Defense takes its turn in Zimmerman trial
Associated Press
SANFORD, Fla. — Prosecutors rested their case Friday at the end of the second week of testimony in George Zimmerman’s second- degree murder trial. Defense attorneys now have their chance this week to call witnesses and introduce testimony. They called their first two witnesses late Friday.
Zimmerman is pleading not guilty to second-degree murder. He has said he fatally shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in February 2012 in self-defense during a struggle at the townhome complex where Zimmerman lived and Martin was visiting. The case has raised issues of racial profiling, gun control and equal justice under the law.
Here are five key moments from the past week.
After presenting more than three dozen witnesses over two weeks, prosecutors rested their case Friday. They called as witnesses police investigators, Martin’s mother and brother, medical examiners, neighbors who heard the struggle, and a friend of Martin who was the last person to talk to him by telephone before his confrontation with Zimmerman.
Zimmerman’s mother and Martin’s mother each testified Friday that it was her son who can be heard screaming for help on a 911 call. Both women, testifying at separate times, were expressionless as the 911 call was played in the courtroom. Identifying the voice could be critical in helping the jury deter- mine who the aggressor was during the scuffle.
Associate medical examiner Shiping Bao told jurors Friday that Martin was alive from one to 10 minutes after he was shot in the heart. Later, he conceded that his testimony was different from a deposition he gave last year in which he said the teen lived one to three minutes after the gunshot. During a prickly cross-examination, Bao said it was possible Martin may have been able to move after being shot. That is important because Martin’s arms are positioned differently in a photo than the way Zimmerman described them.
Called as a prosecution witness, Sanford Police investigator Chris Serino testified he found Zimmerman credible in his description of his fight with Martin. But the judge ordered jurors to ignore his opinion, granting a prosecution request to toss the statement because it is improper for one witness to testify about the credibility of another witness.
An Instagram photo posted by defense attorney Don West’s daughter became the subject of a prosecution motion for an inquiry. Prosecutors say the photo showing West eating ice cream with his daughters was posted after his tense cross-examination with prosecution witness Rachel Jeantel last week. The caption read, “We beat stupidity celebration cones.” West says the ice cream photo was taken a day before Jeantel testified and had nothing to do with her testimony. He derided the prosecutor’s motion.