Animation of fatal fight weighed at Zimmerman hearing

NBC NEWS - The animation, which according to defense attorney Mark O’Mara has been reduced to 'more like a series of stills,' originally included punches being thrown by Martin, 17, at Zimmerman...

An animation that illustrates what may have happened in the fatal confrontation between neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman and teenager Trayvon Martin could be key to jurors’ understanding of what led Zimmerman to shoot Martin and should be admissible, Zimmerman’s defense team argued Tuesday.

The animation, which according to defense attorney Mark O’Mara has been reduced to “more like a series of stills,” originally included punches being thrown by Martin, 17, at Zimmerman. The punches have now been excluded.

On Tuesday, in a continued push to get the animation presented to the jury – which prosecutors argue would be misleading to the jury – the defense brought in the crime scene and accident recreation animation graphic artist who was hired to reconstruct his version of the Martin-Zimmerman confrontation. Jurors were not in the courtroom during the hearing.

Daniel Schumaker of California-based Contrast Forensics said he uses a variety of pieces of software, equipment, robotic lasers that measure three-dimensional space, and “motion-capture” suits to recreate crime scenes and accidents.

O’Mara asked Schumaker why crime scene and accident reconstruction technologies are beneficial.

“It’s perfect for court because then you can – it gives you a running log of all the movements. Say, for example, somebody hits something and causes a certain amount of damage. With this suit, I can do that same action and from the accelerometers, you could see how much force it took to cause that amount of damage,” Schumaker said.

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