By AUDRA D.S. BURCH and DAVID OVALLE The Miami Herald
SANFORD -- With jury selection expected to wrap up soon in the high-profile trial of George Zimmerman, his lawyer on Thursday morning began questioning the 40 finalists.
Defense attorney Mark O’Mara re-introduced himself to the group and immediately began pressing them on whether they could be fair despite Zimmerman being charged with the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
“He’s here before you, charged with a crime. The state has decided to prosecute him. How does that weigh in on whether or not he’s guilty?” O’Mara asked.
Potential jurors responded by saying they could rely on evidence to make their decisions.
“I would agree he’s presumed innocent until found guilty based on the evidence,” one woman said.
Several jurors recalled living overseas, where defendants were not presumed innocent until proven guilty.
“Sometimes you disappear and you never got back and you would disappear for years and years,” said one woman who lived in an unnamed South American country ruled by a dictatorship.
Thursday is expected to be an important day in the trial of Zimmerman, who claims he shot Trayvon in self-defense during a violent scuffle in a Sanford gated community in February 2012. A weeks-long delay in charging Zimmerman sparked racially charged protests and caused scrutiny on Florida’s self-defense law.
Seminole Circuit Judge Debra S. Nelson in the afternoon may rule whether state audio experts can testify about their conclusions in analyzing 911 calls that are evidence in the case.
One 911 phone call, from a neighbor reporting the outside scuffle, recorded apparent cries for help. State experts suggest the screams belonged to Trayvon - a key conclusion that would paint Zimmerman as the aggressor.
Defense experts, in hearings held intermittently for the past two weeks, have said the experts’ methods of analyzing the calls through computer programs are “new and novel.” The conclusion of the hearing on the experts starts at 2 p.m. Thursday.
SANFORD -- With jury selection expected to wrap up soon in the high-profile trial of George Zimmerman, his lawyer on Thursday morning began questioning the 40 finalists.
Defense attorney Mark O’Mara re-introduced himself to the group and immediately began pressing them on whether they could be fair despite Zimmerman being charged with the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
“He’s here before you, charged with a crime. The state has decided to prosecute him. How does that weigh in on whether or not he’s guilty?” O’Mara asked.
Potential jurors responded by saying they could rely on evidence to make their decisions.
“I would agree he’s presumed innocent until found guilty based on the evidence,” one woman said.
Several jurors recalled living overseas, where defendants were not presumed innocent until proven guilty.
“Sometimes you disappear and you never got back and you would disappear for years and years,” said one woman who lived in an unnamed South American country ruled by a dictatorship.
Thursday is expected to be an important day in the trial of Zimmerman, who claims he shot Trayvon in self-defense during a violent scuffle in a Sanford gated community in February 2012. A weeks-long delay in charging Zimmerman sparked racially charged protests and caused scrutiny on Florida’s self-defense law.
Seminole Circuit Judge Debra S. Nelson in the afternoon may rule whether state audio experts can testify about their conclusions in analyzing 911 calls that are evidence in the case.
One 911 phone call, from a neighbor reporting the outside scuffle, recorded apparent cries for help. State experts suggest the screams belonged to Trayvon - a key conclusion that would paint Zimmerman as the aggressor.
Defense experts, in hearings held intermittently for the past two weeks, have said the experts’ methods of analyzing the calls through computer programs are “new and novel.” The conclusion of the hearing on the experts starts at 2 p.m. Thursday.