we are back live with msnbc coverage of the george zimmerman trial. just after 9:00 p.m. in sanford, florida where the vir has finished dinner and they decided to go back and deliberate. yesterday they broke just before 6:00 p.m. and started again this morning at 9:00 so we are just exactly he 12 hours in. let me get you up to date on rot past few hours. six member all female jury sent a note to the judge asking for further clarification on the manslaughter charge. so the court reconvenes and discuss and they question and research and they are trying to figure out a way to respond to all this and then the prosecution and defense agreed on o the wording of a note to send back to the jury basically saying we need something more specific. can we have a more specific question. they did that more than two hours ago. meantime there was a dinner break. there was a break in the court that went an hour long but we still have not h heard from

them except that they communicated they wanted to continue to deliberate and they were done with dinner. so the question now is what are they talking about? and how late will they deliberate tonight? let's go to craig melvin who is outside the courthouse and we have been talking about the fact that we are all on pins and needles. h is obviously -- this is obviously exhausting for everybody involved. emotionally exhausting particularly for the people closest to it including obviously trayvon martin's family. we heard earlier they weren't coming back and forth into the courtroom. you had a chance to talk to the family attorney a little earlier? >> i did. i talked to benjamin crump a few hours ago. we can tell you that the attorneys remain holed up in the courthouse behind me. we are also told that trayvon martin's parents at last check were also in the courthouse behind me. everyone staying here until they get word that either a verdict has been reached or that the jury has decided to go home for the night.

the jury last night, by the way, left at about 6:00. so the fact that they are are sticking around so long tonight has surprised some folks here. you indicated ben. >> indicated the -- the attorney for trayvon martin's family. they spend a lot of time together and they talk every day and they are very close, he is trying to prepare them for the verdict whatever it might be. whether it is second-degree murder, whether it is manslaughter, whether it is not guilty trying to prepare them for whatever that verdict might be and we also spent some time talking about this idea that if the verdict is not guilty that there might be riots in the street or there might be civil unrest. this was his response to that question. >> there is this idea here in sanford that folks may take to the streets and the protests may turn violent maybe not just

here in florida but all over the country as well. what say you to that? >> people are passionate and emotional about this matter because a lot of them think that trayvon could have been their son or their daughter. you have to remember, craig, we had rallies all over the country. rallies where they had thousands of people. in fact, reverend sharpton helped coordinate a rally of over 30,000 people here in sanford and in all of those rallies whether new york, d.c., los angeles, no where was there any act of violence. not one. the only person violent in this whole process was the killer of trayvon martin. >> nonetheless, law enforcement here in sanford and it law enforcement throughout the county made some arrangements and deployed additional deputies. in fact, we have seen the presence here at the courthouse pick up throughout the course of the day. we heard during the news conference yesterday that any

sort of civil unrest would be unacceptable. i can tell you, based on literally every conversation i had with someone on o the ground here in sanford and i posed this question to them not one person has said they expect that. if there is a not guilty verdict there is a large segment of the population that would be upset and disappointed but no one has indicated that they would take to the streets. my first ye question to benjamn crump is how is trayvon martin's family doing. he told me they are doing as well as can be expected and they like everyone else associated with the trial are ready for this thing to be over and they hope justice is served. >> also joining me on set, lisa bloom, managing editor of degree.com and criminal defense

attorney john burris and we also have the long time prosecutor paul henderson. john, let me go to you because i thought it was interesting when we heard craig talking about preparing the family. and obviously it is the defense's job as well to prepare george zimmerman for whatever happens. i don't know how you ever get prepared for something like this but how do you even start to approach that, john? >> number one, the first thing you have is they have heard the closing arguments from the prosecutor. and they have heard -- they have some indications of what could happen and they heard the verdict form. row have to prepare them and -- you you have to prepare them and talk with them and give them various options and more importantly i try to tell people hook you got to handle yourself -- look, you got to handle yourself properly when the verdict comes in. that is you don't jump up and shout. don't charge anybody. don't create another ruckus.

