Closing Arguments Likely This Afternoon in George Zimmerman Case

The Defense rested without Mr. Zimmerman taking the stand, which wasn’t surprising in light of how strongly the evidence has favored Mr. Zimmerman. The Defense concluded their case by calling Zimmerman’s father to the stand to add to the litany of witnesses that identified the screams for help as belonging to George Zimmerman. The State called a rebuttal witness yesterday, and may have another today. There are quite a bit of arguments that the court decided to hear in the morning, as opposed to having another marathon session like the one that lasted until nearly midnight Tuesday night. The court expects to have the jury back at 1 pm, hopefully to begin closing arguments close to that. Both sides have asked for 3 hours.

I suspect the judge may keep the jury late to try to conclude arguments in one day. She may even offer them the possibility of beginning their deliberations  with dinner. Why not, they are sequestered and don’t have anywhere else to go. The complicated issues that have been dealt with over the weeks of testimony may cause the deliberations to run into next week: but it could be a very quick verdict. I saw a manslaughter case argued several years ago here in For t Myers where a young man was killed. The jury came back very quickly with a not guilty verdict, surprising many watchers who thought the young man’s death would warrant more substantial deliberation. However, the jury came to an agreement pretty quickly, and didn’t hesitate to walk that defendant. The facts were completely dissimilar to the fact of George Zimmerman’s case, but if the jury agrees, there could be a short deliberation.