Jury selection in the George Zimmerman trial will end early Monday to reconvene a hearing on experts.
The court will hold a Frye hearing on Monday at 4 p.m. to allow questioning for an expert witness for the defense.
Lawyers have interviewed seven potential jurors Friday and 41 overall since jury selection began Monday.
Six from Friday's group were asked to return Tuesday, along with 23 jurors retained earlier in the week for a total of 29 jurors retained for the second round of voir dire questioning.
Judge Debra Nelson also ordered 26 jurors who have yet to be questioned to return Monday. Lawyers want a pool of 40 before they move on to round two of juror interviews.
As court began Friday, the judge asked the defense about their last voice expert witness, so they can complete a Frye hearing regarding expert testimony about who was screaming in a 911 call made by a witness of the 2012 shooting.
The judge incidated the Frye hearing could happen one evening next week after regular jury selection. The defense's expert lives in California, so a 5 p.m. Frye hearing would mean it's 2 p.m. on the West Coast.
Race-related questions came up regularly during jury candidate interviews on Friday.
During questioning of a potential juror Friday, defense attorney Mark O'Mara specifically asked a man in his 20s who identified as mixed race what his racial background was. The man said German, Filipino, Chinese and Spanish.
Later in the day, a middle-aged black man who works in a school described his family and friends' reaction to Martin's death as "typical," given a history of violence against African-American men in the U.S.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys want to build a pool of 40 potential jurors who have been screened for any influence of pretrial publicity before they move to a second round of questioning. Attorneys had interviewed 41 potential jurors over five days by midafternoon on Friday.
Zimmerman, a 29-year-old former neighborhood watch volunteer, is pleading not guilty to second-degree murder, claiming he shot Martin in self-defense.
A 44-day delay in Zimmerman's arrest led to protests around the nation. Some questioned whether the Sanford Police Department was investigating the case seriously since Martin was a black teen from the Miami area. Zimmerman identifies himself as Hispanic.
Attorneys need to find six jurors and four alternates. In Florida, 12 jurors are required only for criminal trials involving capital cases, when the death penalty is being considered.
The judge said Thursday that jurors picked to serve will be sequestered during the two weeks to a month that the trial will last. They will have limited contact with their families, they will spend the night at a hotel and their actions will be monitored by court security outside the courtroom during the duration of the trial.
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Dismissed juror returns to court, is escorted out
A potential juror in the George Zimmerman trial who was dismissed earlier in the week over a Facebook post has been escorted from the Seminole County Criminal Justice Center after showing back up to the courthouse Friday.
Juror E-7 was dismissed Wednesday after it was discovered that he bashed the Sanford Police Department on Facebook in support of Trayvon Martin.
The dismissed juror, identified as Jerry P. Counelis, 56, was surrounded by several law enforcement officers Friday. He was given a trespass warning and ordered not to come back to the courthouse until after the trial.
See a FULL RECAP online from Day 5 of Jury Selection.
A screen shot of the Facebook timeline of the group Coffee Party Progressives showed Counelis posted the following comment:
"..... In Sanford ... & I CAN tell you THIS. 'Justice' IS Coming! ... & I'll tell you why. The ONLY reason this corrupt City Police dept. was stonewalling was because since they KNOWINGLY worked with this Self-appointed 'Neighborhood Watch' Security ... & KNEW he carried a weapon ... They knew they AND the Homeowners Association were Liable for HUGE $$$ damages in court ... MINUTES after the shooting occurred. But with the noise WE made ... it couldn't be covered up. I only hope the Feds go farther than just THIS case in investigating This 'Police Force.' The Seminole County 'Justice' System needs an ENEMA ... & they just MIGHT GET one!"
The comment was made on a post on Facebook linking to a website said to support Trayvon Martin's family.
In a telephone interview with News 13, Counelis told us he went back to the courthouse because it was his "moral civic duty" to shut down information coming out of court about jurors. He refused an on-camera interview, saying he feels the news media is putting up too much information about jurors.
According to a report from the Seminole County Sheriff's Office, Counelis expressed concern about losing his privacy and complained about the jury process outside the jury assembly room. He pointed to the jury assembly room and said, "Do they know what they're in for?"
During his questioning on Wednesday, the judge had asked him if he had made a Facebook posting about the case. He answered yes and was told he could leave the courtroom a short time later.
The Coffee Party Progressives posted the following on Facebook on Thursday, before Counelis returned to the courthouse:
"We are now aware of news reports that due to a comment on this page that one of the jurors in the Trayvon Martin case was removed from the jury. We have been called a 'Pro-Trayvon Martin group.'
We are a progressive group that supports many issues, and the Trayvon Martin case is something we posted briefly on. According to the facts of the case so far as we understand them we do support Trayvon Martin, and feel that this was an unjustifiable, possibly racially motivated murder.
We do believe in the concept of an impartial jury, and what someone has posted on this page in a comment representing themselves we do not control. Please respect that this page's focus is mostly on issues of economic inequality, and so we will remove unrelated disparaging comments attacking our page."