Not very likely, as his counsel was intimately involved in the voir dire process that resulted in the jury's composition.

In reality, it may benefit the white Hispanic to have as his jurors those who fear personal attacks more than the average male does.

 

Interesting selection. I wonder what the defenses reasoning is for an all female jury.

 

Zimmerman is toast. It would be a miracle for him to be acquitted and would likely spark riots, like the LAPD/Rodney King trial did, and/or revenge killings. A bunch of women jurors isn't going to let this happen, IMO.

 

Defense should not be entirely happy with the jury. If they say they think the jury is perfect, that's a lie, and it is to present a posture of confidence and to perhaps try and strike a favorable tone with the jury.

the final jury roster is the result of a compromise, so neither party should be completely happy with the results.

I'm not sure defense is toast just yet.

I think this is a two-sided coin of sorts. If martin can be portrayed as a thug then the defense will play to the "protector" aspect of this. The flip side is maternal instincts may kick in to work against the defense and in favor of prosecution.

I think the jury will try very hard to be impartial. So hard that they may inadvertently tip one way or the other to not appear impartial. That said, i find it highly dubious that any of the jury hasn't heard about this case and maybe already formed some early opinions about it.

I would be interested to know other demographics such as age and race, and also whether any of the jurors are pregnant or not. If I am on defense and I find out a juror is pregnant I would immediately move for dismissal of that jury member.

 

In reality, it may benefit the white Hispanic to have as his jurors those who fear personal attacks more than the average male does.

That's an astute observation, DC.

As a young lawyer, I watched voir dire of a jury for trial of a black prostitute. It surprised me when her public defender struck all the black folks the prosecutor hadn't, resulting in a jury of middle aged conservative white men. After that jury delivered a "not guilty" verdict, I asked the defense lawyer why he'd used his challenges so inconsistently with conventional wisdom. He replied "I wanted a jury of customers."

 

Funny how stereotyping and profiling is considered such a vile tactic by many especially on the left. Then when used by lawyers it becomes not only acceptable but even clever and desired.

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In reality, it may benefit the white Hispanic to have as his jurors those who fear personal attacks more than the average male does.

That's an astute observation, DC.

As a young lawyer, I watched voir dire of a jury for trial of a black prostitute. It surprised me when her public defender struck all the black folks the prosecutor hadn't, resulting in a jury of middle aged conservative white men. After that jury delivered a "not guilty" verdict, I asked the defense lawyer why he'd used his challenges so inconsistently with conventional wisdom. He replied "I wanted a jury of customers."

Also women are statistically less susceptible to racial bias. Could mean victory for the white hispanic.

Of course a guilty of not only murder but an additional charge of child molestation wouldn't surprise me in our modern warped society either.

 

It will be difficult to portray Mr. Martin as a thug, when the judge has already ruled that the defense can't mention his prior marijuana use or fights because they're "not relevant".

 

This is probably the most patently unfair criminal case I've seen in the national news for a very long time. The facts of the case according to Florida law are so overwhelmingly on Zimmerman's side that any fair judge, acting as a sort of "impartial referee", would have tossed it under Florida's self defense laws.

Zimmerman was beaten up. He had lots of chances to shoot Martin before Martin pounded his head into the concrete. The pictures of a beaten up Zimmerman are going to go before that jury, and so long as they aren't all so blindly prejudiced against the use of force they'll apply the law and find Zimmerman not guilty.

My bet is that the Florida authorities so bent on convicting Zimmerman will lose this case. It should have never been brought in the first place, and wouldn't have except for media attention.

 

Why only 6? I thought criminal juries were 12 people.

 

Florida has a different law that allows 6 instead of 12.

 

UMKC law school has a good article on Constitutional requirements for the number of jurors and whether the jury verdicts need be unanimous. Bottom line is that Florida can use a six person jury but it must be a unanimous verdict.

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/f ... ysize.html

You can't predict always what a jury will do. But it's very easy in this case to predict what they should do, and more often than not a jury does the right thing. Small consolation for a defendant whose life hangs in the balance.

 

SuperXone you are a genius, damn near as smart as me,
and there are few in that category. So to go on with my
commentary, I am sure everyone is on the edge of their
seats just waiting to hear:

Interesting selection. I wonder what the defenses reasoning is for
an all female jury

Take a deep breath and then wonder why the prosecution
favors an all female jury. Both sides have an input into
jury selection.

Zimmerman is toast. It would be a miracle for him to be
acquitted and would likely spark riots....

There is no chance in hell, Zimmerman will be convicted.
Female jury, male jury, black jury, white jury, makes
no difference. There is no evidence to convict, all
evidence shows Zimmerman being attacked, even photo
evidence. No one is going to convict this guy, that
is the beauty of the jury system. It takes a bunch
of regular people to convict someone. You can't
find a bunch of regular people that are going to
convict this guy.

