Earl Ofari Hutchinson writes at the Huffington Post that based on census records, the jury pool for George Zimmerman's trial, which starts on Monday, will likely consist largely of older, white Republicans.
The type of jury that George Zimmerman will get in Seminole County, Fla., has been a hot item of speculation and debate. But what is missing in the debate are two crucial things. One is the specifics of who will likely be on the six-person jury. The other is how these six jurors will likely vote. This tracks squarely back to who those six jurors are likely to be.
The facts about who they are likely to be are based on U.S. Census reports and the Florida Division of Election Statistics. The jurors in the 500-juror pool that the defense and prosecution will pick the six from will be older in every age group from 20 to 60 years of age than the average age of jurors in other Florida counties. There will be more Republicans than Democrats. There were nearly 20,000 more of them than Democrats in 2012. Nearly 90 percent of the GOP registered voters are white. They will be 10 percent whiter than the statewide population. There will be a lower percentage of blacks and Hispanics than in the statewide average. There will be slightly more women than men. They will be far more likely to be homeowners than renters. The homeownership rate is triple that of the rental rate.
Based solely on the numbers and the county's demographics, of the 500 persons in the juror pool, there will be 329 whites, 89 Hispanics, and 59 blacks. There will be 239 men and 251 women. Defense attorneys that have tried major criminal cases in Seminole County, say the composite juror is a white, professional or business person, and middle aged, male and female, and Republican. In any other case, this type of jury would overwhelmingly be a pro prosecution jury, and the likelihood of Zimmerman being convicted would be nearly a slam dunk. Indeed, more than 90 percent of felony defendants prosecuted in the county are convicted.
Read Earl Ofari Hutchinson's entire blog entry at the Huffington Post.
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