hln's jean casarez is there. jean, you've been following this case from the very beginning.ou've watched the lengthy process of picking a jury here. now one has been picked. we've been talking about the makeup. as you're there and you've been watching, what's your assessment at this point? >> reporter: well, i want to tell you i just got out of the courtroom. and it's very, very intense in there. extremely intense. of course, jurors are not present. this is being done before the judge. but it is an all female jury. it went very quickly. i think what is interesting to note is the preemptory strike which can be for any reason whatsoever, but it must be race neutral, it was the prosecutor that exercised a preemptory strike on an african-american male. he was one of the initial jurors to be questioned in this case. the defense did not contest that to say it was not a race neutral reason. the defense allowed it to go forward. but when it came to striking white females, the defense stepped in with what is known as a batson challenge saying that four white female jurors in a row wa

jean casarez joins me live from sanford, florida. e jurors, jean, have been dealing with questions about race and guns and television and reasonable doubt, and these are all really big factors but it's a lot for, say, no hairdresse-- hairdresser, a mechanic or a lawyer to have to face all of a sudden. what is the jury saying back about their thoughts of lights effectively on them, and also being locked away for that long? >> ashleigh, let me tell you what just happened in court minutes ago. a female juror raised her hand and she said, i've got to tell you, i have never heard such a dissection of what our role is to be as a juror as we have had this morning from you. i appreciate it. it's confusing, but i really appreciate it. and i've got to tell you, ashleigh, the seriousness in that room this morning of all the constitutional issues that mark o'mara is bringing to the table, presumption of evidence, burden of proof, circumstantial evidence. he particularly is questioning an african-american juror, i think, more than any other juror

thank you, jean casarez reporting from sanford, florida. i know we will have more on this later. >> we will continue to follow the trial when it resumes at 9:00 a.m. eastern on monday, too, so make sure watch cnn "newsroom" with me for the latest on the george zimmerman trial. >>> in other news, president obama has a busy day in south africa. he's holding a town hall meeting right now with youth leaders. it's happening in a community in johannesburg. mr. obama praised nelson mandela as someone who sacrificed and struggled for freedom and democracy. south africa is actually president obama's second stop. he heads to tanzania next. the president and his wife, michelle, also met today in private with nelson mandela's family. in a just released statement, president obama says he expressed his heartfelt support. of course, he's in south africa as the country's beloved former leader remains hospitalized for a lung infection. at a news conference with president jacob zuma, president obama praised mandela's lifelong fight for justice and equality.

jean casarez, thank you for that.s jean's been reporting all along, this is a tough one for this jury. they are sequestered, starting monday. that's when the opening statements are set to get under way. let's dig deep for in what is a -- i think you guarantee to be a highly charged case with a panel that's going to be wide-eyed. our legal panel, way more seasoned than that. joey and brian. guys, i'm looking over the list here. jean said many of them are mothers, 5 out of 6 are mothers. i looked at the ages of their children because we effectively have two children in this case. we've got trayvon martin who is a 17-year-old child and then we've got george zimmerman who is a 29-year-old child. his parents are in the courtroom, too. a juror with a 20-year-old, a 28-year-old, a 27-year-old, a 24-year-old, another juror who has no kids, then we have a juror with a 13 and 1-year-old, and another one with a 28-year-old. they all have kids right in this range. joey, that's a tough one to gauge. >> great work, ashleigh, breaki

>> let's bring in cnn legal correspondent jean casarez. jean, rachel jeantel was not a sophisticated witness, but some say she was very authentic. did the jurors seem to really connect with her or not? >> reporter: they were really focused. i mean, they were listening to every word. i didn't see a lot of notes because i think they just wanted to listen to her as she testified, and she's so critical for the prosecution because the prosecution's theory is that george zimmerman confronted trayvon martin. she was on the phone with trayvon martin right before he was shot and killed by george zimmerman, and she said that trayvon told her, this guy keeps following me. the call wasn't recorded so we don't hear trayvon saying that. we have to believe her, but to a point she corroborates the 911 nonemergency call that george zimmerman made because we hear his car door opening, we hear the door chimes, we heard the wind as he is following. he admits it in the call basically. the question is did he keep following trayvon martin because according to her