there is an appeal process. you don't want to do stuff that will hurt you in the presence of the judge because that judge might be the one that has to sentence you. you have to maintain some proper decor rum. i always know you got to prepare your client and clients don't see it the way you see it otway you see it as a professional. they see it from their own vantage point which doesn't take into consideration the other side of the coin. so it as very challenge and the longer it is the more difficult it is. and so you is to spend the time and you got to hold their hands in essence and try to keep them the perspective of how you comport yourself when the verdict comes in one way or the other. >> go ahead, paul. >> i was going to say he raised a really interesting issue because that is absolutely true. when you are putting forth your

case the victims and a the witnesses whomever you are working with have almost a myopic view even as they hear the same evidence because they are hearing it a different way and in their minds their case is being prove than their objective is being reached so times like this when the jury is out and everyone is tense they have a lot o of questions. you know, the families want to know what does that question mean because they raised this issue of manslaughter does that mean that that is what they are about to do. you are doing a lot of hand holding and explaining not just about what the legal process is but about managing their expectations about what is going on moment to moment in the next hour. how much longer is it going to take. how long will the judge let them be out and you don't have is a lot of those questions as a prosecutor in a case like this but i know that behind the scenes and in the courtroom and outside of the courtroom these are the conversations that are going -- that are taking place because you really want to both manage their expectations or keep them calm and involved in the process as well.

and it gets touchy when we are on hour number 12 and they are unsure as to what is going to happen moment to moment. >> i would just add we talked with trayvon martin's family and the extraordinary pressure they are under. of course, george zimmerman's family is also under an extraordinary amount of pressure. his family, his mother and father testified in the trial but they were excluded from the courtroom and the defense pointed out they would have liked to have been in the courtroom to be there for george zimmerman. he could either walk out the courtroom a free man and go back to his wife and his dog and list life or get life in prison if he is convicted of second-degree murder. for the defendant's family it is an excruciating time. >> yew bring up an interesting point that hasn't been discussed yet. if the verdict comes back and it is guilty there is an issue

brought up immediately as to whether or not he will be remanded right there on the spot. >> i'm sure he would be. he would be handcuff. >> that normally 457s. >> and that is one of the things you have to be discussing exactly with his family so that they know how to act in case that happens and that is a likelihood we don't know if that is going to happen and at this point we don't know when it is going to happen. >> and can we just say that this is something that happens thousands of times every day. >> every day. >> across the country. we never see it. we are taking a a tremendous interest in the case. if you think of the number of people, especially african american and hispanic men going through the process every day and going through the pit of the stomach fear when the jury comes out what they are going to say. most of the time it is not good news and then you change out of that suit and change into the jump suit and your life is essentially completely different and you feel probably at that moment leak your life is over. >> no matter what if you are a

a family member or a friend you always hold out a little bit of hope still. >> of course. >> i need to go to kerry sanders who has been inside the courtroom and when we had the break we assumed kerry and i can hear that is there a crowd building behind you? >> yeah, you know, it is not that big of a crowd but they are chanting. a little more vocal. up on the fifth floor and inside on the first floor they can't hear them so it is not as if the jurors can hear what is going on outside here. i heard you talking about the question of what would happen if george zimmerman were convicted in the courtroom. traditionally would be fingerprinted and then taken out. he would then be taken from the courthouse to an adjacent jail and placed in a jail cell. one that he had been in before. maybe not the exact same jail cell but one as the same size, a jail cell for two people and kept in the jail here for maybe up to section weeks because

they have to do the presentence investigation. sometimes quakily and sometimes takes up to section weeks. that is presented to the judge and then the judge goes ahead and gives the sentence in this case if it were manslaughter because of the life law, sorry -- if it was second-degree murder because of the 720 life law it would be life because there was a gun seusseded and trayvon martin died. manslaughter would be up to 30 and not guilty they might even take the monitor that he is way wearing on the ankle right off in the courtroom and he would walk right out. i doubt he would walk out the front door because he has expressed concern for all this time about his safety. in fact, many times he was wearing a bullet proof vest. one last option would be that if he were convicted and this does happen, doesn't happen often but does happen where you can have a bond, an appellate bond where he would be able to post a bond and out free

