Zimmerman Jury Selection Gets Personal
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
By: Amy Green

June 19, 2013 | WMFE - We're learning more about the men and women who'll judge George Zimmerman's guilt or innocence as jury selection continues in his second-degree murder trial. Now that they've narrowed the pool from 500 potential jurors to 40, attorneys want to know more about their personal lives and how that might affect their ability to render a fair verdict.

[George Zimmerman returns to the Seminole County Criminal Justice Center - photo: Joe Burbank, Orlando Sentinel]

Together the potential jurors filed into the courtroom as journalists craned their necks to see them. The courtroom had been rearranged so attorneys faced them and not the judge.

Prosecutor Bernie De La Rionda addressed them. 

"Congratulations. You made it to stage two. I'm sure everybody's excited to be here."

One-by-one he asked potential jurors about their families, careers and what they did for fun. He also wanted to know whether they ever had served on a jury before. He asked one man whether he had enjoyed it. 

"I did."

"Did everybody hear that?"

"It was one day. We weren't sequestered.

"You didn't need to add that!"

Then the proceeding began to feel more like a trial law class. De La Rionda explained it is the state's burden to prove Zimmerman's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and that jurors must render their verdict without the influence of opinion or bias.

Zimmerman says he shot and killed Trayvon Martin in self-defense.