our legal correspondent, jean casarez who was inside the courtroom and our legal analyst, jeffrey tubenss for the prosecution, how did she do in this case? >> she's a critical witness, you're so right. in the courtroom the jurors were so focused on her. they can take notes, but i think they were trying to understand her, hear what she has to say. probably think about it in relation to our things that they have heard. because this is now a test of credibility. do you believe george zimmerman, do you believe this witness. i think it's going to be difficult for the jury so they're going to revert to things like time codes on telephone calls. 7:09 p.m. that's when george zimmerman made the nonemergency 911 call. he wasn't walking at that time, you doesn't hear he says, i see somebody, he looks suspicious, he's turning around, he's looking at me, he's coming toward me. at the very same time, she's on the phone with trayvon martin. and she testified today, that during that call, all george zimmerman did was follow trayvon through the entire time. >> so who do you think jeffrey, got more of a

. >> straight to sanford florida to hln legal correspondent jean casarez who is covering all of this jean, let's just begin with race. obviously race plays a role here. you're an attorney on either side, whether you're the prosecutor or defense, how do they consider race when selecting jurors? >> reporter: well, you know, i spoke with mark o'mara on camera on the eve of jury selection. i asked him that very question. he said, i don't care what color the juror is. i care about a preconceived notion, someone who's already taken a position that they can't move away from and will not listen to the evidence. i think that's what this individual questioning has really brought out. because i've seen it in some. and also, though, remember, the probable cause affidavit that is -- was attached to the information, the charging document, it says that george zimmerman profiled trayvon martin. that is from the prosecution. they didn't define it. i think we're going to need to listen to the opening statements. because was -- did he profile him because of the hoodie he was wearing? because he was walk

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jean casarez joining us from outside the courthouse.irst of all, where are we in this process, jury selection? how's itrj going? >> reporter: it's going slow but it's going. i definitely think they will get a jury. they are doing individual questioning right now because there's been so much pretrial publicity and people know so much. if they do that in the midst of general questioning then you could taint a perspective juror. one individual that was just questioned and this is what happens. he fr&led out do you have an opinion on this case? no. then he comes in and he's talking and says he has an opinion on the case because he said i believe he was trying to do what was right and something happened and he had to shoot him. he said i'm part of a homeowner's community and we've had the same issue and there's been rash of burglaries and if i was having my head banged, i would have done the same thing. you can't go by the questionnaires. you have to have the individual question. >> definitely has an opinion there. how soon before we actuall

jean casarez joining us. what do you make of the fact you have this very interesting jury here. six women almost all white and a lot of people very familiar, comfortable even with guns. >> reporter: i think a lot of people are really surprised arrange here. the fact is there was going to be a man on the jury. it was an african-american male and it was the prosecution that struck him. that's the reason why it's an all female jury. i think what people believe is these mothers could actually help either side because they are going to be two mothers in the courtroom. benjamin crump said trayvon martin's mother will take the stand. what about george zimmerman's mother. she will be in the courtroom too. these mothers have daughters. they have sons. some are around the age of trayvon martin. some are around the age of george zimmerman. this is case not only of the evidence but of mothers in the courtroom. >> jean, what do they think of the fact that a lot of people were very familiar and comfortable with guns? do they have any sense of how that will play out? >> reporter: one juror by

jean casarez, mark geragos. how damaging was this knock knock joke?y, normally doesn't have to apologize to the jury in the opening statements. >> look, having used humor in the courtroom quite a few times, sometimes working, sometimes not, it's not damaging at all. it's embarrassing, you're mortified. you wish the joke had been better. you notice he did get a little bit of a laugh when he said, hey, nothing. it's all going to be forgotten in the wash. i understand people want to make a big deal out of it, but i don't think it matters. jury composition is what matters in this case, i think ultimately, the opening statements by both sides laid out their case. i think exactly the way we expect it's going to be, but as i said, last time you and i talked about this, i think the dye is cast here based on the jury selection. >> sunny, you were sitting in the courtroom, you said it was painful? >> it was painful to watch. and i -- you know i love mark geragos, but he's dead wrong on this one. as i was sitting in the courtroom, and i heard that inappropriate

