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The first week of George Zimmerman’s second-degree murder trial is coming to a close and judge Debra S. Nelson and lawyers on both sides of the case have yet to choose the six jurors and four alternates that are needed to proceed with the trial.

Today, the pretrial publicity – what jurors know and how they feel about Trayvon Martin’s death – will continue. As of today, lawyers have found 24 individuals who have passed the publicity test. These individuals also specified that serving on the case wouldn’t present hardships in their lives.

Attorneys hope to get 40 jurors — up from their earlier goal of 30 — through the pretrial publicity phase, before moving to the more traditional, group jury selection process. 

Yesterday, jurors varied from not knowing much about the case, to having strong opinions about Trayvon. Potential juror E81 told state attorney Bernie de la Rionda that Trayvon was a street fighter and that he was looking for a fight when Zimmerman shot the unarmed teen dead. She also told him that it would be difficult to change her mind.

It is unclear if she passed the pretrial publicity stage.

LATEST UPDATES FROM THE COURTROOM:

5:13 PM EST: Zimmerman’s attorney, Mark O’Mara, makes a statement and answers questions:

– Calls it a good week but stresses the importance of an honest jury.

– “If we’re going to survive this as a criminal justice system” must ensure “jury verdict is believable” & trusted.

– Calls juror E7, who demanded to know how the court obtained his FB post,” dangerous.”

– “I would have thought that there were more people who had more information about this case.” He believes jurors are withholding information.

5:00 PM EST: Court recesses for day

4:02 PM EST: Potential juror H6 takes the stand. Described as white male in his 30s or 40s.

– Admits that he’s heard the 911 call and the debate on “stand your ground.”

– “I don’t know,” response when asked if he believes a crime had occurred. 

– He says about Zimmerman, “He sounded like he was concerned about his neighborhood.”

3:29 PM EST: Potential juror G87 takes the stand. Described as a white female, about 30-40 years of age. Works close to where Trayvon was shot.

– Thinks media blows things out of proportion and hasn’t formed an opinion.

–  “I think that the rallies were about people wanting justice.”

– “I thought it was tragic that somebody had died, but I didn’t really make anything of it.”

2:45 PM EST: BREAKING – It’s being reported that juror E7 from Wednesday is the one that was dismissed. He trespassed into courtroom demanding to know how his Facebook post was uncovered.

2:39 PM EST: Potential juror G81 takes the stand. Described as a black male in his 30s or 40s.

– Believes the protests were “people exercising their rights to free speech.”

– Says the differing opinions hasn’t shaped his own.

– “I find that people that tend to make comments on the internet… (are) very mean-spirited…”

– His gut reaction was that since Trayvon had passed, it was a tragedy.

– He grew up in Miami and lives less than a mile from the shooting. 

– When someone dies, “no matter what circumstance, it’s very hard.” Death = “extremely tragic.”

– He also said that violence against African American males dates back to slavery, Jim Crow. He mentioned that African Americans are killed at a much higher rate.

1:53 PM EST: Potential juror G66 takes stand. Described as white female in her 50s or 60s.

– Says she watches local and national news every day.

– Says she had had conversations about the case with friends from Chicago. Said they hadn’t formed any opinions.

– Remembers seeing pictures of Trayvon with a hoodie on. Says she seen pictures of George Zimmerman with injuries and “felt sorry for him.”

– Says she remembers protests and that they were “disruptive” because she couldn’t go downtown to eat. 

12:45 PM EST: BREAKING – List of jurors picked to return next week released.

See the list, compiled by the Orlando Sentinel, below.

• B-35: A middle-aged black man who owns vending business. He was critical of the Rev. Al Sharpton andJesse 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, and described herself as a former manager. She knew a good deal about the case, but said “I’m a pretty open-minded person. 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 debate then 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 white middle-aged woman who works in the office of a middle school and has two grown sons. She said if Trayvon had not been “expelled” from school in Dade County — in actuality he was 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 except for Facebook posts. “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: “This kind of thing can happen.”

• 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. Some in the black community “feel that they’re being targeted,” but she said she doesn’t feel that way.

• 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.” She was critical of Al Sharpton.

• B-72: A young man who does maintenance at a school and competes in arm wrestling tournaments. He had little information about the case, saying 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 does not follow the news. She heard the shooting was a “racial thing,” but said she did not know if Zimmerman had done something racist.

