What if zimmerman is acquitted

He recounted the story of the shooting that Zimmerman told him and testified that when he took Zimmerman home from the police station after the shooting, Zimmerman wasn't acting like himself. Key moments in the Zimmerman trial — Prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda, on July 2, demonstrates a possible scenario while questioning state witness Chris Serino, a Sanford police officer.

Mora lived in Zimmerman's neighborhood at the time of the shooting. Lauer called on the night of the shooting. She appeared to get frustrated several times during the cross-examination, including one time when West suggested they could break until the morning so she'd have more time to review the deposition transcript. Key moments in the Zimmerman trial — The evidence letter that Jeantel says she wrote with a friend for Sybrina Fulton, Martin's mother, is displayed during the trial on June When the defense asked Jeantel to read the letter, she said she couldn't read cursive.

She asked a friend to write the letter for her, she said. Key moments in the Zimmerman trial — Jeantel testifies on Wednesday, June She was the last person to speak with Martin on the phone. Key moments in the Zimmerman trial — Zimmerman walks past Martin's parents, Sybrina Fulton, left, and Tracy Martin, second from left, as he enters the courtroom after lunch recess on June Key moments in the Zimmerman trial — Diana Smith of the Sanford Police Department on Tuesday, June 25, shows the jury a bag of Skittles that was collected as evidence at the crime scene.

Martin was said to be carrying the bag of candy and a soft drink at the time of his death. Key moments in the Zimmerman trial — 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. Key moments in the Zimmerman trial — During the trial on June 25, crime scene technician Diana Smith shows the jury a gun that was collected as evidence.

Key moments in the Zimmerman trial — Zimmerman laughs with defense attorney Don West during his trial on June Key moments in the Zimmerman trial — 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.

Key moments in the Zimmerman trial — 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. Key moments in the Zimmerman trial — A transcript of Zimmerman's police call on the night of the shooting is projected during opening arguments on June Key moments in the Zimmerman trial — Martin's father, Tracy Martin, cries on June 24 as he listens to the description of his son's death.

Key moments in the Zimmerman trial — 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. Since they are all on the witness list, the judge ruled they cannot be present in the courtroom until after they testify. Key moments in the Zimmerman trial — 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. Key moments in the Zimmerman trial — A video entered as evidence is displayed on June It shows Martin, right, at a 7-Eleven on the night of his shooting. Key moments in the Zimmerman trial — From left, Martin's parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, and Benjamin Crump, the family's legal counsel, make a brief statement to the media before jurors heard opening statements on June Key moments in the Zimmerman trial — Zimmerman waits for the start of his trial on June There were prior inconsistencies in her account regarding her age, and whether she had attended a wake for Martin, leading observers to speculate on whether the jury would find Jeantel believable.

Given the jury's verdict, it seems likely that they did not, or that even if they did, it was insufficient to account for those four minutes during which only two people truly know what happened. IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Share this —.

If in retrospect the verdict acquitting Zimmerman was correct, the decision to try Zimmerman also had substantial virtues. Even if there are some who do not accept the verdict, trying Zimmerman enhanced legitimacy. Binder The trial also highlights a fundamental flaw in stand your ground laws. If there was not enough evidence to prove Zimmerman guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, there was also insufficient evidence to prove him innocent.

That an unjustified homicide was not proved does not mean the homicide was justified. The case turned, as criminal cases often do, on the allocation of the burden of proof, an allocation that the defense emphasized in its closing argument. On the facts as we know them either Zimmerman or Martin could have been the first aggressor. If a fight ensued in which each party attacked the other, the law appears to authorize each to use force, including deadly force, to prevent the assault the other.

It is hard to come up with any policy justification for a law which not only authorizes either of two fighters to use deadly violence but also encourages it by overturning prior law that imposed a duty to retreat if retreat was possible. The trial may also have had important educational and deterrence functions. Future George Zimmermans will most likely be more prone to listen to operators who suggest they back off from following someone they regard as suspicious and wait for the police to arrive, and gun toters in altercations may be less likely to think stand your ground laws will protect them if they pull out their guns and fire.

When it comes to race, however, the trial did little to advance conversation. Both the prosecution and the defense tip-toed around the race issue, and some of their comments seemed to deny its existence. As a defense strategy this is understandable; acknowledging the possibility that Zimmerman was motivated by racial prejudice and racial stereotyping would have made the second degree murder charge more plausible and reduced the likelihood of juror identification with Zimmerman.

The prosecution most likely had its own goals. Chief among them, I expect, was to prevent the stoking of racial tensions and to minimize the likelihood of violent reactions to the verdict. After a campaign by Trayvon Martin's parents prompted nationwide protests, Florida's governor, Rick Scott, appointed a special prosecutor to re-examine the circumstances of the case.

Zimmerman was arrested in April last year, 44 days after the shooting. The case hinged on the conflicting testimony of witnesses and the key issue of whose screams were heard on a recording of a call made by one of Zimmerman's neighbours, which also captured the fatal shot.

Martin's mother, father and brother all testified that they were certain it was the teenager who was pleading for his life. Zimmerman's parents and a numbers of friends and neighbours took the stand to insist that it was Zimmerman. The earlier call, made to a non-emergency police line by Zimmerman, caught the defendant using profanities that were repeated by the prosecution to try to show he acted with spite, ill-will and hatred, the benchmarks for a second-degree murder conviction.

These assholes, they always get away," assistant state attorney John Guy said as he began his opening argument on the first day of the trial. He concluded by telling the jury: "George Zimmerman did not shoot Trayvon Martin because he had to. He shot him for the worst of all reasons, because he wanted to. O'Mara, Zimmerman's lead attorney, worked hard to counter the state's portrayal of his client as an overzealous, angry vigilante who was "fed up" after a series of burglaries and who became a self-appointed guardian of the community.

Instead, he argued, Martin was the aggressor, emerging from the darkness to break Zimmerman's nose with a sucker punch and smashing his head on a concrete pavement, forcing him to fire the single shot from his 9mm semi-automatic pistol to save his life.

He used a number of props to make his points, including a life-size mannequin that he wrestled with theatrically on the courtroom floor and a slab of cement he dumped in front of the jury box to represent the "weapon" he said Martin used, proving he was not unarmed. O'Mara insisted Zimmerman had not disobeyed the police dispatcher's instruction not to follow Martin.