Thursday, June 20, 2013
Good evening:
We have a jury, an all female jury.
B-29
B-76
B-37
B-51
E-6
E-40
The four alternates:
E-54
B-72
E-13
E-28
Two males and two females.
Here’s a link to fauxmccoy’s chart on the jurors.
Those in green made the jury. Those in red were stricken.
I tried hundreds of cases during my 30 year career and never had an all female or an all male jury.
5 of the 6 women are white. One is Hispanic.
5 of the 6 women are mothers.
I would be very worried, if I were George Zimmerman, because I believe those mothers are not going to believe him. I think they are going to hold him accountable for killing an unarmed teenager.
I am unhappy that none of the jurors are black, but I do not believe that is going to affect the final outcome of this case.
I predict GZ will testify because Mark O’Mara did not voir dire the panel of jurors regarding a defendant’s right to remain silent and not testify. When my clients decided not to testify, I always made sure that the jurors understood that my clients were not required to testify and no one could assume that their silence was evidence of guilt.
Judge Nelson announced that counsel will give their opening statements beginning at 9 am EDT on Monday morning.
After she dismissed the remainder of the panel and swore in the jurors, Judge Nelson excused the jury and completed the evidentiary part of the Frye hearing.
Assistant State Attorney Manthei summed up the situation when he said there was nothing novel or new about the methodologies used by the State’s experts. What is new is a move across several different scientific disciplines to establish a universal set of standards to use when attempting to match a recording of an unknown voice to a database of recorded voices of known individuals in order to declare a match.
That is a far more complicated task than listening to a known voice and excluding that known individual as the source of a voice on a recording. There are only two possible sources of the terrified shriek that ends with the shot and it’s not difficult to exclude the armed defendant who admitted firing the fatal shot as the source of that scream.
Manthei added that the State was not responsible for the recent news reports that the defense had an expert who identified GZ as the source of the scream.
And some PJs mentioned hearing that in the news before reporting for jury service.
However, as it turned out, the defense could find no expert to testify to that opinion and the reports were false.
If I were Judge Nelson, I would rule that the State’s experts may testify and express their opinions. The defendant’s objections go to the weight of the evidence, not its admissibility.
Judge Nelson will issue her ruling after court reconvenes at 9 am tomorrow.
______________________________________________________________
Your continuing support allows me to continue posting independent articles like this.
Please consider making a donation to keep independent journalism alive.
Thank you
