Five of the selected jurors were white, while one was mixed race, but considered herself Hispanic. The defense struck a potential juror who failed to reveal that her pastor had advocated strongly for Martin.
The prosecution struck an African-American gun-owner who was a fan of Fox News. In a thirty-minute opening statement on June 24 , Prosecutor John Guy began, in a manner that startled and put off at least one juror, by quoting a remark made by George Zimmerman in his call to the Sanford police dispatcher: "Funking punks, these assholes always get away.
West said, "Knock knock! He contended the forensic evidence would prove Zimmerman shot Martin from below, with Martin's shirt hanging down over his client's prone body. The Prosecution Case Rachel Jeantel testifies for the prosecution. The Defense Case Dr. Vincent Di Maio testifies for the defense The defense needed to show that Zimmerman had a reasonable fear of serious injury before he pulled the trigger--or at least to convince a jury that he might have had a reasonable fear of serious injury.
This they would do, primarily, through testimony that it was Zimmerman's voice crying for help that was heard on recordings and that he, and not Martin, was on the bottom when the fatal shot was fired. Although not essential to the defense strategy, the defense also wanted to suggest that Zimmerman had reason to think Martin might have been, as he told a police dispatcher before the shooting, "up to no good. Olivia Bertalan, a twenty-one-year old resident of the development, testified about a terrifying incident that occurred several months before the Martin shooting.
Bertalan was home alone with her infant son when a man rang her doorbell. As she peered out the door, not recognizing the man, a second man entered her home through a backdoor. She ran upstairs, called , and locked herself in a bedroom as her house was burglarized. At one point, the burglar tried to turn the knob of the door where they hid. Bertalan testified that after the burglary, Zimmerman cam to her townhouse and gave her a lock for a sliding glass door, told her she was welcome to spend time with her wife whenever she was afraid.
She guessed that she discussed the incident at least twenty times with Zimmerman. Adam Pollock , the owner of a kickboxing gym where Zimmerman worked out, was called to the stand to suggest it was most likely Martin, not Zimmerman, who had most to fear in a fight. Pollock testified that Zimmerman was unathletic and "grossly obese. Many courtroom observers believe that the testimony of forensic pathologist Dr. Vincent Di Maio greatly strengthened the defense case.
Di Maio testified that his analysis revealed that the gun was touching Martin's sweatshirt and was "two to four inches" from Martin's body when the fatal bullet was fired.
This, Di Maio said, is consistent with Zimmerman's story that he was on the bottom and Martin on top straddling him, because in that position the sweatshirt would be hanging down from Martin's body a few inches.
Di Maio also described Zimmerman's head lacerations, temple wounds, and bloodied nose as "consistent with" having had his head banged into a sidewalk and being punched in the nose, as Zimmerman claimed had happened.
Di Maio also expressed his opinion that Trayvon Martin was probably conscious for about 10 to 15 seconds after being shot. Finally, the defense offered a parade of witnesses to drive home, they hoped, a single point: that it was Zimmerman, not Martin, who cried for help in the night.
Beginning with Gladys Zimmerman, George's mother, the jury heard witness after witness tell them it was Zimmerman's voice on the recording. Gladys Zimmerman testified, after listening to the recording, "That's my son, George. That was he is screaming, it describes to me anguish, fear. I would say terror. Army sergeant major, also was sure it was George's voice on the call. He testified that he instantly "recognized it was George screaming for help.
That voice just came and hit me I felt it inside my heart. I said, 'That's George. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that it is George Zimmerman and I wish to God that I didn't have the ability to understand that. I've heard him speak many times; I have no doubt in my mind that its his voice.
Detective and lead investigator Chris Serino testified that when Martin's father, Tracy Martin, listened to the call he became "emotional" and said that the voice did not sound like his son's. Officer Timothy Smith arrived at the scene less than two minutes after the shooting to find Zimmerman standing near Martin, who was face down in the grass and unresponsive.
Zimmerman told Smith he shot Martin in self-defense. Smith took Zimmerman's gun and handcuffed him, noting that he was bleeding from his nose and the back of the head and that the back of his jacket was wet and covered with grass.
Zimmerman was taken to the Stanford police station where he was questioned for five hours, first by Officer Singleton and then by Detective Chris Serino. Martin's body was taken to the morgue, where it was tagged as "John Doe. Tracy Martin, Trayvon's father, filed a Missing Persons report the next day. About A.
