A Florida man was beaten, robbed, forced to strip naked and abandoned on the side of a road Friday evening during a first date gone horribly wrong, according to police.

Authorities found nude, bloodied Shaun Paul Williams, 34, walking on the shoulder of State Road 100 in Bunnell, Fla., late Friday near a cow pasture where Williams said he was assaulted and mugged by his date and her two unidentified male companions earlier that evening, according to a Flagler County Sheriff’s Office case report.

Williams told sheriff’s deputies that he met the unidentified woman at a convenience store in Daytona Beach, Fla., two weeks ago. They struck up a friendship and later arranged to go out on June 14, according to the report.

The woman picked up Williams in front of the same convenience store for their first date Friday evening. After Williams entered the woman’s vehicle, he discovered two unidentified adult men – one of whom the woman introduced as her brother, the report states.

She told Williams that she would take him out to dinner after she dropped off the two unidentified men at her brother’s home. But after several minutes on the road, the woman abruptly turned onto an unknown side street, Williams told investigators.

The woman’s alleged brother instructed her to stop somewhere along the side street because he had to “wait for a friend.” She then backed into what Williams described to investigators as an “empty cow pasture.”

Williams told investigators that he then exited the vehicle to urinate but was allegedly bludgeoned twice in the face with a “hard metal object.” He collapsed to the ground and held his face in his hands while one of the unidentified men allegedly said, “Give me all your money and all your clothes.”

Williams told police he said, “Are you serious?”

One of the unidentified men allegedly responded, “Do you see what I’ve got pointed at you?”

Williams said he then opened his eyes and saw a semi-automatic pistol pointed straight at his face, according to the report.

After Williams complied with their orders, the woman and her two male companions then fled the scene in the vehicle, according to the report.

All told, Williams claimed he was robbed of $200 in cash, a Straight Talk pre-paid cellular phone, his Florida driver’s license, a gray tank top, black Dickie shorts and a pair of DC sneakers.

A sheriff’s deputy who discovered a “disoriented” Williams took him to a hospital, where he was treated for several lacerations on the right side of his face, according to the case report.

Flagler County Sheriff’s Office investigators are working to identify and pursue the three suspects, authorities said.

Lititz Borough Police via AP

Brenda Heist 11 years ago (left) and in April upon resurfacing after 11 years missing.

The Pennsylvania woman who disappeared in 2002 and was declared legally dead in 2010 only to resurface in Florida in April is now facing a year in jail.

Brenda Heist left behind a husband and two young children in Lititz, Pa., leaving dinner on the table and a load of laundry in the wash when she bolted.

After 11 years missing -- and presumed dead -- Heist, 54, turned herself into the Monroe County Sherriff’s office on April 26. She said she thought she was wanted in a county nearby.

“I don’t know if she was wanted in another county or not,” said Becky Herrin, spokeswoman for the Monroe County, Fla., Sheriff’s office. “She turned herself into us because she said she was tired and didn’t want to be missing anymore.”

It was at the Monroe County Sherriff’s Office that she revealed she was a missing person, which police authorities later confirmed.

She had been arrested on Feb. 15 for stealing an ID of a person she worked for and using it at a traffic stop. In April, she pleaded no contest to the charges and was placed on probation for three years.

In May, she was arrested for violating that probation by failing to check in with authorities.

Circuit Judge David Rimmer sentenced her Wednesday to 364 days in county jail, according to Joan Malley, deputy clerk for Santa Rosa County. She was accredited with serving 100 days toward that sentence.

When Heist resurfaced, her family back in Pennsylvania said they did not plan to see or talk to her.

“It’s not that I hate her,” Morgan Heist, Brenda Heist’s 19-year-old daughter, told NBCPhiladelphia.com. “I just don’t think she deserves to be in my life at this point.”

Related content:

• Pennsylvania mom who went missing in 2002 turns up alive in Florida
• Family of missing mom discovered in Florida not eager for reunion

The dilemma confronting lawyers trying to pick a jury in the George Zimmerman trial was summed up neatly by a member of the pool on the second day of the selection process.

“Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last year, it’s been pretty hard for people not to have gotten a lot of information,” the woman said after being quizzed on what she knew about Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin and their deadly Feb. 2012 confrontation.

Defense lawyer Don West agreed.

“You’ve shown remarkable insight into our very problem,” he said.

