Jury selection keeps creeping along in the George Zimmerman trial as the attorneys are still a half dozen jurors short of being able to move on to the second phase of the process, according to the Huffington Post.
Thursday will be the fourth day of jury selection as attorneys try to find a group of 30 jurors who have managed to avoid the majority of media coverage given to the slaying of Trayvon Martin. During the first phase attorneys are keeping all of their questions related to how much media coverage potential jurors had been exposed to, once 30 jurors have been found they will be questioned in depth, according to CBS News.
Judge Debra Nelson has decided to keep the identities of jurors anonymous but refused a defense request to sequester the entire jury pool of 500 people, according to CBS News.
The New York Daily News reports that a member of a pro-Trayvon Martin group attempted to be seated on the jury yesterday but was discovered and excused. Jerry Counelis, a painter and a musician, was answering very simple questions with long, rambling answers about how impartial he felt he could be.
After questioning Counelis the two sets of attorneys met with Judge Nelson. Nelson then asked Counelis if he had posted a message on a Facebook page for the "Coffee Party Progressives," when Counelis said yes he was dismissed from the jury.
"In Sanford...& I CAN tell you THIS. 'Justice' IS Coming!" Counelis wrote on the Facebook page according to the New York Daily News. "With the noise WE made...it couldn't be covered up."
As the third day of jury selection finished Martin's father, Tracy Martin, told the Huffington Post that his family were happy with the process so far.
"We are encouraged as a family that we can get justice for our son Trayvon, and we expect the public to come forth and be honest as potential jurors," Tracy Martin said.
A live stream of the fourth, and possibly final, day of jury selection can be seen here.
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