waiting for an appeals court to deal with that. it could happen. it wouldn't necessarily happen just at the moment of him discovering that he has been found guilty. >> right now the point we are at it is for the jury. we don't know, i mean i think we had sort of an anticipation kerry and i don't know what the feeling was inside the courthouse that maybe they would come back with the question fairly quickly but they didn't. >> i think, though, what we can sort of draw some sort of conclusion here that at 12 hours they are working towards a verdict. whether they going to reach it tonight i don't know. they work at their own discretion. the judge allows them to go as late as they want and if they decide tomorrow they want to take off tomorrow they can do that. or they can come back tomorrow if they need to. the judge has been very

deferential to their wishes. at 12 hours, having had lunch and dinner, continuing forward in the jury deliberation room which is basically a soundproof room they are working on i think trying to move forward tonight to a verdict just because of the amount of time and sort of a human nature thing. >> that is an astute observation. if they start breaking into phak objections or have problems they will step rate for the day. if they are working long hours they are likely getting close and want to keep going just like any of us if we are working on an incens in projecd feel like we are almost there we will push through to the late hours. this is a very in sightful comment. >> the research staff here went back to a court case from january 26 of 2010 and the same judge debra fell son let a jury

go until 3:00 in the morning. that is not to suggest that that is going to happen here but she certainly did bristle when there was a suggestion that they end early the other night when they actually went to about 11:00. >> let me add one thing. the court is mindful of the costs of this trial. this is expensive. there are a tremendous number of deputies on overtime here. a building that would normally be shut off. a lot of money being spent and the court made a point of saying they are mindful of the expenses with the sequestered jury and everything involved. absolutely i believe the judge would consider that there is also a cash register running here and costing money and if they want to stay late let them go late and see if they come to a conclusion. >> and keep in mind, too, that this prosecution is not coming from seminole county. they also imported essentially

an entire state attorney, staff. that is not the state attorney for seminole county. she is based in jacksonville. had to move her staff and bring her prosecuting team in because the local state attorney recused himself in the case. all sorts of expenses. not to mention the extra expense of not just the sanford police but also the seminole county sheriff and florida law enforcement officials guarding the whole complex. >> a sense to want them to get it done so they don't want them to have more expense tomorrow. >> i think at this point you are thinking what is fair here and how is justice served. i would like to think they are not considering whether or not -- >> it is both. of course, nobody wants jurors to just come to a decision because they are tired and i think judge nelson needs to be mindful of that. any judge, a big part of what they do is try to move the docket. there are so many cases and courts are so underfunded.

to get a settlement in a civil case or a plea gar bargain in a criminal case they will encourage that. there are more cases waiting. an important point about the cost. after the cases are done we find out from the public information officers what the costs were. i would say well in excess of a million dollars to the county just to try this case. >> kerry, let me bring you back in as well. as we talk about preparations and having to prepare your client, you talked to the family, didn't you, in the last couple of days about the possibility of an acquittal. >> actually let me tell you what we actually did. i knew going into the trial that tracy martin and sabrina fulton, trayvon martin's parents, they told me they were not going to really make comments during the trial about what was going on. we sat down and had an

extensive interview before the trial began for about an hour. i asked what if there is an acquit tal because they invested so much in expecting something would happen. they staid they recognize there could be an acquittal and that it would be in god's hands when it actually went to the point if there was an acquittal and they would accept that. sabrina fulton told me that she found it hard to believe with what she understood of the evidence that there could be an acquittal but by the same token she said that what she wanted all along was for the system to treat her son the way she believes anybody would be treated and that included a thorough investigation and arrest an actual charging document which was second-degree murder and they add a charge of manslaughter. and a trial. and so she said if we get that,

if we get all those things in the system, we get what we were asking for. but clearly she told me she would be disappointed if there was an acquittal here. >> and i'm so glad that kerry made the point. all of the people talking about there will be riots or people who criticize the protests that happened initially. what they were asking tore was an arrest. initially if you think about it we are having all of this now all of the expense and george zimmerman now on trial for his life but what happened is the shooting took place and the police said go on home. that is why the protests happened. it wasn't because people were diamonding that george zimmerman be convicted. they were demanding that he at least be arrested and take the first steps toward treating this that any other murder would be treated. i think when the protesters were asking for justice they really meant this. they meant the process we are seeing now and i that, too, have talked to the parents of sabrina fulton and tracy martin, the parents and they said this is what they asked