The prosecution and defense need to find six jurors, plus alternates, who say they can hear evidence with an open mind despite what they may have heard about the neighborhood watch volunteer or the unarmed 17-year-old he says he shot in self-defense. Zimmerman, 29, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.

On the third day of jury selection in a Florida courthouse, Martin’s family praised those who had been summoned for the trial.

“We are inspired by the honesty of the potential jurors,” they said in a statement. “Their answers have been forthright and we have faith that the justice system and the members of the public who are selected for the jury will perform their civic duty in a fair and impartial manner.”

During the questioning, potential jurors have revealed a range of familiarity with a case that dominated headlines, sparked protests and stirred debate about race and guns.

A college student who said she doesn’t watch television news or read a newspaper gleaned her knowledge of Zimmerman and Martin mainly through friends’ Facebook status updates. Her takeaway: “An African American was wearing a hoodie or something like that."

A mother of three told defense lawyers she first heard of the case when her pastor led the congregation in prayers for Martin and Zimmerman and had not heard much about it since because she doesn’t have cable TV or Internet service.

Others had found it impossible to avoid discussion of the case.

A former financial services worker estimated she had seen 200 news reports, including headlines about a preliminary hearing on technical analysis of 911 calls last week. She called the shooting “a very unfortunate incident” and said she used it to talk to her sons about the dangers of going out at night.

A mother of two college-age boys recalled that her sons had discussed the case and “made fun of the fact of the Skittles” -- a reference to the bag of candy Martin bought at a convenience store before he crossed paths with Zimmerman.

Many of the jurors said that regardless of their exposure to the details, they could keep an open mind.

A woman who lives near the Sanford, Fla., housing complex where Martin was shot said friends had invited her to protests and a majority of them were sympathetic to the prosecution’s version of events.

Nevertheless, she had no doubt she could be impartial until deliberations began.

"You can't speculate without having a trial," she said.

Some were more opinionated, like a man who told the court he had not made up his mind but went on to say that “murder is murder.”

“Even in self-defense, it’s still murder,” he said.

He was dismissed for cause.

The first three days of jury selection have been focused on potential jurors’ pre-trial publicity awareness. Once the defense and prosecutors have a group of 30 who have not been dismissed for cause, they will begin a new round of questioning.

Each side has 10 peremptory challenges they can exercise to boot a juror without giving a reason. The process is expected to last through next week.

Editor’s Note: Zimmerman has sued NBCUniversal for defamation in civil court, and the company has strongly denied his allegations.

This story was originally published on Wed Jun 12, 2013 5:17 PM EDT

Five people walked out of a Florida forest with a pile of "magic" mushrooms and a baby alligator ...

The punchline: They're under arrest.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said Tuesday that an officer watched four men and one teenager enter an area near Little Big Econ Lake in Oviedo, Fla., that is known to locals for its lucrative mushroom hunting grounds. Several hours later, the group emerged with shopping bags filled with Psilocybin, wild mushrooms known for producing vivid hallucinations and illegal to possess, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

Upon being stopped, the men tried to defend themselves by claiming that “Google” had told them they could cultivate the mushrooms, said Joy Hill, a spokeswoman with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

“With all the rains we’ve been having, it’s possibly a good crop,” Hill said.

Each of the five were taken into custody on a felony charge of possession of the mushrooms.

About that alligator ... . One of the men, Rick Myers, 30, was also charged with violating a felony probation -- and with illegal possession of a small alligator.

According to Hill, when the officer approached the men, Myers informed him that he was carrying a baby alligator in his backpack.

The officer took the two-foot-long alligator, which had been wrapped in a bandanna, and released it back into the wild.

“Only in Florida,” said Hill.

Brace yourself Florida, there is a “vampire” in your midst -- and this one is not afraid of the sun. 

The giant psorophora ciliata mosquito, which is colloquially known as the gallinipper and is 20 times the size of your average mosquito, is set to plague south and central Florida this summer as the rainy season begins. 

While these monsters don’t carry diseases, their intense bite can feel like a knife piercing your skin and leave you with an itchy welt for up to a week. 

According to Deby Cassill, an Associate Professor of Biology at Florida State University, these hairy, long-legged pests, originally thought to be from the Mississippi Delta, made their way to Florida after Tropical Storm Debby brought heavy winds and dropped a bucket load of water on the state last year.