 

I say "hung jury", when have 6 women ever agreed on anything?

 

It might be easier for the black community to take a verdict of not guilty if it did NOT come from any white men at all. Don't you think?.

And, the judge in the Zimmerman case doesn't want to be hounded from the bench for "allowing" Zimmerman to walk.

Martin is the aggressor. Martin broke Zimmerman's nose and pounded his head against the concrete, and the "screaming" in the neighbor's phone is Zimmerman. It stopped with gunshot. No more need for help. Why would Martin keep yelling help when he was winning the fight? The prosecution was too far along with their vendetta to stop by the time all this evidence came out, but it's going to go right in front of that jury and there is nothing to stop it.

The prosecution is more likely toast. And at least some of the prosecution team damned well know that.

 

Yep and OJ was guilty as sin....

 

This all could have been avoided had Zimmerman remained in his car as instructed to do so by the police dispatcher. As a former LEO, the last thing I would advocate is some poorly "trained" wannabe out their conducting his own unauthorized patrols.

I am not saying Zimmerman should be convicted. I am saying his own poor judgement significantly contributed to this situation ending tragically.

Irishwhistler

 

Yep, all such encounters could be avoided if the thugs are just permitted to run wild.

Everyone needs to carry a LEO in their pocket.

 

Jug, I more than agree with Irish on this one. Not only should Zimmerman have remained in his car, it turned out that Martin was not going to do anything but go back to his Dad's girlfriend's house. Martin was just a kid who was being black in public, and for whatever reason,,,fear,,,anger at being followed,,,whatever,,,,chose to turn back and kick Zimmerman's *** for following him. It's a tragedy that would have been prevented by Zimmerman not getting out of his car.

And I'll never think Zimmerman would have gotten out of his car without that gun in his pocket. He had nine millimeter courage. He wasn't a cop.

But under Florida law Zimmerman had every right to follow Martin, and Martin had no right to attack Zimmerman. The assault against Zimmerman was so violent that I think anyone with a gun at that point would have shot Martin to prevent themselves from having their head pounded in the concrete.

If Martin had been followed by a uniformed police officer, as a young black man well versed in confrontations with the police, Martin would not have attacked a police officer. Martin picked the wrong white man and Zimmerman picked the wrong young black man and it's a shame that Martin is dead. But it's justified under Florida law.

 

I say "hung jury", when have 6 women ever agreed on anything?

Absolutely !

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Funny how stereotyping and profiling is considered such a vile tactic by many especially on the left. Then when used by lawyers it becomes not only acceptable but even clever and desired.

In Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986), SCOTUS held prosecutors could not lawfully base peremptory challenges during jury selection solely on the basis of race. It's hard to enforce that doctrine, however, and some prosecutors likely still base challenges solely on race because they can get away with it. Defense lawyers are not subject to the Batson restriction.

 

This all could have been avoided had Zimmerman remained in his car as instructed to do so by the police dispatcher. As a former LEO, the last thing I would advocate is some poorly "trained" wannabe out their conducting his own unauthorized patrols.

I am not saying Zimmerman should be convicted. I am saying his own poor judgement significantly contributed to this situation ending tragically.

Irishwhistler

Spoken just like a cop that thinks no one but they should be armed and able to do anything but call 911. Since when is a police dispatcher any kind of authority figure in our chain of command?

 

This all could have been avoided had Zimmerman remained in his car as instructed to do so by the police dispatcher. As a former LEO, the last thing I would advocate is some poorly "trained" wannabe out their conducting his own unauthorized patrols.

I am not saying Zimmerman should be convicted. I am saying his own poor judgement significantly contributed to this situation ending tragically.

Irishwhistler

This all could have been avoided everyday if we just throw all guns in the ocean too huh? Nothing that happens could been avoided. It was meant to happen. That's how the market works.

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Hillary Clinton advanced the olde concept of , It takes a village, and Zimmerman accepted civic duty by being an unpaid neighborhood watch volunteer.
At what point of information gathering is a member of an imperfect species supposed to run, hide and contact a slightly better trained member of an imperfect species?
The purpose of a trial is to let the facts come out, from what I have gathered Zimmerman made no more than minor human mistakes without the benefit of a uniform.
If we cannot be slightly inept without having our heads battered something is wrong with our society.
Experienced law enforcement should have a memory bank full of brutal, and perhaps fatal assaults by those eighteen years of age or less.

 

Sorry Super, but you and Irish are both wrong. Things usually happen for a reason. And if it hadn't happened the way it did, there would have been innocent people die, sooner or later. Maybe only one, maybe more.

In the long run, it happened the best way possible.

Both much cost and suffering were averted.

The cost going on now is just plain stupidity.