Zimmerman jury begins 2nd day of deliberations
NBC NEWS - The jury in the George Zimmerman trial began deliberating for a second day Saturday morning...
The jury in the George Zimmerman trial began deliberating for a second day Saturday morning with no indication of how long they might take to reach a verdict in the death of Trayvon Martin.
There has been only one communication from the six women on the panel since they were handed the case Friday afternoon: a request for a number list of all the evidence with descriptions.
After three and a half hours of deliberations on Friday, jurors asked to break for the night and start talking again in the morning.
They have been asked to decide if Zimmerman – who says he shot Martin in self-defense — is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of second-degree murder or manslaughter or not guilty of both charges.
Zimmerman, 29, who pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, says he shot Martin, 17, when the teen attacked him after they crossed paths Feb. 26, 2012, in a gated community of Sanford, Fla. Martin was unarmed.
In closing arguments Thursday and Friday jurors heard the prosecution and the defense paint starkly different versions of what happened on that dark rainy night.
Defense lawyer Mark O’Mara told jurors Zimmerman is “not guilty of anything but protecting his own life,” while prosecutor John Guy asked the panel: “Did he have to shoot Trayvon Martin? No, he did not.”
O’Mara told jurors that the prosecution had failed to meet its burden of proof.
Zimmerman was “the victim,” whose head was slammed into concrete, he said after hauling a piece of concrete to the front of the courtroom.
“That’s cement. That is a sidewalk. And that is not an unarmed teenager with nothing but Skittles trying to get home,” O’Mara said.
“The suggestion by the state that that’s not a weapon, that that can’t hurt somebody, that that can’t cause great bodily injury … is disgusting.”
Although witnesses have testified that Zimmerman’s injuries from the altercation were minor, O’Mara showed a photo of his client bleeding after the altercation and said if Martin had survived, he would have been charged with a crime.
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