The mosquitos, who migrated with the wind, laid eggs by the billions in the standing water left from the storm, and this year, they are ready to hatch. 

“Just like every other mosquito, the females are bloodsucking vampires trying to be good moms and get enough nutrients to produce eggs and the next generation of mosquitos” said Cassill. 

While the mosquito season will only last a couple of months until the waters recede, biologists worry about the monster’s 24/7 eating habits. 

“Most mosquitos feed at dusk and dawn, but these feed all day long, and will eat right through your clothing,” said Cassill. The females will feed on anything from cattle and dogs to human blood. 

Cassill explained that there will be an alert if mosquito experts find evidence of a gallinipper plague in any given location, but that urban areas are not especially at risk since they already have established mosquito control strategies. Rural areas, on the other hand, will need to be on watch. Residents are asked to be on alert for a loud buzz and to keep their eyes peeled.

In the meantime, bust out the bug spray and DEET, as they are your best line of defense, says Cassill, who also warns to be careful not to swat a just-fed gallinipper.

“If she’s loaded with human blood, it will make quite the mess.”

No longer a tropical storm, the weather system called Andrea was making its way up the East Coast, threatening flash floods and dangerous storm surges into Saturday as far north as Maine.

Andrea was wandering up the coast at about 35 mph Friday night, the National Weather Service said. That should give it plenty of time to drop heavy rain on New York and New England overnight and into Saturday afternoon before it scrapes Canada's Atlantic coast and trickles off into the Atlantic Ocean sometime Sunday.

In the wake of the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, residents of the Southeast faced a weekend of cleaning up from severe flooding caused by torrents of rain — as much as 13.9 inches in North Miami Beach, Fla., on Friday alone.

In South Carolina, a 19-year-old man went missing as he was surfing with his brother, NBC affiliate WMBF reported. A search team was spread out along the beach Friday night, but it had been able to recover only a surfboard.

More from weather.com

Paul Stephen / The Star-News via AP

A man checks out the high surf Friday, June 7, along Wrightsville Beach, N.C.

Flood watches were in effect over a huge part of the East Coast, from Maine to Georgia, and Northeasterners who lived through Hurricane Sandy were on alert Friday.

Hoboken, N.J., resident Brian Smalleys, who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars repairing his home after Sandy, told NBCNewYork.com that he has trouble sleeping when it rains heavily now.

"I just get nervous. I don't want it to happen again," he said.

New York  activated its flash flood plan — ready to send alerts to cellphones — and issued a hazardous travel advisory as moderate to heavy rain was expected through early Saturday.

In Florida, Andrea left behind considerable damage. 

The weather service recorded eight tornado reports in the state, with damage to houses and trees and downed power lines.

Related:

• Tropical Storm Andrea drenches Florida
• Andrea lifts curtain on hurricane season
• More weather coverage from NBC News

This story was originally published on Fri Jun 7, 2013 5:34 AM EDT

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Reuters

Tropical Storm Andrea is the first storm of what's predicted to be a busy 2013 Atlantic hurricane season.

Most of Florida's Gulf Coast was under the first tropical storm warning of the year Wednesday as a storm named Andrea debuted the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season.

The warning extended all the way up the state, from Boca Grande off the southern tip of the Florida peninsula to the Ochlockonee River in the panhandle. A less urgent tropical storm watch was in effect up the rest of the East Coast from Flagler, Fla., to Surf City, N.C.

A tropical storm warning means that tropical storm conditions are likely in the next 36 hours; a watch means they're possible in the next 48 hours.

Andrea was parked in the Gulf of Mexico about 300 miles southwest of Tampa, Fla., creeping along at 3 to 5 mph with maximum winds of 40 mph, the National Hurricane Center said. Tropical storm force winds extended outward up to 140 miles.

The center of the storm was expected to reach the Big Bend — the sharp left turn where the peninsula turns into the panhandle — sometime Thursday afternoon or evening.

Andrea's then expected to wash over southeastern Georgia and eastern South Carolina this weekend.

Forecasters for The Weather Channel said a combination of wind shear in the upper atmosphere and dry air on the west side of the system was trapping the heaviest winds on Andrea's east side. That means the main concern will be very heavy rainfall through Friday.

