Zimmerman trial 7/12

Shown photographs of both Zimmerman and Martin, Good identified Martin as the person on top and Zimmerman as the person on the bottom. He also aided the defense by stating that in his opinion it was Zimmerman's voice screaming for help. Rachel Jeantel was widely expected to be the prosecution's star witness.

Allegedly on the phone with Trayvon Martin for a period of over twenty minutes leading to the fatal shot, nineteen-year-old Jeantel could tell the story from something resembling Trayvon's point of view. Unfortunately for the prosecution, Jeantel seemed ill-prepared for her testimony and spoke in diction that jurors found hard to understand. Judge Nelson had to repeatedly admonish Jeantel to speak up or slow down.

Some observers speculated that Jeantel's speech patterns caused jurors to attach less credibility to what she had to say. Jeantel testified that Martin told her that he was being followed by a "creepy-ass cracka" and later in the phone call complained that "the nigga is still following me.

The N word? One juror would say after the trial that several other jurors found Jeantel's use of the word "cracka" offensive and used that as an excuse for discounting her testimony. The thrust of Jeantel's testimony was that Martin feared Zimmerman and was trying to get away from him, and not that he was looking for an opportunity to ambush him.

Jeantel also testified that she thought it was Trayvon's voice calling for help on the recording. After less than an hour of direct examination, Jeantel endured five hours of sometimes withering cross-examination from defense attorney Don West.

She was forced to admit on cross that she'd lied to avoid going to Trayvon's funeral, lied about her age when first contacted concerning the case, and at various times had offered several different accounts of what happened. The tough questioning made Jeantel hostile and even caused her to say she was leaving at the end of the day and not returning to the witness stand. She did return, but when all was said and done, the state's star witness had been neutralized.

In , investigative journalist and documentary film make Joel Gilbert, concluded that Jeantel was not actually the girlfriend on the phone with Trayvon just before he was killed. Rather, Gilbert suggests compellingly in his documentary, it was actually Jeantel's half-sister, Brittany Diamond Eugene who was on the call, but Ms.

Eugene refused to testify against Zimmerman. Gilbert alleges that attorney Benjamin Crump substituted Jeantel for Eugene as the witness who would supposedly destroy Zimmerman's defense.

Gilbert's evidence for the fraud consisted of a detailed analysis of pages of Trayvon's phone records, DNA testing, handwriting analysis, and--ultimately--an interview with Eugene. 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. In an effort to explain why Zimmerman might have had reasonable suspicions about Martin, the defense introduced testimony about crime at Twin Lakes. 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 his 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. Dennis Root , a former police officer and self-defense and use-of-force expert, expressed his opinion that the forty seconds of fighting heard on calls was "a very long time to be involved in any physical altercation"--long enough to produce high levels of fear and anxiety and a need to consider "changing tactics, because the tactics you are using are not working.

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 Doris Singleton , also present when Tracy Martin listened to the recording, said that after the recording was played, Martin "was very upset, he was very sad, he hung his head and cried.

Closing Arguments, Deliberations, and Verdict. Attorneys offered closing arguments on Friday, July Prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda told jurors that Zimmerman was a lying wannabe cop who jumped to the unreasonable conclusion that Martin was a criminal. Because of Zimmerman, "a teenager is dead through no fault of his own. Under the law, jurors must, O'Mara insisted, give "the benefit of the doubt" to Zimmerman. Prosecutor John Guy had the final word. He asked jurors "to look into the heart" of Zimmerman and remember that if he had done what he should have done--stay in his car and wait for the police to arrive--Trayvon Martin would still be alive.

After Judge Nelson offered instructions on what the jury must find in order to return a verdict either of second-degree murder or the lesser included charge of manslaughter, the jury commenced its deliberations.

According to later statements by two members of the jury, the jury was initially split. At least three jurors were firmly convinced that Zimmerman was not guilty of either murder or manslaughter, while the other three preferred to find him guilty on at least one of the two charges. The jurors supporting the not guilty verdict proved to be the more persuasive, arguing that whether or not Zimmerman profiled Martin, or was foolish in following him, was legally irrelevant to the charges.

As the deliberations progressed, the jurors initially inclined to find Zimmerman guilty came around to the view that "the law says at the end of the day all that mattered is who was on top on who was on the bottom"--and the evidence suggested Martin was on top and Zimmerman on the bottom or, at the very least, there was a reasonable basis for believing that to be the case. After sixteen hours of debating the evidence, the jury returned its verdict of "not guilty.

In an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper three days after the trial ended, a juror identified only as "Juror B37" offered her view of the case. She described George Zimmerman as "a man whose heart was in the right place, but went above and beyond what he really should have done.