for and now they are hoping for a conviction. the point of the protest was to get up here to actually have a trial. >> having said that you can only imagine what they are feeling right now and as a lawyer you know john burris on both sides they are getting questions whether it is from sabrina fulton or george zimmerman what is happening what do you think this means. is it good for us or bad for us that they are continuing to deliberate. >> unfortunately as a lawyer you don't really have an answer. you can read the tea leaves all you want and a make predictions and give some views about what you think in terms of the questions but on the other hand you didn't get a question back. what you really needed was another question, some other questions that would allow you to maybe make another inference. so far you don't really have that. i do think the fact that they are working so hard raises the real question about whether they are trying to get to a verdict or not. i'm not convinced that verdict

is necessarily manslaughter. i think that the jury instructions themselves have within it a self-defense argument to be made. and so when you talk to your kye client you need to tell h her that just because you got this doesn't necessarily mean there will be a verdict for manslaughter. at end of the day you have the jury instructions that give self-defense within that as well. got to make sure they don't have higher takes than there should be. >> can we talk about how peculiar at this point in time that initially the jury said we need clarification about manslaughter. the response from the court was essentially okay what is your specific question. several hour hours have assed. we don't have that question. >> we don't have that question. >> yet they are continuing to deliberate. perhaps they have gone off in another direction and decided we don't have a specific question, it was just more general and the judge doesn't want to give us more general instructions so never mind or

perhaps spending all of this time formulating a specific question. i think it is interesting or perhaps they are just getting close to a verdict. any of those are possible. >> one of the things that we talked about was when they were in court talking about this question what they should do about the question, researching some of the case law m that mit apply the jurors continued deliberating. >> and while we all talk about what the effects of the time passing outside of the courtroom and inside the courtroom the same thing and same process is going on with the jurors. they don't want to waste time any more than the rest of us do and they want to put things aside or continue moving in whatever direction they can and if the question is answered to their satisfaction or not they still understand that this he have a involve to do and the conversation that -- a job to do and the conversation going on in the jury room while deliberating is likely to move on beyond that question and for them to continue.

we are look at trying to figure out what that bellwether question means to the rest of us and they may have moved on immediately when the judge told them that she needed time to research the question or moved on immediately when she came back and said you need to clarify that question and i know what it struggle it is for jurors to come up with a question, a magical question that they think they can get the judge to answer and most people have familiarity with the legal process enough to know that many times your question will not get answered and if it does get answered it is not going to necessarily answer your question the way you need it answered to allow you to move on to the next issue. clearly that is the process going on right now and i believe that they he moved on to other issues and we just need to wait and see to figure out if they are moving or if they are close to coming to a decision now. >> the last indication that we got from judge debra nelson is that she was going to let the jury decide in their own time

table how they were going to reach this conclusion in their own way. that is exactly what she is doing. coming up on 16 hours total deliberations over the last couple of days but now coming up on 12 and a half hours just on this saturday. what are they talking about in there? we'll take a break and be back with our live coverage. we will stay with this coverage as long as the jury is deliberating. we'll be right back.

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the six juror jurors in the george zimmerman case have a lot to digest. they heard testimony from 56 witnesses over 24 days of trial. had to absorb about 250 exhibits, pieces of evidence. they asked for that list yesterday. today they asked a question. they didn't get an answer. and they haven't responded to the ask -- what the court wanted which was more clarification about what answer it was that they were looking for. so now we are almost at 16 hours of total deliberations.

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jury deliberations continuing well into the night there. a picture of the courthouse in sanford, florida. what is going on? what kind of conversation is being had between the section women and why have they decided to continue to late on this saturday? all questions we don't know the answers to. one that we can answer fairly easily, how are the families doing? this is very, very grueling. it has been a long trial. it has been a very difficult period of deliberations. it may seem like it is just a day and a half to us. to them, it is everything. kerry sanders back outside and you have had an opportunity to talk to everybody involved and you have covered many of these cases. one of the questions i get often is well, what does it mean short deliberation, long deliberation and we look at the clock and think they have been

