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panel. I will go back on the bench and we will get
started. We are adjourned until the panel is seated.

(Brief break)

(Whereupon, the jury panel was sworn and
seated.)

gentlemen. I am Judge Robert Morris. I will presiding
over the trial of this case today. As you have been told
this is the State of Florida versus Robert Minton. This
is a criminal trial, the charge is battery.

Before we get underway I want to cover a
few things with you. First of all, I want to welcome you
all here. I recognize that many of you may have never
sat on a jury before, you may have never been part of a
judicial proceeding before. In fact, you may have never
been in this building before. Consequently, I realize
that these surroundings and these proceedings may be very
unfamiliar to you and you might be nervous about that.
Please don’t be. Part of my responsibility as a judge is
to make sure that you have the information you need to
perform function, and I will try to make sure that I give
you that information as we go along.

I also understand that all of you gave up
something to be here today. All of you would be at work,
you would be attending to family matters or business