In Trayvon Martin slaying trial, jurors will be anonymous but not sequestered, judge rules
A Florida judge has nixed a defense lawyer’s request to sequester the entire jury pool in the high-profile second-degree murder case over the slaying of Trayvon Martin but agreed that the jurors’ names should be kept confidential.
Jury selection is expected to begin Monday in Sanford in the controversial case against George Zimmerman, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
He is accused of shooting the unarmed teenager to death last year while acting as a community watch volunteer in Sanford.
Zimmerman has said he acted in self-defense.
That will be a tough defense to disprove, since only one of the two individuals involved in the altercation that led to the shooting is alive to tell his side of the story, Brian Tannebaum tells CBS. He is currently president of the Florida Association of Bar Defense Lawyers and formerly served as president of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
“It’s a hard burden when Zimmerman is going to say, ‘Listen, I was in fear, I got into a fight with this kid, I didn’t know him, I didn’t know what he was going to do,’ ” Tannebaum said. “What is out there to dispute what he’s saying? That’s the difficult part.”
