They had trips to the mall, mani-pedis, dinners out on the town and an excursion to watch a fireworks display.
It wasn't a bachelorette weekend - those activities are on the laundry list of things the six-woman jury assigned to the George Zimmerman trial did during their 22 days sequestered from the general public. It cost Florida taxpayers about $33,000 to keep the jury - which ultimately found Zimmerman not guilty of murdering Trayvon Martin - fed, happy and away from trial coverage during the three weeks of intense testimony, the Seminole County Sheriff's Office detailed in a press release Wednesday.
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The entire trial, from overtime and equipment, cost the department an estimated $320,000.
Under the watchful eye of sheriff's deputies, who kept close tabs on their every move, the women "enjoyed several evening and weekend excursions to include bowling, shopping at the Volusia Mall, a day and dinner in St. Augustine (to include a visit to the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum), manicures and pedicures, and watching fireworks on the fourth of July," the department wrote in the release. Expenses such as bowling, movie and museum tickets, and dinner were all paid for by taxpayers.
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Back at the Marriott Hotel where the jurors stayed, the women each had their own room and watched TV and movies or socialized as they kept a low profile. Preliminary estimates tagged daily costs for the jurors at $1,000 for the hotel and $375 for food. The excursions cost $350 and the women paid for “personal purchases.”
Experts and other attorneys say the cost is a fair price to pay for what is an intense situation for any jury.
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"When a jury is sequestered for a significant amount of time, like in this case, a judge has to be mindful of how their isolation from the outside world could affect them and could potentially affect their ability to be fair and impartial," criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor Elizabeth Parker told USA Today. "Allowing the women to get manicures and pedicures or enjoying other activities is important to the mental well-being of these jurors who are in a very stressful situation. Imagine four weeks of being confined to a courtroom all day and a hotel room at night and on the weekend, without any freedom or independence."
Deputies were tasked with keeping the women, who dined out at local restaurants on occasion, from reading, seeing or hearing anything about the trial, which received intense media coverage around the country. Even family members and friends, who were permitted to visit on weekends, had "to sign an agreement indicating they would not discuss the case with the jury member or disclose any information to outside parties about the details of their visit." Cell phone, Internet and TV material was similarly screened by the department.
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"They left their husbands, their children, their friends, their jobs, they were essentially 'imprisoned' for three weeks," jury consultant Robert Hirschhorn told USA Today. "They could not watch what they wanted on TV, listen to the radio, read what they want in the newspaper or surf the Web.
"Almost every sequestered jury gets some type of field trip to pass the time and distract them from the enormity of the task before them," he added.
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An alternate juror, identified as Juror E54, has spoken out about the case. The unidentified male alternate spoke with WOFL-TV in Orlando about his experience watching the testimony. But he was not sequestered and didn't partake in jury deliberations. He did give his opinion though.
"I supported the verdict," Juror E54 said. "I agree with it."
Since Saturday's not guilty verdict, all six women have stayed anonymous and only one, identified as Juror B37, has spoken publicly about what happened during the jury's deliberations.
Juror B37's controversial comments to Anderson Cooper on CNN sparked a public backlash against the woman, who peddled a book deal before dropping it because of intense pressure.
Four of the other jurors issued a statement distancing themselves from her words, which they described as her opinion only and not that of the entire jury.
"We ask you to remember that we are not public officials and we did not invite this type of attention into our lives," the four jurors wrote in their statement.
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