jean casarez live in sanford, florida. you're shaking your head already. the amount of coverage that this case has garnered, there would be a lot of dissemination and analysis of that coverage, as well. and now we're having to deal where what people are facebooking and tweeting after they consume what they got on television say the hour before. >> and what you're saying is that social media is becoming like a private investigator so that when attorneys are in jury selection and jurors under oath are giving their nonopinion, opinions, what they though about the caknow about the case, what they don't, they can research the social media because once it's there in the written form, that's your state of mind and they can really show those inconsistencies. and the judge confronted this jury with this blog and how that they are not legitimate and he hummed and said maybe i did write that. so that was probably it for him. >> i remember talking with jurors who have been dismissed after voir dire in casey anthony, and this is after they were leaving the courthouse,

cnn legal correspondent jean casarez is following the trial for us. portant? >> and to the prosecution they're so important because this is a case about the credibility of george zimmerman. i remember the opening statement. the prosecution said ladies and gentlemen, because there are two alternates, now one. they said george zimmerman will tell you himself that this is a case of murder. this is what they're talking about. so, this is critical to them. now, alison, they can't play the whole tapes because a lot of things on the tapes help george zimmerman, and there's been an order that there cannot be self-serving hearsay played for the jury. so, i think we're going to see bits and pieces, but it's all the inconsistencies. that's what they want to show the jury. for instance, in the videotape recreation, he says that trayvon martin came forward and he circled his car, but he doesn't say that in the non emergency 911 call, and we believe the statement. he gave a lot, because he did a written statement, a couple of audio-taped statements and then that vid

cnn legal correspondent jean casarez with live in sanford, florida. >> reporter: it will change their opening statements definitely. the prosecution in giving their opening statements will not say, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you will hear expert testimony on whose voice is on that 911 call, but they may say you will hear from the people that knew the voice the best of trayvon martin, and those are his parents, and they will tell you that was the voice of trayvon. so the prosecution still has that because both parents have said it was trayvon, but the defense could counter by saying the father of george zimmerman said that is george, and george zimmerman himself has said, if this comes before the jury in an excited utterance minutes after this happened to law enforcement, i was crying out for help, but no one came to help me. >> this was key, though, right? >> reporter: this was key for the prosecution in the sense that expert testimony is expert testimony, and jurors can rely upon it from someone that just has esteem in the area. but a judge ru

. >> what is your -- >> cnn legal correspondent jean casarez joins us now. tory from the very beginning. jean, the defense opportunity wa -- doesn't want an expert to give an opinion on who was actually screaming. why? >> reporter: they say it's not reliable. scientifically, it's just speculative. it's not based on general accepted principle in the audio engineering forensic community. and it's going to confuse the jury. what the defense wants, remember, what we're waiting for right now is not whether the 911 call will be played before the jury. that 911 call will come into this courtroom. people will sit in silence and hear that scream and hear that shot. the question is, should the jury just look at all the rest of the evidence and decide for themselves who is about to die on that recording, or should experts come in and say their software and their spectro analysis is telling them that it's trayvon martin. speculatively. no one conclusively is saying it's trayvon. >> okay. jean, thank you. we're going to get back to you. it's a very busy day here. we have

. >> let's bring in our cnn legal correspondent, jean casarez and mark nejame. your concerned? >> this was a very, very strong day for the defense. let's start with jonathan, who you just heard from. he was the first person to get outside right after the shooting, it was really not even a minute later. and excited stams to come before the jury and this neighbor said what happened and george zimmerman said this guy was beating me up and so, i had to shoot him. that is allowed because of the trustworthy nature of it. another neighbor, eyewitness. he was the one out there right at the pinnacle point of time before the shot. and why is this important? because the defense has to show that george zimmerman believed reasonably he was going to die by serious bodily injury. he saw in three stage, w horizontal on the grass, over to the cement and then george zimmerman was yelling for him. then officer tim smith took the stand and said when he arrived just a minute after it happened that george zimmerman said i was yelling for help and no one came to help me. >> mark, let