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| George Zimmerman leaves the courtroom court for the day in his trial in Seminole circuit court in Sanford, Fla. on Thursday, June 27, 2013. Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin. |
SANFORD, Fla.
(AP) -- Two neighbors and a police officer gave accounts Friday in
George Zimmerman's murder trial that seemed to bolster the neighborhood
watch volunteer's contention that he was on his back and being straddled
by Trayvon Martin during their confrontation.
Neighbor
Jonathan Good said it appeared the unarmed teen was straddling
Zimmerman, while another neighbor, Jonathan Manalo, said Zimmerman
seemed credible when he said immediately after the fight that he had
shot Martin in self-defense. Officer Tim Smith testified that
Zimmerman's backside was covered in grass and wetter than his front
side.
All three were called as witnesses for prosecutors who are trying to convict him of second-degree murder.
Good,
who had perhaps the best view of any witness, said he did not see
anyone's head being slammed into the concrete sidewalk, as Zimmerman
claims Martin did to him. Good initially testified that it appeared
"there were strikes being thrown, punches being thrown," but during
detailed questioning he said he saw only "downward" arm movements being
made.
Zimmerman has claimed that he fatally
shot 17-year-old Martin last year in self-defense as the Miami-area teen
was banging his head into the concrete sidewalk behind the townhomes in
a gated community.
Under prosecution
questioning, Good said he never saw anyone being attacked that way
during the fight between Zimmerman and Martin.
"I couldn't see that," Good said moments later while being cross-examined.
Good
said he heard a noise behind his townhome in February 2012, and he saw
what looked like a tussle when he stepped out onto his patio to see what
was happening.
He said he yelled: "What's going on? Stop it."
Good
testified he saw a person in black clothing on top of another person
with "white or red" clothing. He said he couldn't see faces but it
looked like the person on the bottom had lighter skin. Martin was black
and was wearing a dark hoodie. Zimmerman identifies as Hispanic and was
wearing a red jacket. Good was back inside calling 911 when he heard a
gunshot.
"It looked like there were strikes being thrown, punches being thrown," Good said.
Later,
under cross-examination, he said that it looked like the person on top
was straddling the person on bottom in a mixed-martial arts move known
as "ground and pound." When defense attorney Mark O'Mara asked him if
the person on top was Martin, Good said, "Correct, that's what it looked
like." Good also said the person on the bottom yelled for help.
Zimmerman,
29, could get life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder.
Zimmerman followed Martin in his truck and called a police dispatch
number before he and the teen got into a fight.
Zimmerman has denied the confrontation had anything to do with race, as Martin's family and their supporters have claimed.
Manalo,
whose wife had testified earlier in the week, was the first neighbor to
step outside and see what happened with his flashlight after he heard a
gunshot. He took cellphone photos of a bloodied Zimmerman and Martin's
body, and those photos were shown to jurors on Friday. Manalo also
described Martin's hands as being under his body.
Manalo
said Zimmerman didn't appear shocked and acted calmly. After police
officers arrived and handcuffed Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch
volunteer asked Manalo to call his wife and tell her what happened.
Manalo
started to tell Zimmerman's wife that her husband had been involved in a
shooting and was being questioned by police when "he cut me off and
said, `Just tell her I shot someone,'" Manalo said.
Under
cross-examination, Manalo said when he asked Zimmerman what happened,
the neighborhood watch volunteer told him, "I was defending myself and I
shot him."
"From what you could tell at that moment, that seemed completely true?" asked defense attorney Don West.
"Yes," Manalo said.
Smith,
the police officer, testified that when he saw Zimmerman after the
shooting, the neighborhood watch volunteer's backside was covered in
grass and wetter than his front side, bolstering defense attorneys'
contention that Martin was on top of Zimmerman.
As
he walked to the squad car after he had been handcuffed, Zimmerman told
the officer that "he was yelling for help and nobody would come help
him," Smith said.
"It was almost a defeated ... a confused look on his face," Smith said.
Smith
said Zimmerman described himself as "lightheaded" during the drive to
Sanford Police Station but declined an offer to take him to a hospital.
The
physician's assistant who treated Zimmerman the next day said that
Zimmerman complained of feeling nauseated upon reflecting what had
happened. But Lindzee Folgate attributed that to psychological factors
rather than any physical condition. She also said it appeared his nose
was broken, but it was impossible to say for sure since no X-rays were
taken. She recommended he see an ear-and-nose doctor and a psychologist.
When
O'Mara asked if abrasions on his head were consistent with someone who
had his had slammed into
concrete, Folgate said, "it could be
consistent, yes."
She also testified that
Zimmerman had written on a form reciting his medical history that he was
exercising three times a week by doing mixed martial arts, a statement
that prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda asked her to repeat.
Paramedic
Stacy Livingston, who responded to the shooting scene, testified
Zimmerman had a swollen, bleeding nose and two cuts on the back of his
head an inch long. When O'Mara asked if Zimmerman should have been
concerned with his medical well-being because of his injuries,
Livingston said, "Possibly."
When photos of
Martin's body were shown on a courtroom projector during Livingston's
testimony, Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, looked away and blinked back
tears.
