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Judge Orders 500 Jurors Summoned for George Zimmerman Trial

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Thu Feb 14, 2013 at 09:05:07 PM EST
Tags: George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin (all tags)
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At a hearing today, Judge Debra Nelson ordered the clerk to summon 500 prospective jurors for George Zimmerman's trial for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, scheduled for June 10.

The Judge also refused to delay the self-defense immunity hearing, which will begin April 22 and last up to two weeks.

Mark O'Mara said he may ask that the immunity hearing be "enveloped" into the trial. [More...]

The immunity hearing will be a preview of the state's case at trial as well as Zimmerman's defense. Having a earlier immunity hearing would give each side enough time to effectively utilize the insights gained at the immunity hearing in finalizing their trial strategy.

Maybe he isn't confident the judge or court of appeals will grant a stay of the trial if he loses the immunity hearing. He certainly has the right to appeal a denial of immunity before trial, but if the stay pending appeal is discretionary, and Florida Appellate Rule 9.310 seems to indicate it is, he may believe the extra time to prepare for the immunity hearing is more important than an uncertain motion to delay the trial pending appellate review.

A hearing will be held Feb. 22 on whether Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump can be deposed by O'Mara. He thinks the affidavit he submitted last week should be sufficient.

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    Judge Orders 500 Jurors Summoned for George Zimmerman Trial | 2 comments (2 topical)

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    A Delay Might Not be Necessary (none / 0) (#1)
    by RickyJim on Fri Feb 15, 2013 at 08:40:58 AM EST
    Maybe O'Mara should give the judge a detailed list of exactly what he feels he needs to do, and why, to be 'ready' for the immunity hearing and trial.  Of course the list could get longer as he learns more and further extensions could be granted.  This isn't that complicated a case and by the nature of things, the defense seems to have the upper hand as far as the evidence goes.  Stuff like which cops had what opinion of the charges that should be brought might be something a book on the case could go into but seems of minor relevance to Zimmerman's guilt or innocence.   Likewise, probing the scheming of the parents and Crump would be very important in later civil action but not for determining Zimmerman's culpability.  

    I think if he knows everything about what's in the phone records of Martin and Zimmerman, what DeeDee really was told by Martin, and could Witness6 really tell if a yell was coming from somebody facing him rather than away from him, he has 99.9% of all the probative evidence.  If he has the judge backing him up on getting the specifics, he shouldn't need more than a month to get it all.  And by making his requests public he might get needed experts to donate their services free.  

    500, huh? (none / 0) (#2)
    by unitron on Fri Feb 15, 2013 at 05:33:47 PM EST
    How big a group do you suppose they'll need from which to select the second juror?

    Judge Orders 500 Jurors Summoned for George Zimmerman Trial | 2 comments (2 topical)

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