Thursday, June 20, 2013

Facebook plays role in Zimmerman case, jury selection

Facebook plays role in Zimmerman case, jury selectionNews image

POOL PHOTO/JOE BURBANK/ORLANDO SENTINEL
Dismissed ? Judge Debra Nelson dismisses remaining jurors after announcing they had reached a pool of 40 jurors in the George Zimmerman trial, in Seminole circuit court, in Sanford,Tuesday, June 18. Zimmerman is accused in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin.

By Rachel Delinski
Special to The Beacon

posted Jun 19, 2013 - 4:56:56pm

Facebook has played a major role in jury selection for George Zimmerman's trial, and in the case itself.

Lawyers can use the pervasive social-networking website to their advantage, because Facebook posts by potential jurors can reveal their prejudices.

On the other hand, it's harder for lawyers to determine whether the buzz on Facebook might have tainted potential jurors who didn't betray themselves by posting any opinions.

There is also concern that people involved in the trial might share details on Facebook, as several already did by posting the news that they had received jury summonses.

During the voir dire June 10-17, which was devoted to finding out about the jury pool's exposure to news about the case, each potential juror was asked whether he or she used Facebook, or received or posted information on the site about the February 2012 death of Trayvon Martin or the case against Zimmerman, who is charged with second-degree murder in Martin's shooting.

Read the whole story in the June 20-23 Weekend edition of The Beacon. To subscribe to The Beacon online, click here. For a list of newsstand locations, click here. To have the print edition mailed to your home twice a week, send your address via email to circulation@beacononlinenews.com.

? Info@beacononlinenews.com

Save this article to Del.icio.us DIGG this article Submit this article to reddit Submit this article to StumbleUpon Share this article on Facebook Submit this article to Fark

Reader Comments

The comments posted below are posted by readers, not by The Beacon staff. These comments express the views and opinions of the authors, and not the administrators, moderators or webmaster. The comments forum is governed by these rules. Please use the report abuse link if you find offensive comments.

Morton | posted Jun 19, 2013 - 9:03:27pm

Trayvon Martin was larger in death than he ever was in life.

Kinda like Martin Luther King

Does death make angels of us all?



Comment on this article

Fields marked with a * are required


Did you find this story interesting or informative? Subscribe to The West Volusia Beacon to read more stories by Rachel Delinski, along with others from our award-winning writers. Subscribe now!

Source: http://www.beacononlinenews.com/news/daily/6122

wall street journal us map Electoral Map concede Obama Acceptance Speech Prop 30 Election 2012

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.