“These a–holes, they always get away.”
Those are the words quoted by the prosecution Monday (June 24), opening the second-degree murder trial against George Zimmerman over Trayvon Martin’s death.
Zimmerman’s defense team believes their client to be the victim in a tragic incident, while the opposing side sees the situation on Feb. 26 as routine behavior for the allegedly gun-crazed police wannabe. “The truth about the murder of Trayvon Martin is going to come directly from his mouth, from those hate-filled words that he used to describe a perfect stranger and from the lies that he told to the police to try to justify his actions,” prosecutor John Guy told the jury.
According to prosecutors, Zimmerman acted “imminently dangerously” and had “no regard for human life,” on a night that was the “product of two worlds colliding.”
Don West, Zimmerman’s attorney opened things on a sour note by making a “knock, knock” joke to the jury (“Knock, knock. Who’s there? George Zimmerman. George Zimmerman who?”), before arguing that it was Martin’s “sucker punch” that fueled things. “Trayvon Martin decided to confront George Zimmerman,” he said. “The evidence will show this is a sad case. There are no monsters.”
The 29-year-old asserts that he and Martin got in an altercation that led to him shooting the unarmed high school student out of self defense. On a 911 call Zimmerman expressed concern about the teen, a figure he believed to be” suspicious.”Martin, who stood over 6 feet, was wearing a hoodie and holding candy and ice tea when the confrontation kicked off. He was in the neighborhood staying at the home of his father’s girlfriend.
Zimmerman was told not to confront the youngster. “George Zimmerman didn’t shoot Trayvon Martin because he had to,” Guy said. “He shot him for the worst of all reasons: because he wanted to.
“When he saw Trayvon Martin, he didn’t see a young man walking home. As he told the [police] dispatcher, he saw someone that was ‘real suspicious,’ someone who looked like he was ‘up to no good,’ again, to use his word.”
Guy mentioned Zimmerman’s “these a–holes, they always get away” comments made to the dispatcher, as what drove the shooting. “Those words were in his chest. Those words were in the defendant’s heart before he pressed a pistol to Trayvon Martin’s chest.”
A predominately White, all female jury will determine Zimmerman’s fait. The trial is expected to last just over a month.
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Photo: Reuters
