TRAYVON MARTIN (File Photo)
by Mike Schneider
SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — George Zimmerman’s lead attorney will be walking a fine line as he tries to convince jurors that his client didn’t murder Trayvon Martin: He needs to show why Zimmerman felt threatened by the African-American teenager while avoiding the appearance that either he or his client is racist.
Because there is no dispute that Zimmerman shot Martin, 17, during a fight on a rainy night in February 2012, Mark O’Mara must convince the jury that Zimmerman pulled his 9 mm handgun and fired a bullet into the Miami-area high school student’s chest because he feared for his life and that the fear was caused by Martin’s actions, not his race.
Jury selection begins Monday in the second-degree murder trial, which is expected to last about six weeks. Martin’s killing drew worldwide attention as it sparked a national debate about race, equal justice under the law and gun control. If convicted, Zimmerman, who identifies himself as Hispanic, could get a life sentence.
Under Florida law, Zimmerman, 29, could lawfully shoot Martin in self-defense if it was necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm.
O’Mara has to be careful how he characterizes Martin, said Randy McClean, an Orlando-area defense attorney. “Mr. O’Mara’s challenge is to show Trayvon wasn’t profiled, that Zimmerman either saw something that looked suspicious or something else that caused him to make contact with Trayvon.”
The challenge for prosecutors trying to get a second-degree murder conviction, meanwhile, is that they must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that while Zimmerman’s actions weren’t premeditated, they demonstrated a “depraved mind” that didn’t consider the threat his actions had toward human life.
McClean and another Orlando defense attorney, David Hill, predicted that prosecutors will attack Zimmerman, who was employed at a mortgage risk management firm, as a frustrated, would-be police officer who had a chip on his shoulder. Zimmerman had studied criminal justice at a community college and had volunteered to run his community’s neighborhood watch program.
“The state’s narrative is going to be … Zimmerman was a powerful neighborhood watchman, a wannabe officer who liked to use his authority,” McCLean said.
The Feb. 26, 2012, confrontation began when Zimmerman spotted Martin, whom he did not recognize, walking in the Retreat at Twin Lakes, the gated townhome community where Zimmerman lived and the fiancee of Martin’s father also resided. There had been a rash of recent break-ins at the Retreat, and Zimmerman was wary of strangers walking through the complex. He was well-known to police dispatchers for his regular calls reporting suspicious people and events.
Martin was walking back from a convenience store after buying ice tea and Skittles. It was raining, and he was wearing a hoodie.
Zimmerman called 911, got out of his vehicle and followed Martin behind the townhomes despite being told not to by a police dispatcher. “These a——s, they always get away,” Zimmerman said on the call. Zimmerman, who had a concealed weapons permit, was armed.
The two then got into a struggle. Zimmerman told police he had lost sight of Martin, and that Martin circled back and attacked him as he walked back to his truck. Prosecutors say he tracked down Martin and started the fight.
Zimmerman told police Martin punched him in the nose, knocking him down, and then got on top of him and began banging Zimmerman’s head on the sidewalk. Photos taken after the fight show Zimmerman with a broken nose, bruises and bloody cuts on the back of his head. He said that when Martin spotted his gun holstered around his waist under his clothes, he said, “You are going to die tonight.” Zimmerman said he grabbed the gun first and fired. Martin died at the scene.
An autopsy showed Martin was shot through the heart at close range. Prosecutors claim Zimmerman was racially profiling Martin, and Martin’s divorced parents have said the neighborhood watch captain was the aggressor in the fight.
“Trayvon Martin did not have a gun. Trayvon Martin did not get out of his car to chase anybody,” said Benjamin Crump, the parents’ attorney. “Trayvon Martin did not shoot and kill anybody.”
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