04-30-2013, 03:25 PM
-Judge Nelson and the attorneys have agreed that the jury will be sequestered.
-500 potential jurors will be questioned.
Benjamin Crump, the Martin family's attorney, issued this statement after the hearing today:
There is no doubt that the legislature intended that a Stand Your Ground Immunity Hearing should be decided before trial. Because ultimately, the Stand Your Ground Statute grants immunity from civil lawsuits, arrests, and trials, if a defendant prevails.
Therefore, while it may be theoretically possible for George Zimmerman to merge his Stand Your Ground Hearing into the trial, there is really no advantage to a defendant with a strong defense to do so.
The fact that George Zimmerman has decided to now waive his right to a stand your ground hearing before trial is very telling of his defense or lack there of. We believe the Defense’s decision to waive a pre-trial hearing and to merge the Stand Your Ground Hearing into the trial is to prevent putting George Zimmerman on the stand and to preclude the public and the potential jury pool from previewing the many inconsistencies in George Zimmerman’s story.
It has and continues to be our position that the Stand Your Ground Immunity Statute does not apply to the actions of George Zimmerman on the night that he shot and killed Trayvon Martin. Further, the decision made by the defense to waive a pretrial hearing and to solely continue on to trial vindicates the many thousands of protesters who demanded George Zimmerman be arrested for the killing of Trayvon Martin. After all, to have a felony criminal trial an arrest must first be made.
-500 potential jurors will be questioned.
Benjamin Crump, the Martin family's attorney, issued this statement after the hearing today:
There is no doubt that the legislature intended that a Stand Your Ground Immunity Hearing should be decided before trial. Because ultimately, the Stand Your Ground Statute grants immunity from civil lawsuits, arrests, and trials, if a defendant prevails.
Therefore, while it may be theoretically possible for George Zimmerman to merge his Stand Your Ground Hearing into the trial, there is really no advantage to a defendant with a strong defense to do so.
The fact that George Zimmerman has decided to now waive his right to a stand your ground hearing before trial is very telling of his defense or lack there of. We believe the Defense’s decision to waive a pre-trial hearing and to merge the Stand Your Ground Hearing into the trial is to prevent putting George Zimmerman on the stand and to preclude the public and the potential jury pool from previewing the many inconsistencies in George Zimmerman’s story.
It has and continues to be our position that the Stand Your Ground Immunity Statute does not apply to the actions of George Zimmerman on the night that he shot and killed Trayvon Martin. Further, the decision made by the defense to waive a pretrial hearing and to solely continue on to trial vindicates the many thousands of protesters who demanded George Zimmerman be arrested for the killing of Trayvon Martin. After all, to have a felony criminal trial an arrest must first be made.