• 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. Her husband drives her to work so she listens to his radio station, WDBO.

• K-80: A middle-aged white woman with children who has not followed the case. She considers the “racial undertones” in the case “disturbing” and called what happened a “terrible accident.”

• K-95: A middle-aged woman who’s a full-time college student and “IT geek” with two children. She was critical of protests calling for Zimmerman’s arrest, describing it as a “commotion.”

• P-67: A native of Mexico who seemed eager to serve on the jury. He described it as a civic duty. “Some people think it is a racist thing,” he said of the shooting, but he also said “accidents happen.”

• 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.” Out-of-town protesters “didn’t really know what happened,” she said, and created “a discussion that did not need to be had.”

12:42 PM EST: Court recesses for lunch.

11:40 AM EST: Potential juror G63 takes the stand. Described as a younger white male. May be mixed with Asian.

– Says he reads most of his news from his Facebook feed. Lawyers ask him to describe what he seen and what feed is (they seem to be confused about how it works).

– Says he seen things about gun laws and “Florida law being different” from other states on self-defense.”

– Seems confused about questions and what he remembers. “I may remember something,” but not “remember that I remember.”

– Says he also heard about a high-level in Sem. Co. criminal justice figure fired “for mishandling the case.”

– When asked about protests: “All I know is there were protests,” the same people “seemed to be complaining” whenever something’s controversial. He called the protests annoying.

– About being sequestered:  I’ll be sequestered for my birthday, but “I can move a party back.”

– He says he’s “mixed race,” doesn’t identify with any one race. Racism, he says, is not a factor in his daily life.

10:52 AM EST: Potential juror G47 takes the stand. Described as white male in his 20’s or 30’s. Works at a restaurant.

– Works 50 hours a week, and has sick parents so has no time to research case.

– “My news-watching is sparse… I find it mostly depressing.”

– Says his friends don’t talk about local news if it doesn’t affect them. “A tsunami in Japan or earthquake in India would potentially impact my life more than this case.”

10:10 AM EST: Potential juror G29 takes stand. Described as a black woman in her 30’s.

– Says she rarely follows news, but heard case involved self defense.

– Says she remembers “racial tension,” and seen her friends post comments about Trayvon’s shooting. She blew it off because people tend to give their opinions about things without knowing the truth. Says she never commented on their posts.

– She also said that her favorite radio host leaned towards murder, not a church goer “instead of it being an accident.”

– She posted her summons on Facebook and court asked why. “It was just something to do.” She’s been called for jury duty before.

10:05 AM EST: Judge Nelson sends another group of jurors away until Monday.  Gives them same rules as jurors from first group.

9:40 AM EST: BREAKING – Judge Nelson sends a number of jurors away until Tuesday. She instructs them not to talk, tweet, blog about the case/trial. Those jurors are likely through with the pretrial publicity round.

Those jurors are as followed: B-35 B-29 B-12 B-76 B-51 B-7 B-37 B-86 B-55 E-6 E-40 E-54 E-73 M-75 B-61 B-72 E-22 E-13 E-28 K-80 K-95 P-67 G-14.

– Out of those 23 people there are 19 women and four men. Only three of those potential jurors is black.

9:00 AM EST: Court resumes

8:30 AM EST: George Zimmerman’s father released an Amazon book late Wednesday about the trial and his son shooting Trayvon Martin.

– The book, titled “Florida v. Zimmerman: Uncovering the Malicious Prosecution of my Son, George,” is available for $3.00.

– It describes how and why George Zimmerman “has been charged with the crime of murder,” according to Amazon.

—–


Here’s What To Expect Today:

– Jury selection will continue. Stay updated with GlobalGrind as we give you a play by play of what’s to come.

– For the latest updates straight from the courtroom, follow @GlobalGrind, @GlobalGrindNews, @MichaelSkolnik, @UncleRush and @ChrissyCole

What You Missed Yesterday:

Judge Nelson announced that the final jury will be sequestered. 

– During that time, the 10 jurors will face restrictions on where they can go, what they can read and watch on television, and even how often they can speak to family members.

– The court will provide them with a hotel, food, and transportation back and forth from the proceedings. The jurors might even get to go on outings for entertainment, within the restrictions given.

– Additionally, deputies will escort them everywhere and monitor them in the hotel.

For a full recap of each potential juror’s questioning session, please click here.