JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Forty potential jurors in the retrial of Michael Dunn in the shooting death of 17-year-old Jordan Davis were excused Monday but 28 were asked to return Tuesday.
Forty additional potential jurors will be brought in both Tuesday and Wednesday.
Judge Russell Healey told jurors he expects them to have heard something about the case, saying, "No one lives in a vacuum."
In February, 12 jurors found Dunn guilty of three counts of attempted murder for firing a dozen shots into an SUV full of teenagers during a confrontation outside a Southside Gate convenience store in November 2012. The panel however, deadlocked on the first-degree murder charge in Davis' death.
Healey is allowing jury selection to begin, but said he reserves the right to grant a defense motion to move the trial out of Jacksonville if there is difficultly seating an impartial panel.
Healey said he hoped a jury could be seated in three days and said the jurors could be sequestered during the trial.
Once testimony begins, prosecutors are expected to call many of the same witnesses: the other three teenagers in the car, Gate employees, police officers and the medical examiner.
The defense is led by a new, court-appointed attorney, Waffa Hanania, and there are new names on the list of witnesses who could be called to testify on behalf of Dunn.
Levar Floyd, who was locked up in the Duval County jail at the same time as Dunn, may be called for the defense.
State vs. Michael Dunn: Latest coverage, video/evidence from first trial
Another name on the defense testimony list is Trey Brunson, assistant pastor at First Baptist Church. There's no indication of how he is connected to Dunn or why he might be called.
Court observers do expect Dunn to testify again, since what he said on the stand in February apparently convinced some of the jurors that he shot Davis because he thought he saw a gun in the SUV, felt his life was threatened and thought he was defending himself.
"I just saw him (Davis) get out and the shotgun isn't sticking out anymore. This is the point where I thought he was going to kill me or beat me," Dunn testified. "What when through my mind is that this was a clear and present danger, and I say, 'You are not going to kill me you son of a (expletive)' as I was retrieving my pistol in my glove box."
Police who processed the scene after the shooting found no gun in or around the SUV.
Prosecutors no doubt will again call Dunn's fiancee at the time, Rhonda Rouer, who testified during the first trial that Dunn never told her he saw a gun that night.
Prosecutor: "Once you got back into the car after leaving the gas station, did Dunn ever tell you he saw a weapon of any kind in the SUV?"
Rouer: "No."
Prosecutor: "No mention of a stick?"
Rouer: "No."
Prosecutor: "Shotgun?"
Rouer: "No."
Prosecutor: "Lead pipe?"
Rouer: "No."
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What isn't known is whether the new defense attorney will call the victim's father, Ron Davis, to testify. During the first trial, defense attorney Cory Strolla tried to get the elder Davis to say he met with the other boys in the SUV to try to get all their stories straight -- something he and prosecutors vehemently denied.
A pool of more than 100 potential jurors reported to the Duval County Courthouse on Monday morning to begin the process. Healey banned news cameras from the courtroom during jury selection, but reporters will be allowed to observe the process.
Outside the courthouse, Davis' parents spoke to demonstrators gathered to call for "Justice for Jordan."
"I just want to thank everyone for coming out," said Ron Davis, Jordan's father. "We couldn't get a lot of people out because law enforcement didn't want a big crowd out here. I'm trying to make sure we do everything the court asks us to do. We're just here to thank you and pray with you."
"The verdict and the justice we seek will always and only come from God," said Jordan's mother, Lucy McBath.
All the demonstrators at the courthouse were supporting the Davis family. There weren't any Dunn supporters.
"I still want to be out here for the families it has affected," said Mary Dennis of the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition. "It doesn't matter whether the people are black or white. A lot of people think it's a race issue. No, I support everybody. This could've been a white boy that got killed by a black man. It's still wrong. Justice does not have color."
Dunn has yet to be sentenced for the February convictions. Regardless of the outcome of the retrial, it is doubtful Dunn will ever get out of prison, as he faces at least 60 years in prison -- 20 years each for the three attempted murder convictions.