Full coverage of Andrea on Weather.com

Several inches of rain could cause localized flooding across the Florida peninsula, with a chance of isolated tornadoes if the right conditions develop, forecasters said. Along the Alabama coast, swimmers were told to be on the lookout for dangerous rip currents.

Related:

• Hurricane season likely to be 'extremely active,' say meteorologists

Pool / Pool / Reuters

George Zimmerman, seen here during a hearing in April, goes on trial this month. Jurors will be identified by number but will not be sequestered.

Prosecutors in the Trayvon Martin shooting case have informed the court of a new exhibit that they claim shows defendant George Zimmerman once applied to become a police officer.

A filing by prosecutors this week included a description of an application from Zimmerman and a rejection letter from the Prince William County Police Department, but no explanation of what they plan to do with it.

NBC has not confirmed that the description is accurate. The filing said the police department was in Maryland, though Prince William County is in Virginia. The police department in Virginia could not immediately confirm Zimmerman had applied for a position there.

The new filings also suggest that the prosecution plans to make an issue out of Zimmerman's membership at a Florida martial arts gym, which bills itself as "the most complete fight gym in the world."

It's unclear how prosecutors plan to use that against the neighborhood watch volunteer, who says he was defending himself when he shot 17-year-old Martin on Feb. 26, 2012, in Sanford, Fla.

Zimmerman, 29, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and his trial begins with jury selection on Monday.

In other filings this week, the defense asked Judge Debra Nelson to restrict prosecutors from using certain terms, such as "vigilante" and "wannabe cop."

The defense also want limits on the use of the phrase "profiled." Prosecutors have alleged that Zimmerman, who is white of Hispanic descent, profiled the black teen before the deadly confrontation.

The judge has not ruled on the motion. She did, however, agree with the defense that jurors names should be kept private, known only to the court and the lawyers and referred to by number in public.

The defense also wanted the jury pool to be sequestered, but Nelson ruled that "such drastic measures are unnecessary."

Editor's note: George Zimmerman has sued NBCUniversal for defamation in civil court, and the company has strongly denied his allegations.

Steve Cannon / AP

Powerball winner Gloria C. Mackenzie, 84, left, leaves the lottery office escorted by her son, Scott Mackenzie, after claiming a single lump-sum payment of about $370.9 million before taxes on June 5, in Tallahassee, Fla.

When Gloria C. MacKenzie went to a Florida supermarket near Tampa last month to buy a Powerball ticket, another person in line did something nice for the 84-year-old widow. 

"While in line at Publix, another lottery player was kind enough to let me go ahead of them in line to purchase the winning Quick Pick ticket," she said in a statement Wednesday. 

The nice gesture turned out to be a life-changing one for MacKenzie and her family. She came forward Wednesday to claim the biggest undivided lottery jackpot in history, $590 million. 

Those polite people in line with MacKenzie turn out to be Mindy Crandell and her 10-year-old daughter, fellow residents of Zephyrhills, Fla., WFTV reports.  

"It was our turn, and the lady turned and looked at me, and I said, 'Go ahead. You can get your ticket. No big deal,'" Crandell told WFTV.

Crandell remembered the exchange in line when a friend texted her McKenzie's photo Wednesday.

"'My daughter said, 'Mom, look, it's the lady that went in front of us,'" said Crandell.

McKenzie is a retiree from Maine and a mother of four who lives in a modest, tin-roof house in Zephyrhills, where the lone winning ticket in the May 18 drawing was sold. She took her prize in a lump sum of just over $370 million. After federal taxes, she is getting about $278 million, lottery officials said. 

Wearing large sunglasses and dressed in a pink sweater and white pants, she clasped her son's arm after visiting the lottery offices as they made their way to a silver Ford Focus and left quickly. She did not speak to a crowd of reporters outside the building. She was accompanied at the lottery offices by two unidentified attorneys. 

MacKenzie bought the winning ticket at a Publix supermarket in the town of about 13,300, which is 30 miles northeast of Tampa. It is best known for the bottled spring water that bears its name — and now, for one of the biggest lottery winners of all time. 
The $590 million was the second-largest lottery jackpot in history, behind a $656 million Mega Millions prize in March 2012, but that sum was split, with three winning tickets. 

MacKenzie let the lottery computers generate the numbers at random. She said she had previously bought four other tickets for the drawing. 

