesday after voir dire.
 
Dismissed Juror Returns to Court, Gets Escorted Out

Once inside the courthouse on Friday, the dismissed juror began to express several concerns about his privacy and his treatment by the court system, so an investigator referred him to the clerk of courts and advised him to seek legal counsel.

Authorities said that's when the man walked away from the investigator and down to the jury assembly room. There, the officer told E7 he had been dismissed and was not allowed in the jury assembly area or have any contact with any potential jurors until after the trial has concluded.

The deputy clerk of court referred E7 to the clerk's office, which is when he replied, "Do they know what they are in for?" referring to other potential jurors.

The dismissed juror then went to the Clerk's Office. When finished, E7 was advised that he was barred from entry to the courthouse until the conclusion of the Zimmerman trial.
 
I was fairly impressed with the speed of jury selection so far. I think there are potential jurors on both sides that want to be on the jury so there should be a good mix.

It looks like Judge Nelson is trying to be fair in this. She's picked up on some irregularities and dealt with them pretty quickly. I get the impression she wants this trial to go by the book, giving neither side the advantage.

And for the love of all that's good and right in the world, make West sit down and let O'Mara handle the talking.
 
A black female candidate who was cleared for Round 2, B-65, was excused for hardship at the end of yesterday's voir dire. She complained that her job only pays 40 hours of jury duty and that her child support alone does not cover the bills. Florida, like most other states, only pays a pittance to jurors - $30/day.
Fascinating. And rather odd to me; here in Ireland the employer pays a serving juror, not the state. But then there's little of this selection process either.
 
I was fairly impressed with the speed of jury selection so far. I think there are potential jurors on both sides that want to be on the jury so there should be a good mix.

Isn't the idea that any of the potential jurors already have a "side" precisely what is supposed to be avoided at all costs?
 
Isn't the idea that any of the potential jurors already have a "side" precisely what is supposed to be avoided at all costs?

It's apparent that most people have a opinion on this case. The idea is to get jurors who have an open mind and will look at the evidence. It would be almost impossible to find enough people who haven't heard of this case.
 
The Orlando Sentinel lists 29 of the candidates that will move on the normal voir dire:

B-35: A middle-aged black man who owns a vending business. He was critical of the Rev. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, and says this case is not racial.

B-29: A Hispanic nurse on an Alzheimer's ward who has seven children and lived in Chicago at time of shooting.

B-12: A middle-aged white woman who works the graveyard shift. She likes the crime-forensics show CSI and said she'd heard Zimmerman was following Trayvon.

B-76: A white middle-aged woman who said Zimmerman had an "altercation with the young man. There was a struggle and the gun went off."

B-51: A retired white woman from Oviedo who has a dog and 20-year-old cat. She knew a good deal about the case, but said "I'm not rigid in my thinking."

B-7: A middle-aged white man who listens to NPR. He remembered when Florida implemented its "stand your ground" law and the debate about whether it was needed.

B-37: A middle-aged white woman who works for a chiropractor and has many pets. She described protests in Sanford as "rioting."

B-86: A middle-aged white woman who works at a middle school. She said if Trayvon had not been "expelled" from school in Dade County — he was actually suspended — "this could have been prevented."

B-55: A small, dark-skinned woman who's a business major at college. She had almost no information about the case. "It doesn't concern me."

E-6: A young white woman and mother who used to work in financial services. She used this case as an example to her adolescent children, warning them to not go out at night.

E-40: A white woman in her 60s who lived in Iowa at the time of the shooting. She heard national news reports and recalls the shooting was in a gated community and a teenager was killed.

E-54: A middle-aged white man with a teenage stepson who wears hoodies. He recalled seeing photos of Zimmerman's head and face that show injuries.

E-73: A middle-aged white woman active in Sanford's arts community, who is raising her late brother's 15- and 18-year-old children. The media interjected race in this case, she said.

M-75: A young African-American woman who says many of her friends have opinions on the case, but she doesn't.

B-61: A young white woman who remembered that "after the protesters, it seemed to turn more into a racial issue...I don't think it's a racial issue."

B-72: A young man who does maintenance at a school and competes in arm wrestling tournaments. He said he avoids the news because he does not want to be "brainwashed."

E-22: A middle-aged African-American woman who said that after the shooting Sanford police should have booked Zimmerman and asked him more questions.

E-13: A young white woman who goes to college and works two jobs. She heard the shooting was a "racial thing."

E-28: A middle-aged white woman who works as a nurse. She knew little about the case and has no opinion about Zimmerman's guilt.

K-80: A middle-aged white woman with children who has not followed the case. She considers the "racial undertones" in the case "disturbing."

K-95: A middle-aged woman who's a full-time student and "IT geek" with two children. She was critical of protests calling for Zimmerman's arrest.

P-67: A native of Mexico who seemed eager to serve on the jury, describing it as a civic duty. "Some people think it is a racist thing," he said of the shooting.

G-14: A middle-aged white woman. "I remember a lot of anger, a lot of people upset that Mr. Zimmerman was not arrested immediately."

G-29: A young black woman who has lived in Seminole County eight months. "There is a lot of racial tension built up," she said, but she "stayed away from it."

G-47: A young white man who works as assistant manager at restaurant. Zimmerman appears to be "stuck in the worst situation" possible, he said.

G-63: A young, unemployed man who described himself as "mixed race." He knew few details about the case but denounced stereotyping and said people sometimes interject race into cases.

G-66: A retired white woman who cares for her toddler grandson and moved to Central Florida in 2011. When she saw photos of Zimmerman's injuries, "I felt sorry for him."

G-81: A tall black man who lives less than a half mile from the scene of the shooting. There is a racial divide in Sanford, he said, but the media has misportrayed the city.

H-6: A young white man who heard the phone call Zimmerman made to police before the shooting. "He sounded like he was concerned for his neighborhood."
 
Wow, so they actually found potential jurors who were feeling sorry for Zimmerman's little bumps and scrapes but felt nothing over a cooling body that would have to be buried soon? Stop the planet, I wanna get off.
 
Hopefully, they have found 6 jurors and 4 alternatives to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America where folk are considered innocent until proven guilty and along with the 2nd Amendment, folk have the right to defend themselves from all enemies foreign and domestic. Barbarian countries are always an option for folk who don't like the Law and Order of the Founders. George defended himself against an assault by a 17 year old muscular guy as is his right.
5 AA out of the group in a County of 11% blacks. How did the demographics work out that way. .
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.

ISF - Join now!

Every member here is approved by hand. No bots, no spam, just people who care about evidence and honest debate.

Membership is free!

Create your free account

Back
Top Bottom