at it 16 hours but then also look at the facts as they listened to 24 days of testimony from all of the witnesses and had to look at 250 pieces of evidence. is that long? i don't know. >> you know, i think the thing to consider here is that the jurors are taking this responsibility seriously. they understand the weight of what is going on. and remember, they live in this community. and while their identities are shielded right now, their identities will eventually be made public and they live here and so they want to seriously, i believe, go through all of the evidence. it was a completely different case just a short distance down the road when there was another alleged murder case with casey anthony who was acquitted and the jury came back so quickly and there were questions about why the jury came back to quickly. that has been talked about in the central florida region for

some time so it sort of gets into the system whether people paided immediate close attention to that high profile case. they understand i think the responsibility that they have here. we talked a short time ago before the break about about that interview where i talked to the parents. this is just before the trial began, about their thoughts of if there were an acquittal. we pulled a portion of that interview to listen to now. why don't we listen to what trayvon martin's parents told me when i asked them what if there were an acquittal? >> i don't want to cloud my mind with things like that. i believe he will be held accountable for what he has done. >> god forbid an acquittal was handed down we still put our faith in god and continue to pray and we will continue to be the voice of trayvon whether there is an acquittal whether there is a guilty verdict. >> tray sotrayvon martin's marr

parents spent a lot of time with their attorney who spent time preparing them for all of the possibles during the trial and they have been -- possibilities curl the trial. one of the things the parents have said, tracy martin went to a nearby church here and enhe couraged people to express themselves but not to respond in any sort of violent ways if the jury were to return a verdict that maybe some people did not like. >> and if, indeed, the reason they are pushing through well into the night is that they may be close to a verdict remind us kerry because we haven't talked about this in several hours what happens if when there is a verdict? >> well, the plan is -- you know what we have enough time here i can take you through it. there were police agencies in south florida and we are in central florida.

remember, trayvon martin is from south florida, from miami gardens quite a distance from here. his father was at his girl friend's apartment condo here and that is why he was up here. the law enforcement agencies in south florida had a conference call thatched the florida department of law enforcement and others and included some of the law enforcement up here and made a request to the court here that they wanted a delay. they wanted a delay in an announcement if there were a verdict during the weekend. that i am told that request was sent to the judge. it is unclear whether the judge ever saw it. but i can tell you that the plan right now is that the judge will announce having the jury coop in and publishing the verdict -- come in and publishing the verdict within 15 minute is of being notified there is a verdict. if there was that desire it doesn't look like it going to be reflected with what the

police wanted. right now in the courthouse you have george zimmerman and his family. you have trayvon martin's pair parents and their lawyers and the prosecutors and the defense attorneys. all the people that need to o be in the courtroom when the verdict is published are here and most are on the fifth floor and some on other floors. it is a short walk into the courtroom and it can happen that quickly. by all indications the judge has been somebody if you have followed this and a lot of the nation has, she is very exacting and very purposeful and right to the point and so when she says that she is going to publish the verdict that quickly i believe that is exactly what is going to happen. >> kerry sanders outside the courthouse for us. thank you. this jury has been together for nearly three weeks now. more on how this trial unfolded. your verdict finding george zimmerman either guilty or not guilty must be unanimous. >> after 56 witnesses, 12 days of testimony and an assortment

of evidence to digest, a chunk of concrete, a dummy. >> george zimmerman and trayvon martin. >> the six woman jury continues deliberating the fate of george zimmerman. among them fiver whos. the three options guilty of second-degree murder, guilt in of manslaughter or not guilty. who called out nor help? >> trayvon bennia minute martin. >> the position of zimmerman's holster. his injuries. how severe were they. his description of trayvon martin in a call to police. >> he is a [ bleep ] >> so much of the case is documentary evidence. a individualed yes or audio he tape or photograph. jurors like that and they refer that. >> throughout the trial defense attorneys it not stray often or far from the central argument

that zimmerman fired in self-defense after being attacked. he has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. >> i almost wish that the verdict had guilty, not guilty and completely innocent. because i would ask you to check for that one. >> by contrast, prosecutors sought to expose what they found inconsists or lies in the zimmerman's account of the shooting, his motives and his movements. >> i subject to you that trayvon benjamin martin is entitled to the truth and it didn't come from the defendant's mouth. it didn't. he told so many lies. that is why we are here. >> the jury heard a range of witnesses from the woman on the phone with martin during the encounter. >> heard one saying get off, get off. >> to the lead investigator, one of the first to interview zimmerman. >> you said following him is not legally improper, correct?