"We are grateful with this blessing of winning the Florida Lottery Powerball jackpot," she said in a statement read by lottery officials.

"We hope that everyone would give us the opportunity to maintain our privacy for our family's benefit." 

The winner had 60 days to claim the prize. Lottery spokesman David Bishop said MacKenzie, her lawyers and her financial adviser spent about two hours going through the necessary paperwork. 

"They had clearly been preparing for this. They took all this time to get everything in order," Bishop said. 

Minutes after the announcement, a dozen reporters in Zephyrhills were camped outside MacKenzie's gray duplex, which backs up to a dirt alley and is across from a cow pasture. 

Neighbors were surprised by her good fortune. 

"She didn't say anything about it. She's so quiet and secluded. She's usually in the house," said James Hill. "I'm very happy for her. It couldn't have happened to a nicer person. She was always pleasant and smiling." 

Another neighbor, Don Cecil, joked, "I hope she gets a better place to live." 

MacKenzie's neighbors offered few details about her life. They said she mostly kept to herself, but they'd seen her take short walks along the street and exchanged pleasantries with her. 

Her house, situated among mostly mobile homes and pre-fabricated houses, has a chain-link fence with a sheet-metal roof and an old TV antenna. 

MacKenzie retired to Zephyrhills more than a decade ago from rural Maine with her husband, Ralph, who died in 2005. 

Back in her hometown of East Millinocket, Maine, relatives and friends were surprised to hear of her good fortune. 

Robert MacKenzie, Ralph's brother, said the couple met just after World War II after Ralph got out of the Navy. He went to work in the town's paper mill, laboring as a technician for almost four decades. 

He said the couple raised four children in East Millinocket, a town of less than 2,000 people in northern Maine. A daughter and son still live in East Millinocket, another son lives in Florida and another daughter lives out of state, possibly in Massachusetts, he said. 
Robert MacKenzie said he didn't know his sister-in-law had won until a reporter called him. 

"Holy mackerel," he said when told of her winnings. He added: "It hasn't soaked in, but I'm happy for her. That would be great because she's a widow and she can have a nice home now." 

One of the MacKenzies' daughters, Melinda "Mindy" MacKenzie, a high school teacher, still lives in the family home in East Millinocket in a quiet middle-class neighborhood of white clapboard houses. 

Ralph MacKenzie enjoyed snowmobiling, hunting and fishing, said Andrew Hopkins, a retired high school teacher and assistant principal who taught some of the MacKenzie children. 

"They were good people. That's about all I can tell you," said Hopkins, who lives across the street. 

Related:

• Winning ticket for huge Powerball jackpot sold in Florida
• Florida city still wondering: Who won the $590m lottery jackpot
• What could happen to you: Tales of big lottery winners

AP file

A Powerball jackpot ticket worth an estimated $590.5 million was sold at this Zephyrhills, Fla., Publix supermarket seen on May 19.

This story was originally published on Wed Jun 5, 2013 3:40 PM EDT

More than a year after the killing of Trayvon Martin touched off a national furor over race, guns and Florida’s expansive self-defense laws, the man who shot him to death is going to trial.

George Zimmerman, of white and Hispanic descent, claims Martin attacked him and that he acted in self-defense. 

Courtesy of Sybrina Fulton

Trayvon Martin in an undated family photo.

Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. The trial, which begins Monday with jury selection, is expected to last more than a month.

Here’s a look at the key figures in the trial.

Trayvon Martin: The 17-year-old was walking back from a convenience store on the night of Feb. 26, 2012, wearing a hooded sweatshirt and carrying an iced tea and Skittles, when he became involved in an altercation with Zimmerman. Martin was killed with a single gunshot inside a gated community where his father’s girlfriend lived. Tall and lanky, a lover of sports and music, he was described by his family as quiet and respectful and by former teachers as creative and curious. Defense lawyers have offered a less flattering portrayal, releasing text messages in which Martin expressed interest in guns and discussed marijuana and being suspended from school.

Pool / Pool / Reuters

George Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Trayvon Martin.

George Zimmerman: The former neighborhood watch volunteer dialed 911 frequently to report suspicious activity. He called again the night of Feb. 26 and told the dispatcher: “This guy looks like he’s up to no good, or he’s on drugs or something.” Zimmerman, 29, grew up in northern Virginia and at one time aspired to be a police officer, according to a neighbor there. Court filings have suggested that the prosecution may try to make an issue out of his membership at a Florida martial arts gym.

