George Zimmerman declines to testify, defense rests

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Defense lawyers for George Zimmerman, charged with the second-degree murder of Trayvon Martin, rested their case on Wednesday.

Zimmerman, 29, says he was acting in self-defense when he shot Martin on a rainy night last year in a gated community in Sanford, Fla. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, saying the 17-year-old attacked him when the two encountered each other on Feb. 26, 2012.

If convicted, Zimmerman could face up to life in prison.

Zimmerman told the judge on Wednesday he did not want to testify on his own behalf before the defense rested.

The defense rested after briefly hearing testimony from Robert Zimmerman, George Zimmerman’s father, and Olivia Bertalan, a resident at the Retreat at Twin Lakes gated community where Zimmerman was a neighborhood watch volunteer and where he and Martin had their fatal encounter.

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