Starting June 24th, jurors will hear the opening statements for the George Zimmerman murder trial. Following standard protocol, both attorneys will tell their side of the case regarding what happened the night Zimmerman killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin; a homicide that caused civil unrest.
According to the defense team, George Zimmerman is not guilty and shot Trayvon Martin in self-defense “after being viciously attacked.” However the prosecution team believes Zimmerman racially profiled Trayvon and shot him “because he looked like he was about to commit a crime in his neighborhood.”
Now the fate of 29 year old George Zimmerman is in the hands of an all women jury; he is charged with second degree murder.
The six jurors and four alternates picked last week will be presented with contrasting depictions of Zimmerman and Trayvon’s character.
As of right now, the defense team has a major victory in this case. Judge Nelson ruled Saturday that forensic audio analysts the state hoped to call as expert witnesses will not be allowed to testify at trial. According to the state’s experts, they believe Trayvon Martin is the one screaming in the background of the 911 call. Experts for the defense said identifying the screamer was impossible, and the state experts were using non factual based evidence, just speculation.
After the opening statements, it is unclear who the state will call as its first witness.
To continue reading this developing story go to this Sun Sentinel link: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/os-george-zimmerman-trial-openings-20130624,0,2990538.story
