Except I think he’s bringing this up when the jury has been dismissed from the courtroom. If he continuously brought this up in front of the jury, I think the prosecution would have grounds to move for mistrial based on the fact that he continues to bring it up. The jury has already expressed concerns over their identities being released to the public and sent a note to the judge last week during one of the breaks asking what exactly the media could write about them that could potentially allow them to be identified outside of court.
So I don’t think his goal is to necessarily make the jury feel a certain way, but I think part of it is a major effort to get the media kicked out of the courtroom and hoping the judge will, I guess, close the courthouse to the public? When he pointed out Rev. Sharpton in the gallery last week, the judge told him, paraphrasing, He’s not causing any disruptions and I’m not kicking him out, besides you didn’t even know he was here until lunch and I’m not sure the jury has even realized it either.