Opening statements in the trial of George Zimmerman, accused of murdering Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager in Florida, began on Monday with both sides outlining what they hope to prove during the well-publicized trial.
Zimmerman, 29, is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting of Martin, 17, on the rainy night of Feb. 26, 2012 in Sanford, Fla. Zimmerman maintains he shot Martin in self-defense.
Both sides told the well-known story of the confrontation, each giving the events their own dramatic spin. For the prosecution, Zimmerman is a liar whose argument that he acted in self-defense is not supported by physical evidence. Zimmerman, who wanted to be a police officer, saw himself as the guardian of the gated community of Sanford and killed Martin "not because he had to, but because he wanted to," the prosecution alleged.
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For the defense, the confrontation was a tragedy. "This is a sad case of course," defense lawyer Don West said. "A young man lost his life. Another is fighting for his. There are no winners here."There are no monsters here," West said of Zimmerman, seeking to counter the harsh portrait painted by the prosecution.
Prosecutor John Guy began his dramatic opening statement with a string of obscenities, uttered by Zimmerman, in a call to a police dispatcher. The words were designed to shock and Guy followed up with vivid descriptions of Martin laying face-down in the wet grass, his ear buds and cellphone beside him.
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Martin's mother and father wiped away tears while sitting in the courtroom, according to images broadcast from the Seminole County courtroom. Zimmerman sat expressionless.
The F-word was the first one to explode from Guy's mouth, followed by "punks." Then the prosecutor continued, quoting Zimmerman in the telephone call that night: "These ... they always get away," Guy said in his first words to the six-woman jury.
"Those were the words in that grown man's mouth as he followed in the dark a 17-year-old boy who he didn't know. And excuse my language, but those were his words, not mine," he said.
Guy said Zimmerman's own "hate-filled words" prove that he had "profiled, followed, and murdered" the teenager. Guy repeated the profanities several times.
"Those were the words in that defendant's head just moments before he pressed that pistol into Trayvon Martin's chest and pulled the trigger," Guy said. "And then as the smoke and the smell of that single gunshot rose into a rainy Sunday Sanford night, Trayvon Martin … was face down in wet grass, laboring through his final breaths."
The heart of the case lies in the clash of two worlds, Guy argued.
"The murder of Trayvon Martin was the product of two worlds colliding. In one world, a 17-year-old boy from Miami, Fla. A visitor to this town," he said.
And in the other world, Guy said, was "a 28-year-old grown man. Somebody who wanted to be a police officer. Somebody who had called the police numerous times about crime in his neighborhood. Somebody who had become the neighborhood watch captain … and somebody who believed … it was his right to rid his neighborhood of anyone he believed didn't belong."
Guy was dismissive of Zimmerman's claim of self-defense and said Zimmerman had concocted a web of lies. The telephone recording will show that Zimmerman lied about being attacked by Martin in a ferocious struggle, he said. "Well, they looked at Trayvon Martin's hands," Guy said of police. "There was no blood on them."
He conceded that Zimmerman had a bloody nose and lacerations on his head when police arrived at the scene but refused medical care and instead went downtown to the Sanford police station and did not appear seriously injured. "You'll see him walking through the police station, getting out of the car. And then he goes to that interview room, where all his statements would be recorded.
"You will learn that that's when he began to spin that tangled web of lies," he said, going on to dismiss Zimmerman's claim that Martin confronted him, said a couple of words and then knocked him to the ground.
By the end of the trial, Guy told the jury, "You will know in your head, in your heart, in your stomach, that George Zimmerman did not shoot Trayvon Martin because he had to. He shot him for the worst of all reasons: Because he wanted to."
"He didn't see a kid from Miami," Guy said of the prosecution's view of Zimmerman. "He profiled him a someone who was about to commit a crime in his neighborhood, and then he acted on it. That's why we're here."
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