In the first twenty-four hours after the shooting, in addition to subjecting Zimmerman to several hours of questioning, police photographed his injuries , collected gun residue from his hands, gave him a voice stress analysis to test the truthfulness of his assertions he passed , and took him back to the scene of the shooting where performed a videotaped re-enactment of the incident. On March 12, Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee said, "Until we can establish probable cause to dispute [Zimmerman's claim of self-defense], we don't have the grounds to arrest him.
I'm sure that if George Zimmerman had the chance to relive Sunday, February 26, he'd probably do things differently. I'm sure Trayvon would too. With the Sanford police convinced that Zimmerman had a strong self-defense claim, that might have been the end of it, but for a persistent Tallahassee civil rights attorney named Benjamin Crump.
When Tracy Martin asked Crump for help in prompting prosecution of Zimmerman, Crump took the case to the media. He held press conferences with Trayvon's parents in which they told of the suffering caused by the loss of their son, brought pressure for release of the tapes which helped turn the case into a national story , organized a series of rallies calling for justice for Trayvon, and convinced African-American leaders such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to take up the cause.
By mid-March, the case was a fixture on cable news and a front page story around the country. It was a story--as reporters say of one with staying power--"with legs. A Change. Many celebrities and professional athletes, including Lebron James and the entire Miami Heat NBA team, donned hoodies to show their support for Martin. The national focus on the Zimmerman case pushed authorities in Florida into action. On March 22, Sanford police chief Bill Lee was placed on paid leave.
The following day, State attorney Angela Corey, appointed by Florida Governor Rick Scott as a special prosecutor, began an independent review of the evidence with the assignment of determining whether the case warranted prosecution. The Justice Department also launched its own investigation into whether Martin's civil rights had been violated. Interviews conducted by the FBI failed to produce substantial evidence that Zimmerman's actions were racially motivated. More likely, it seemed to Sanford lead police investigator Chris Serino, Zimmerman's initial decision to give chase was influenced by recent burglaries in the neighborhood, Martin's dress, and the circumstances of their encounter.
He maintained that Zimmerman's story had factual support and there was insufficient evidence to file charges. Nonetheless, on April 11, even without taking the expected step of convening a grand jury to consider the matter, Angela Corey directly filed second-degree murder charges against Zimmerman.
Several legal analysts, including Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitiz, criticized Corey's action, suggested that she over-charged, and that the evidence could not support a murder charge. Zimmerman turned himself in later that day to face charges in a trial that almost no one in law enforcement believed should happen. Weeks later, Zimmerman's bond was revoked and he was sent to jail after evidence surfaced that Zimmerman's wife had misrepresented the family's finances at the bond hearing. Zimmerman's attorney entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
Zimmerman was not without his supporters, however. A website he launched brought in tens of thousands of dollars for his defense. He presented his side of the story to sympathetic interviewers, such as Shawn Hannity of Fox News. He told Hannity he would not do anything differently and what happened "was all God's plan. I'm truly sorry. Florida adopted a "Stand Your Ground" law that allowed a person who reasonably believed it necessary to use deadly force to prevent serious injury to himself to do so without retreating.
The law also provided that a defendant claiming to have acted in self-defense to seek a pretrial immunity hearing in which, if the defendant could show by "a preponderance of the evidence" that he or she acted lawfully, would result in an order from the court granting the defendant immunity from prosecution.
No such hearing would ever take place, however. On further consideration, Zimmerman waived his right to an immunity hearing. O'Mara later explained that he concluded the Stand Your Ground law didn't apply because his client had no option to retreat. He also noted that the hearing would force him to reveal his case to the prosecution in advance of the trial, if the judge were to deny Zimmerman's immunity petition.
Judge Debra Nelson issued several rulings on pretrial motions on May 28, She ruled against allowing evidence related to Martin's prior fights, marijuana use, and familiarity with guns. She also denied a request by the defense to take the jury to the crime scene. Finally, noting the tense circumstances surrounding the trial, Judge Nelson ruled that the jury would remain anonymous and be referred to by numbers only.
On June 20, ten days after completing jury questionnaires , a six-person, all-female jury was selected for the trial. Five of the selected jurors were white, while one was mixed race, but considered herself Hispanic.
The defense struck a potential juror who failed to reveal that her pastor had advocated strongly for Martin. The prosecution struck an African-American gun-owner who was a fan of Fox News.
