George Zimmerman’s defense team has released video from the night that he killed Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman’s lawyer, Mike O’Mara unveiled the footage as a response to evidence released by the prosecution, which has damaged his client’s credibility.
The recording, taken not long after the 28-year-old killed the unarmed teen, finds Zimmerman explaining what drove him to shoot Martin. According to Zimmerman, the high school student jumped out of the bushes and launched into a physical attack. “I started screaming for help. I couldn’t see. I couldn’t breathe,” he explained.
“He grabbed my head and started hitting it into the sidewalk. When he started doing that, I slid into the grass to try to get out from under him. … I’m still yelling for help.” He goes on to state that the 17-year-old told him that he was going to die, leaving him no choice but to pull his gun out. However, when Zimmerman fired, he alleges to have not known he hit the teen, but “thought that he [Martin] heard the shot and he was giving up.”
Throughout his recorded statement, Zimmerman repeatedly paints Martin as the instigator of the altercation, who beat him repeatedly without any motivation. He also said that he had never seen Martin in the neighborhood and became suspicious because he thought it was odd that he was “just walking casually, not like he was trying to get out of the rain.”
Zimmerman’s words on the night of the murder contrast loads of evidence, including a 911 call in which the operator told him not to pursue Martin, who was viewed on surveillance shortly before dying. A police officer also wrote in a report that had the former neighborhood watch captain stayed in his car, the end result would not have been the loss of a life. Several witnesses who heard and viewed portions of the incident were split on pointing the finger at either party. One man in the neighborhood, who spoke with Zimmerman right after the shooting, revealed the accused killer’s casual disposition describing him as speaking “not like ‘I can’t believe I just shot someone!’ — it was more like, ‘Just tell my wife I shot somebody …,’ like it was nothing.”
Only time will tell if Zimmerman’s defense team will be able to accurately place reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury, once his second-degree murder trial begins. Zimmerman will remain in custody pending the outcome of his bond hearing, next week.
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