Joe Burbank / AP file

No-nonsense Florida Judge Debra Nelson is presiding over the trial of George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin.

Judge Debra Nelson: In pretrial hearings, the jurist has shown she runs a tight ship and isn’t afraid to let lawyers know when she thinks they’re out of line. “She’s tough but fair,” said defense lawyer Bryce Fetter, who has gone before her many times. “She’s very, very smart. And she’s the boss.” Nelson, 59, a former prosecutor and civil litigator who has been on the bench for 14 years, is the third judge in the Zimmerman case -- appointed after the defense claimed the previous judge was biased against them.

Red Huber / Orlando Sentinel file

Chris Serino, right, was the lead investigator for the Sanford Police Department.

Chris Serino: He led the Sanford Police Department’s initial investigation into the shooting and his conflicting statements about the probe have drawn scrutiny. Serino authored a report that first recommended Zimmerman be charged with second-degree murder and was later revised to say manslaughter, court documents show. Last summer, Serino moved from his job as a detective to an overnight patrol shift at his request, a Sanford police spokesman said. He’s also hired a private attorney, Jose Baez, best known for representing Casey Anthony.

John Raoux / AP file

Benjamin Crump is representing Trayvon Martin's family.

Benjamin Crump: Martin’s family hired the Tallahassee lawyer, who had handled several wrongful death cases against police, two days after the teen was killed. He’s been front and center ever since and is credited with helping to transform Martin’s death into an international cause. The 43-year-old attorney – who “overcame very humble beginnings in North Carolina,” according to his firm's website — also negotiated a settlement with Zimmerman’s homeowners association.

Pool / Getty Images

Assistant State Attorney Bernie de la Rionda is leading the prosecution of George Zimmerman.

Bernie de la Rionda: After she was named special prosecutor, State’s Attorney Angela Corey turned to one of her most seasoned assistants to run the Zimmerman case. In nearly 30 years as a prosecutor, the Jacksonville-based de la Rionda has handled more than 250 jury trials and secured the death penalty some two dozen times. The 56-year-old prosecutor – whose parents sent him from Cuba to Florida when he was 4 years old – has not been reluctant to express annoyance or anger during pre-trial hearings. He is being assisted by fellow homicide prosecutor John Guy.

Joe Burbank / Pool via Getty Images file

Mark O'Mara is representing Zimmerman.

Mark O’Mara: The veteran defense lawyer was hired just hours before the special prosecutor announced she was filing a second-degree murder charge against Zimmerman, whose previous attorneys withdrew. While this is O'Mara's highest-profile case in 30 years of private practice, he was already well-known in the Orlando area as a television legal analyst during the Casey Anthony trial. The 57-year-old has not shied away from the spotlight – or social media, which he’s used to promote a legal defense fund for his client and press the self-defense claim. His co-counsel is Don West.

NBC's James Novogrod and Tom Winter contributed to this report.

Editor's note: George Zimmerman has sued NBCUniversal for defamation. The company has strongly denied his allegations.

Attorneys for George Zimmerman apologized Sunday for mischaracterizing evidence they said boosted their theory that Trayvon Martin was the aggressor in his fatal meeting with their client last year.

Lawyer Mark O’Mara said during a hearing last Tuesday that the defense had obtained video footage of three fights, including one in which he said two of Martin’s friends "were beating up a homeless guy."

But Zimmerman's defense team corrected that statement on  Sunday, saying O'Mara had unintentionally "misstated the nature" of the footage.

In a statement posted on Zimmerman’s website, the defense lawyers said the footage actually showed "two homeless guys fighting each other over a bike."

A Florida judged ruled Tuesday that Zimmerman’s lawyers cannot mention Martin’s suspension from school, prior marijuana use, text message exchanges or past fighting in opening statements when the trial begins on June 10.

Zimmerman faces a second-degree murder charge for shooting Martin to death after a confrontation on Feb. 26, 2012. The defense has argued that 17-year-old Martin was the aggressor and Zimmerman was just trying to protect himself.

Editor's note: George Zimmerman has sued NBCUniversal for defamation in civil court, and the company has strongly denied his allegations.