In a thirty-minute opening statement on June 24 , Prosecutor John Guy began, in a manner that startled and put off at least one juror, by quoting a remark made by George Zimmerman in his call to the Sanford police dispatcher: "Funking punks, these assholes always get away.
West said, "Knock knock! He contended the forensic evidence would prove Zimmerman shot Martin from below, with Martin's shirt hanging down over his client's prone body. The prosecution had the burden of convincing the jury, beyond a reasonable doubt , that George Zimmerman could not reasonably have believed that is was necessary to use deadly force to save himself from serious bodily harm at the hands of Trayvon Martin.
Under the facts of the case, and the doubts concerning them, every astute observer knew that to be a difficult--possibly impossible--task. The prosecution's first witness, fifteen-year-old Chad Martin, the son of Trayvon's dad's fiancee, testified that he had sent Trayvon on a mission to the neighborhood 7-Eleven to buy him a bag of Skittles, which Martin did while Chad continued to play a Play Station 3 video game in his mother's townhouse.
Trayvon, the prosecution hoped to suggest through Chad's testimony and that of the 7-Eleven clerk who Martin paid with cash, was doing nothing that Sunday night that warranted Zimmerman's suspicion. Sean Noffke , the Sanford PD dispatcher called by Zimmerman and the state's first witness to address the fatal incident itself, testified that he told Zimmerman, "We don't need you to do that [follow Martin].
Juror B37, whose face and body were hidden, appeared last week on Anderson Cooper's CNN show, and said that she believes Zimmerman's "heart was in the right place" when he became suspicious of Martin and that the teenager probably threw the first punch.
Since then, four other jurors distanced themselves from B37's remarks and released a statement saying B37's opinions were "not in any way representative" of their own. We'll notify you here with news about. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? Comments 0. Top Stories.
Busting the myth that viruses always evolve to be less deadly over time 2 hours ago. When am I contagious if infected with omicron? Zimmerman Trial: West: "What is your source of news? Zimmerman Trial: B29 remembers that "some little boy passed away. B29 has eight children, the oldest of whom is 20 and recently returned home to look for work. She as been married for 10 years. B76 is one of two jurors the State sought unsuccessfully to strike from the jury.
She is a white, middle-aged woman, who was also first questioned in court on the first day of jury selection. She recalled that there had been some kind of struggle, that a young man had been shot and that Zimmerman had been injured. Zimmerman Trial: B76 recalls young man was shot and Zimmerman was injured. She has been a resident in Seminole country for almost two decades. Married for 30 years, she has two children, a year-old son and a year-old daughter.
She and her husband once ran a construction company, but currently she is unemployed and her husband manages their several rental properties, which provide their main source of income. She spends much of her time rescuing pets in need of care.
In terms of recalling crime in her neighborhood, B76 mentioned teenagers vandalizing signs, but a call to the police seemed to resolve the matter. They had an already established Neighborhood Watch Program in her neighborhood at the time, and she recalled using it to call her neighbors about it at the time. Although B76 described no personal experience with firearms, she did say that several close family members own guns.
Zimmerman : reason state struck B "why was a kid out at night getting candy? B37, first presented to the court on the second day of jury selection, Tuesday, June 11, is memorable as the woman with many pets: 3 dogs, 4 cats, a parrot, a crow with one wing, two lizards. She has lived in Seminole county for 18 years, and has been married for She has two children, a year-old and a year-old. Also, two daughters. Zimmerman Trayvon. Her husband still owns guns, however, and B37 expressed no uncertainty about her ability to use and shoot a gun, saying she has gone to the range shooting.
B51, like B37, was first questioned on the second day of jury selection. She is retired, unmarried, and has no children, and lives with a dog and a year-old cat. She has lived in Seminole county for 9 years. She recalled basic facts about the case, including that Zimmerman was in the Neighborhood Watch Program and had a gun permit. She said she had not yet formed an opinion about the case, and that she was open to changing her mind if presented with contrary evidence.
Perhaps he did. Unusually for this jury pool, she also indicated that she was a newspaper reader. Zimmerman Trial: B "Police asked him to wait…I'm thinking he didn't wait was a problem….
She also affirmed the importance of not considering her own biases in coming to a verdict. E6 was one of two jurors the State sought unsuccessfully to strike from the jury. She is a white mother with adolescent children, and years-old, and again was a jury first presented to the court on the second day of jury selection.
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