When he was in the car, and he had called , he shouldn't have gotten out of that car. We never had that discussion. If he felt threatened that his life was going to be taken away from him, or he was going to have bodily harm, he had a right. But it happened. Reaction to the jury's verdict varied. Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson said he was "stunned" by the verdict and Al Sharpton called it a "slap in the face of the American people.

Martin was said to be carrying the bag of candy and a soft drink at the time of his death. Assistant state attorneys John Guy, left, and Richard Mantei hold up Martin's sweatshirt as evidence during Zimmerman's trial on June After Martin's death, protesters started wearing hoodies in solidarity against racial profiling.

During the trial on June 25, crime scene technician Diana Smith shows the jury a gun that was collected as evidence. Zimmerman laughs with defense attorney Don West during his trial on June Selene Bahadoor enters the courtroom to take the witness stand on June She was the first eyewitness to testify and said the shooting occured right behind her home.

Seminole County dispatcher Sean Noffke testifies on Monday, June 24, about his conversation with Zimmerman on a non-emergency line the night of the shooting. A transcript of Zimmerman's police call on the night of the shooting is projected during opening arguments on June Martin's father, Tracy Martin, cries on June 24 as he listens to the description of his son's death. Prosecutor John Guy gestures during his opening arguments on June His first words to the six-woman jury may have raised a few eyebrows.

Those were his words, not mine. From left, Zimmerman's father, Robert Zimmerman Sr. Since they are all on the witness list, the judge ruled they cannot be present in the courtroom until after they testify.

Defense attorney Don West displays a photo of Zimmerman from the night of the shooting during his opening arguments on June He opened his statements with a knock-knock joke but failed to win a laugh.

Who's there? George Zimmerman. George Zimmerman who? Good, you're on the jury," he said. A video entered as evidence is displayed on June It shows Martin, right, at a 7-Eleven on the night of his shooting. June 24, Opening arguments are presented in the trial of George Zimmerman.

July 5, The Zimmerman defense team begins presenting its case to the jury. July 12, Jury deliberations begin in the Zimmerman trial. July 13, The jury finds Zimmerman not guilty. She provides details about the jury's deliberations July 17, George Zimmerman helps rescue several people from an overturned vehicle in Sanford.

July 19, President Obama speaks about the trial and race relations in America in a twenty-minute speech at the White House.

September 9, Police respond to a call from Zimmerman's estranged wife after Zimmerman allegedly threatens her and her father and punches her father in the face. Zimmerman's wife decides not to press charges. November 18, Zimmerman's girlfriend calls police after he points a shotgun at her and damages some of her belongings. Zimmerman is charged with aggravated assault with a weapon, domestic violence battery, and criminal mischief.

Three weeks later, Zimmerman's girlfriend asks that charges against him be dropped. September 9, Zimmerman allegedly threatens to kill a driver during a road rage incident in Lake Mary, Florida. The incident is reported to police, but the other driver declines to press charges.

October 2, According to numerous reports, Justice Department officials decide not to bring federal civil rights charges against Zimmerman for the Martin killing, citing insufficient evidence to support the charges. February 14, The Justice Department closes its investigation into the Trayvon Martin killing without filing any charges. To Top. George Michael Zimmerman is born in Manassas, Virginia. Florida enacts a "Stand Your Ground" law which permits the use of deadly force when someone reasonably feels at risk of serious injury in a confrontation.

Following a series of burglaries, thefts, and a single shooting, Twin Lakes residents hold an organizational meeting to form a neighborhood watch program. Trayvon Martin travels to Sanford with his father to visit his father's fiancee at her townhouse in the Retreat at Twin Lakes.

In the evening, Trayvon Martin walks to a neighborhood Zimmerman performs a videotaped reenactment of the incident for police Police arrive at the condo of Tracy Martin's fiancee and Martin identifies photographs of his dead son. A family medical practice that examined Zimmerman after the shooting send investigators a medical report detailing the injuries sustained by Zimmerman Sanford's Police Chief Bill Lee turns the investigation of the case over to the Florida State Attorney's office for review, saying at the time there was not enough evidence to arrest Zimmerman.

Sanford PD Detective Chris Serino sends a capias request to the state's attorney recommending charges of negligent manslaughter against Zimmerman. Serino tells the Orlando Sentinel that Zimmerman's account was not contradicted by his investigation and that "the decedent was the primary aggressor in the whole event. State attorney Norm Wolfinger announces that a grand jury will be convened to investigate the death of Martin.

President Obama makes his first public comments on the Martin shooting, saying "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon Martin. One month after the shooting, rallies take place around the country demanding justice for Trayvon Martin's death.

Police interview Rachel Jeantel, Martin's girlfriend, who was on the phone with Martin shortly before he was shot.