>> it is not illegal. >> many people have thought the jury would come back quickly with an acquittal. that has not happened and we are now past the point where we can say it was a quick decision. >> and that was warren mott reporting. we will bring the panel back in and obviously all you can do at this point is speculate. do i think as we were saying earlier the longer this goes on you would think the more nervous the defense has to be here because they are very close. sorry. i gave -- >> live tv. i was hoping to get my mint out of my mouth before we got on. >> we have been talking for so long. >> we talk about both sets of families going to the incredibly agonizing stressful situation on o both sides. i'm not saying it is equal on both sides. one set of parents has lost their son in a sudden shooting and i don't think anything is comparable to that in life. but noir family is also potentially going to lose their son to incarceration for up to

life in prison. maybe 30 years. and that is an extraordinary thing for a family to have to go through. to add to that that this is late at night on a saturday which is an odd thing in the criminal justice system and does not happen in ordinary cases and you see the courthouse there lit up. looks like about half is lit up for just this one case which shows you how much is going on and how many people are involved inside the courthouse just to keep all of this going. i mean this is just an extraordinary situation tonight. i'm really surprised. i don't think i have seen anything like this even in high profile cases. the michael jackson case. the o.j. simpson case. martha stewart. casey anthony. jodi arias. to be thres deliberating late a saturday night. have the jury send out a question and get an answer and nothing comes back and get

dinner and keep deliberating. in a case with a lot of odd elements this is a peculiar day. >> the judge debra nelson if anything she is a juror's judge. she has been trying to make sure that we use their time wisely and to the point of colding the attorneys when they misuse the juror's time. this is the kind of judge she is. and one other note about the families. george zimmerman's family is local. but much like the jurors trayvon's martin and families sort of se sequestered in a hol away from miami about 200 miles away. the two attorneys from tallahassee. so they are in from out of town. that the attorney nationally thatly jackson from sanford. except for her the entire legal from out of town. >> extraordinary situation for everyone involved. 4 minutes past 9:00 here and in sanford, florida. eel take a break and be back

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as the jury continues its dig they have three options. guilty of second-degree murder. could carry a life sentence. guilty of manslaughter. that is the question they offered to the judge was about. that would carry up to 30 years in prison. or could find him not guilty. those are the three possibilities that they are considering even though the question several hours ago was about manslaughter we have no way of knowing what they are talking about now. i think it is useful and let me start with you, john burris to

go through each of the possibilities point by point. let's start with second-degree murder. what is the legal thresh hold and in your experience what kind of conversation has to take place for a judge to find -- for a jury to find the defendant guilty of the most serious charge? >> i think a jury here would have to deal with the whole question. do they find malice, ill will. and they could start out with that question, of course, by the fact that george zimmerman made all these very negative statements about trayvon and that could give you the mental state. but then you have to go to the next question and that is the circumstances surrounding the shooting and there is different statements. you have toughened that to findy -- you have toughened basically there was deliberate lies on his part. and the question of was there is fight. was there not a fight. if they get int into the weedsf the fight they probably more

likely will be dealing with the manslaughter question. at the time he did the shooting he intended to shoot, of course. but was he at a time had a reasonable good faith belief that his life was in danger or in imminent harm. if he doesn't have that and it was not reasonable a jury could find that it was manslaughter. i think the jurors are wrestling with the whole question about the reasonableness of the conduct and they have to go to the individual facts. they have to not believe mr. zimmerman when said it happened in a certain way and i think there is facts that support that. his injuries themselves cheerly do not support that -- clearly do not support that he could believe that his life was in danger based upon the injuries that he had particularly when he exaggerated the injuries to the police. >> paul henderson let me ask you specifically about manslaughter and a compromised verdict and that possibility. do you think that many juries look for a compromise when they

go on for awhile and can't come to a conclusion? >> it is always case-by-case and depends on the facts and evidence presented to them. i think the real question is whether or not prosecutors are punished in cases where outside evaluators feel like well, that case was overcharged. and you are adding too many charges to a jury to give them something to eval weight. but in a case like this -- to evaluate. in a case like this i don't think that the prosecution is going to be punished for overcharging as long as there is a credible neck us and legal -- nexxus and legal tie. i think it is fine and i don't think you hold prosecutors accountable for an overcharging situation. and in it case like this where you you have vast different opinions from both sides as to how this incident took place i think this is why we are focusing on the manslaughter and the foussas is going to be -- focus is going to be on the self-defense situation.

