(CBS/AP)
In opening statements Monday, defense attorneys portrayed murder
suspect George Zimmerman as a citizen looking out for his
neighborhood when he was confronted and attacked by Trayvon Martin, a
stark contrast to prosecutors' picture of a vigilante who profiled
the Forida teen.
Zimmerman,
29, a former neighborhood watch volunteer, is on trial for
second-degree murder in Martin's shooting death. Zimmerman claims he
shot the teen in self-defense during an altercation in a Sanford,
Fla. gated community in February 2012.
"GeorgeZimmerman is not guilty of murder," said defense attorney Don
West during opening statements Monday. "He shot Trayvon Martin
in self-defense after being viciously attacked. The evidence will
show you how and why it happened the way he did.""
West
described the case as "sad," and said, "there are no
monsters here."
"[Martin's
mother] Sybrina Fulton and [Martin's father] Tracy Martin are
grieving parents. Without question, they have a right to grieve,"
West said." They have a right to feel how they feel."
Using
diagrams, West led jurors in detail through the defense's version of
the events of Feb. 26, 2012.
After
calling a non-emergency dispatcher to report a suspicious person,
West said, Zimmerman got out of his car to give the dispatcher more
information about where Martin was going. When the dispatcher told
him not to follow Martin, West said, Zimmerman stopped.
In
a contrast to the state's version of events, West said Martin was the
first to confront Zimmerman after the phone call ended.
"TrayvonMartin decided to confront George Zimmerman instead of going home. He
had plenty of time, but he chose not to do that," West said.
"...He turned to George Zimmerman, out of the darkness, and
said, 'Why are you following me?'"
Martin,
not Zimmerman, was the aggressor on the confrontation that ensued,
West said. He said a witness would testify who saw Zimmerman and
Martin struggling - a neighbor who said he saw Martin on top of
Zimmerman in the moments before the fatal gunshot.
"[The
neighbor] called it a 'ground and pound.' That's the words he used,"
West said. "A ground and pound is when you're mounted on
someone, they are helpless, and you are basically beating them
senseless."
West
also showed the jury pictures of Zimmerman bleeding from the face
after the altercation and played a recording of a neighbor's call to
911, in which screams for help can be heard in the background.
The
disputed tape was the subject of much pre-trial wrangling, with
defense experts arguing the quality was too poor to reliably analyze
who was screaming on the tape. A state expert who said he heard
Martin screaming in the background of the call was banned from
testifying at trial by a judge.
"What
we know, everyone will agree to this...those are the screams of
someone in a life threatening situation," West said. "Someone
screaming repeatedly, over and over and over again for help, needing
desperately for someone to come to their assistance."
In
their opening statements earlier on Monday, prosecutor John Guy
implied that it may have been Trayvon Martin screaming in the
background of the call.
"Listen
carefully please, to that call. Listen carefully ... when the gunshot
goes off, Trayvon Martin was silenced immediately," Guy said.
"When the bullet the defendant fired passed through his heart,
when that gunshot rings out on the 911 call, the screaming stops."
Guy
portrayed Zimmerman as a vigilante who profiled Martin as someone who
was about to commit a crime in his neighborhood, followed him,
confronted him, and decided to take the law into his own hands.
"'[Expletive]
punks,'" Guy said, recounting Zimmerman's words in the call to
non-emergency dispatchers. "'These [expletive,] they always get
away.' Those were the words in that grown man's mouth as he followed
in that dark a 17-year-old boy who he didn't know....those were the
words in that man's chest when he got out of his car armed with a
fully loaded semi automatic pistol and two flashlights to follow
Trayvon Martin, who was walking home from a 7-Eleven armed with 23
ounces of Arizona brand fruit juice and a small bag of Skittle
candies."
In
sharp contrast to Guy's opening statement in which he dramatically
quoted Zimmerman's obscenity-laced remarks, West included a "knock
- knock" joke in his remarks.
"Knock,
knock, who's there? George Zimmerman. George Zimmerman who? All right
good, you're on the jury. Nothing? (audience laughs) That's funny,"
said West.
The
court was on recess for a lunch break until 1:30 Monday, when the
defense was expected to continue their opening statements to the
jury.
Source:
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