FOXNews.com: SHOCK START: Graphic Quote, Flat Joke Open Zimmerman Trial

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SHOCK START: Graphic Quote, Flat Joke Open Zimmerman Trial Jun 24th 2013, 18:42 Prosecutors and defense attorneys are set to give their opening statements Monday in the second-degree murder trial of George Zimmerman -- who admitted to shooting 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012 -- after nearly two weeks were spent picking a jury. The prosecution is expected to take up to several hours to make their statements, while Zimmerman's defense team will only speak for an hour or two. The Martin family was seen sitting in the courtroom Monday next to their lawyer, Benjamin Crump. Zimmerman's mother, father and wife also were present, but were later escorted out after prosecution lawyers invoked sequestration rules, which bar witnesses from courtroom proceedings until the state concludes the case.  Zimmerman's defense team responded by asking Circuit Judge Debra Nelson to order the Martin family and Crump to leave, but they were allowed to stay. Defense lawyer Mark O'Mara argued with Nelson over the decision, calling it "prejudicial." Nelson also allowed the defense to use remarks in their opening statements that Zimmerman made to a police officer and neighbor immediately after he shot Martin. Prior to the opening statements, Martin's mother asked for members of the public to pray for her family. Sybrina Fulton said Monday that she didn't want any other mothers to have to go through what she is experiencing. Zimmerman is pleading not guilty, claiming he shot Martin in self-defense. Prosecutors say Zimmerman racially profiled Martin as he walked through a gated community where Zimmerman lived and often patrolled. Martin was returning from a convenience store on a rainy night in February 2012, wearing a dark hooded shirt. The two eventually got into a fight and Zimmerman shot Martin. Circuit Judge Debra Nelson ruled last week prosecutors will be able to use the word "profiled" in their opening statements, as long as their description isn't limited to racial profiling. Prosecutors will be able to describe Zimmerman as a "wannabe cop" and "vigilante" and will be able to say Zimmerman confronted Martin. "We don't intend to say he was profiled solely because of race," prosecutor John Guy said last week. Defense attorneys O'Mara and Don West will argue the case is simply self-defense, free of the racial overtones that have overshadowed it. The initial decision not to charge Zimmerman led to public outrage and demonstrations around the nation. Civil rights leaders and others accused the police in the central Florida city of Sanford of failing to thoroughly investigate the shooting because Martin was a black teen from Miami. Martin was visiting his father in Sanford when he was shot. "We're trying so hard in this case not to make it what everybody outside the courthouse wants it to be," O'Mara said. On Feb. 26, 2012, Zimmerman spotted Martin, whom he did not recognize, walking in the townhome community where Zimmerman and the fiancee of Martin's father lived. There had been a rash of recent break-ins and Zimmerman was wary of strangers walking through the complex. The two eventually got into a struggle and Zimmerman shot Martin in the chest with his 9mm handgun. He was charged 44 days after the shooting, only after a special prosecutor was appointed to review the case and after protests. "I ask that you pray for me and my family because I don't want any other mothers to have to experience what I'm going through now," said Sybrina Fulton, Martin's mother, shortly before the start of opening statements. Two police dispatch phone calls will be important evidence for both sides' cases. The first is a call Zimmerman made to a non-emergency police dispatcher as he followed Martin walking through his gated community. At one point, the dispatcher tells Zimmerman he doesn't need to be following Martin. The second 911 call captures screams from the confrontation between Zimmerman and Martin. Martin's parents said the screams are from their son while Zimmerman's father contends they belong to his son. Nelson ruled last weekend that audio experts for the prosecution won't be able to testify that the screams belong to Martin, saying the methods the experts used were unreliable. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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