>> what have you got? >> we have a verdict. the gio for the courthouse indicated a verdict has been reached in the murder trial of george zimmerman. at this point we expect again that 15 minutes from now we will know what that verdict is. again, according to twitter, again this is michelle kennedy, the spokesperson for the courthouse sear says "we have a verdict." >> we have been watching this all night long. we had been speculating about whether or not the fact that they were pushing through that they did not return with a second question to follow up on the question about manslaughter meant that they were nearing a verdict and now we know that they have a verdict. 15 minutes is what we believe it is going to take. they said there would be a 15 minute delay and that would give time for all of the families and lawyers and for the defendant and for the judge to get back into the courtroom. they have essentially been holed up within a few floors of

the courtroom. just what we suspected as the night went on here. >> absolutely. there is a verdict form that the jury fills out. a short, simple verdict form and options in the second-degree. manslaughter or not guilty. beneath that, beneath those three options there's the option for, what's called a firearms enhancement. if you found, we find that george zimmerman discharged a firearm causing death or great bodily harm to another during commission of the offense or we find that george zimmerman discharged a firearm without causing death or great bodily harm to another during the commission of the offense. and a couple other options. obviously, he did discharge a firearm and cause the death of another. that's not really in dispute. so if he is found guilty of either murder or manslaughter, i would expect that firearm enhancement to supply as well. that's what gives him an increased sentence. >> reporter: hey, chris, as we

watch, as we watch zimmerman get back in the courtroom there. he is seated as we can all see. i can also tell you that the court spokespeople have already gone ahead and given that obligatory speech to journalists who have been covering this trial inside the courtroom of there is not to be any sort of reaction. no gasping, no running out of court. again, we expect that the verdict could be read. we say 15 minutes. not more than 15 minutes. so it could be read in less than 15 minutes. >> how many people are still out there? i know it is dark. is there quite a crowd out there? has it been growing? >> the crowd right now is the same. it is roughly the same size as it has been. it has not been growing. the chanting has stopped. there was some earlier. that has stopped everyone who is outside the courthouse, roughly 150, 200 people now. they're doing precisely what you and i are doing. sitting, watching, waiting. quietly.

>> i'm sure this is going to be a packed courtroom because all of the family members and friends who were excluded during the trial because they would be witnesses are of course now allowed in because all of the witness testimony is over and now it is a verdict. i would expect to see george zimmerman's parents, both of them, come into the courtroom of his wife, his family members, his friends, many of whom testified to talk about contributing to his defense fund. and of course, trayvon martin's family, attorneys, and other interested parties. they can all be prenlt. as many as can sit into the courtroom. >> and they have set up a protocol. they have places set up where people can go for news conferences. we would expect to hear from lawyers on both sides of this case, whatever the verdict is. we may well hear from family members, perhaps on both sides whatever the verdict is in this case. the post verdict press conferences. these are, who have been invited to participate should they choose to. the jury, they don't have to. but they can if they want to come out. the defense, obviously, the

state, the prosecutors, the parents of trayvon martin as well as his attorneys. there's a pool reporter, tamara from the associated press could come out if the defendant is found guilty. we do have a verdict in the george zimmerman trial. let me get your reaction. >> this has been such an emotional case. on social media, i was on the verdict watch. sort of hash tag, people have so much investment on both sides of the case. a lot of people who were very much invested in george zimmerman and they've developed opinions that are very harsh. then you have a lot of people, not just african-americans who have invested tremendous emotion in trayvon martin and his family in what they call the justice for trayvon. a hash tag for that as well. on pins and needles, but not more than these two families. >> we talk about that there are three possibilities. we went through second-degree murder. we wept through manslaughter. we should mention that the third

