Honesty, I wouldn’t automatically leap to the conclusion that the jury’s gender makeup is the result of shenanigans. An all female jury doesn’t mirror the overall population, but that may not be a bad thing. If the overall population is disproportionately bigoted, tainted by media bias, and incapable of critical thought, then we should not be sad if the jury skews in the other direction. It could be that men summoned for jury duty in Seminole Co. were particularly talented in disqualifying themselves. After seeing the batshit insanity put out on the internets by self-identified men for the last year, I honestly wouldn’t put it past them.
The prosecution and defense were given the opportunity to cull out jurors they believe will be unfairly biased against their candidate. Prospective jurors were also administered a screening questionnaire before the lawyers even got their hands on them. So yeah, after all this, I’m not surprised the jury looks this way. I’m willing to withhold judgement from the jury until they give me a reason to judge them.
Race aside, though, Zimmerman could not have asked for worst demographics. What he was wanting was a box full of white dudes who are proud and passionate defenders of SYG, vigilantee heroics, and anything put out by Fox News no matter how ridiculous. What he ended up getting was a bunch of mothers, some of whom have raised boys, and are probably not all that impressed by gun-weilding tough guy theatrics. Yeah, I’m sure some of them are biased as all get out, and I wouldn’t put it past them to lapse into stupid when evaluating the evidence. But at this time, I’m not complaining. Zimmerman should be worried.
The other thing worth pointing out (and I’m sure the Zimmerman supporters will disagree with this, but they stay in denial so that ain’t surprising) is that there is a big difference in interpersonal skills between BLDR and O’Mara/West. Anyone who has tuned into the trial so far can see this starkly. Not to stereotype too much, but with an all-female jury, the defense definitely has a reason to worry about this. Body language, tone, and overall demeanor all go into building trust, and trust goes hand in hand with belief. I think women are more attuned to non-verbal communication than men are, and the prosecution is winning in that area.