Both the defense and prosecution participate in jury selection.
IIRC, the defense has more “peremptory strikes” than the prosecution AND fewer limits on their use. Peremptory strikes allow rejection of a juror without having to give a cause. Otherwise, a juror maybe challenged “for cause.”
Unless Zimmerman’s defense is incompetent (or working withe the prosecution!), it SHOULD be difficult to impanel a completely hostile jury.
I don't know how many challenges each side gets (I'm not a lawyer) but I know that each side gets at least one...and probably a good deal more.What you say about empaneling a completely hostile jury applies both ways.That is,IMO,barring huge stupidity by *either* side during jury selection the final result will be "hung jury".To be more specific,if there's a single black woman on the jury (and what are the chances of that not being the case?) Zimmerman's only hope is a hung jury because you and I know that such a juror will never vote to acquit....if,for no other reason,than to avoid harm to herself or her family.