one is he could be found not guilty which would mean, would it not, that they have accepted that he acted in self-defense. >> absolutely. just because they're working on manslaughter does not mean that they will find him guilty of manslaughter. they didn't have to consider the whole question of self-defense. the reasonableness of his conduct. so we don't really know but obviously, they're between manslaughter and acquittal. and the fact, i have the feeling though that a jury could say, this is a young man who wasn't doing anything and he gets profiled. he winds up dead. it doesn't matter how it happened. he shouldn't be dead. that's ultimate will i, could be the mantra of what a jury did if it come back guilty for manslaughter. >> if it comes back guilty, and we were talking about this earlier. the vast majority of opinion would be that he would immediately, lisa, be taken into custody. as i'm looking at what was released from the court, that

they also said in addition to, that he could be reimaginmanded custody or the judge could have a period of time in which he would be remanded. >> most judges won't do that if he has a life significance or a significant sentence ahead of him. no judge wants to have the possibility of a defendant fleeing. and i'm certainly not suggesting that george zimmerman would necessarily do that. but a judge just is not going to take that risk. i would say in every murder trial that i've seen, once somebody is found guilty of murder. they are immediately cuffed, printed and remanded into custody of the state. >> on the opposite side of that, if he is found not guilty, he is a free man. he gets to go home. >> that's actually correct. just as lisa was just saying, there is not a high likelihood that he would get that window of opportunity to go and then report back if he is found guilty, you know, one of the things that we all have to consider is what will happen outside of that courtroom. if he is found not guilty, it is

not like he can just walk out and then go home. this case has so much media attention. this case has so much focus throughout the nation. everyone knows who he is and what he looks like. especially right now. that would not be a likely thing to happen. >> yeah, would he go into hiding like casey anthony? a high profile florida defendant who was acquitted and who essentially has been underground since her acquittal because there are so many security threats. that could be the case for george zimmerman as well. i know that he has expressed through his attorneys, a great deal of concern about security. i believe he has been living in an undisclosed location on house arrest. he said he's never gone back to his home since that night. you know who else will be free will be the jurors. i would assume they can pack up their bags at whatever hour it is and they can go home. i remember in the o.j. simpson case, coming up on 20 years ago, if you can all believe that, in the mid 1990s. the jurors were criticized because they had their bags packed that morning and they came back with the verdict. so the assumption was, boy, they

had already decided in advance that it would be a quick verdict. i don't know if their bags are packed but they certainly will be and i think they'll be very happy to go home tonight and not be sequestered tonight. >> happy to go home. just the pressure on them will be tremendous. even if they decide not to go in front of the cameras and answer questions or even make a statement. just to go home. the questions that your family and friends will be asking. >> we talked about this before. remember the social pressures on this jury are myriad. it is not just the pressure to convict that is coming from the african-american community, the worry that if you don't convict -- >> let me interrupt you. let's go into the courtroom. we have a verdict. here comes judge nelson. >> please be seated. we're back on the record. i understand that we have a verdict. are we ready for the jury to come in? >> we are, your honor. >> yes, your honor. >> let's bring them in.

i will remind everybody in the courtroom that there is to be no outburst upon the reading of the verdict or afterwards.

>> please be seated. members of the jury, have you reached a verdict? if you'll please fold the verdict form and hand it to deputy jarvis. thank you. okay. if you'll please publish the verdict. >> please stand. in the circuit court of the 18th judicial circuit, for seminole county, florida, state of florida versus george zimmerman, verdict, we the jury find george zimmerman not guilty. so say we all. foreperson. >> does either side want to poll the jury? >> we would, your honor. >> ladies and gentlemen -- ladies, i'm sorry. as your juror number is being

called, please answer whether this is your verdict. >> juror b-25, is this your verdict? >> yes. >> juror b-76. is this your verdict? >> yes. >> is this your verdict? >> yes. >> juror b-51, is this your verdict? >> yes. >> juror e-6. is this your verdict? >> yes. >> juror e-40. is this your verdict? >> yes. >> ladies, i wish to thank you for your time and consideration of this case. i also wish to advise you of some very special privileges enjoyed by jurors. no juror could ever be required to talk about the discussion that's occurred in the jury room except by court order. for many centuries our society has relied upon juries for consideration of difficult cases. we have recognized for hundreds of years that a jury's deliberations, discussions, and votes should remain their private affair as long as they wish it. therefore, the law gives you a unique privilege not to speak ab t