Six Jurors Seated As Judge Makes Ruling

The first day of summer has been a very busy Friday in Sanford, Florida. Recent weeks in this community, just outside of Orlando, have been filled with tension, controversy, and anxiety. Something tells me we've only seen the tip of this iceberg.

The jury selection process has been completed in the George Zimmerman murder trial.  The following six jurors have been selected.

Photo by AP

• B-29 — A Hispanic woman who moved to Florida from Chicago four months before the trial began. She has been married for 10 years and has eight children. Her oldest son is 20.
• B-76 — A white woman who has lived in Seminole County since 1995. She previously owned a construction company with her husband and has two children. Her older son, 28, is a foreclosure/divorce lawyer.
• B-37 — A white woman who has lived in Seminole County for 18 years and is an animal rescue volunteer.  She is married to an attorney in the space industry and has two daughters. 
•  B-51 — A white woman who has been a Central Florida resident since 1987 and has lived in Seminole County for the last nine years. She is retired and previously worked in real estate. She has served as a juror twice - once three years ago and once in 1991 in Orange County.
• E-6 — A white woman who moved to Seminole County two years ago from Orange County, where she had lived since 2004. She is unemployed and volunteers at a school where her children, ages 11 and 13, attend. Her husband is an engineer.
• E-40 — A white woman who moved to Florida from Iowa in November 2012. She works as a safety officer, is married to a chemical engineer, and has a 28-year-old son. She previously served as a juror 20 years ago in a drug-dealing case in Pennsylvania.

Only six?  Yeah, that’s right, six.   It surprised me too.  But then again, we are talking about Florida.  Initially I thought counting to twelve could be the issue.  However, in Williams vs Florida (1970), the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that a Florida state jury of six was "sufficient" in a non-capital case and that “the 12-man panel is not a necessary ingredient of  trial by jury.” "Accordingly Florida law does not violate a defendant’s or petitioner's 6^th Amendment rights.”

Personally, I am amazed that any non-biased or otherwise untainted jurors could be found in Central Florida, let alone Sanford.  I am somewhat comforted that the jurors all hail from other locations, and  have children and diverse backgrounds.  I have faith they will be fair and just and will render an appropriate decision.  Unfortunately, others do not share my optimism.

Sadly, this case has been racially charged since the onset.  Now that the jury has finally been selected, it appears the racial fires may be rekindling.  Many are crumbling because there are no African-American jury members.

Judge Debra Nelson (who succeeded Judge Kenneth Lester, Jr. after Zimmerman appealed alleging Lester "was biased against him"), in an effort to somewhat defuse some of the tension, has ruled prosecutors can tell the jury Zimmerman had identified Martin as a possible criminal before he killed him. They will not be allowed to say Zimmerman "racially profiled" Martin.  "Opening statements are not evidence," stated Nelson. "The state has to prove it."

photo by allvoices.com

If prosecutors choose to do so, Judge Nelson will allow Zimmerman to be referred to as a "wanna be cop" or "vigilante."  Prosecutors will also be permitted to say Zimmerman got out of his car and went after Trayvon Martin, since "that's the state's case.".

Opening remarks will proceed on Monday June 24th.  TV cameras will be present and rolling, and I'm sure the eyes of the nation will be tuned in.  Let’s all hope and pray this does not turn into an even greater fiasco.

I’m not hatin, I'm jus sayin…