Members of the Jury, in this case you have heard a lot of stories from the defense team of George Zimmerman. They basically have two jobs. Their first job is to make sure the state, via its prosecution team, follows the rules of the courtroom and the laws of the state when we present our case to you. Their second job is to make sure that they put enough doubt in your mind and hope you will consider your doubt reasonable and as such acquit Mr. Zimmerman of the charges against him. Your job, as jurors, is to see through those feeble attempts and at the end of the day determine the truth via facts, logic and reason.
And the facts of this case clearly show that there not only should you have no reasonable doubt about the guilt of George Zimmerman, but you should have no doubt at all. But not only will I prove to you that George Zimmerman was guilty of a crime, but I will show that Trayvon Martin was a child who was standing his ground after making a reasonable attempt to get away.
First let us look at what the defense has tried to do in this case. They have acted as the prosecution against Trayvon Martin, a child who had every right to be in the neighborhood. He was visiting his father and had gone to 7-11 to get some iced tea and skittles. He was returning home and was speaking on his phone. He had a hoodie on, in part, because of the weather. Nothing is illegal in these actions. George Zimmerman thought he might have been a criminal. Let me ask you, would a criminal go waste his time buying snacks at a convenience store? I don’t think so.
The defense has tried to claim that this is case not about the race of Trayvon Martin. They have claimed that the color of his skin has nothing to do with the actions of George Zimmerman that night. However, they incorporate break ins in the community by criminals who happen to be black as part of their defense. So, if the reason that George Zimmerman thought something was wrong with Trayvon Martin was the break-ins that took place in the neighborhood, then obviously race played a part.
And this goes to the reason why George Zimmerman is guilty of the crimes he is charged of. Listen to the 911 call made by Mr. Zimmerman. He clearly has malice towards Trayvon Martin. He sees a black teenager walking through the neighborhood. He assumes, for whatever reason, that he must be a criminal. How can I know this? Am I psychic? Can I read his mind? No. I know this fact based on his own words. He referred to Trayvon Martin as an asshole, an f’n punk. He lamented how these assholes always get away. And Mr. Zimmerman set forth to make sure that this presumed criminal (a presumed criminal only because of his skin color) would not be able to get away. This malice is key to your conviction. He was mad. He was frustrated. And he decided that he was going to take the law into his own hands (against the advice of the 911 operator who suggested that he didn’t need to pursue Trayvon Martin).
Now, this gets to why Trayvon Martin cannot be guilty. He ran. Zimmerman’s own words verify this. They confirm that Trayvon Martin initially ran away without seeking to harm George Zimmerman. He didn’t run from a police officer. He ran from a creepy guy. He ran from a person who was following him for no good reason. He ran to protect himself. He didn’t want to get into a fight with Zimmerman. He wanted to avoid a fight. Had George Zimmerman not pursued he would have never gotten in that altercation with Trayvon Martin. But eventually there was an altercation. And because it was Trayvon Martin who fled, George Zimmerman establishes himself as a pursuer. And as a pursuer he was not simply tracking Trayvon Martin for the police. He was making sure that the asshole Trayvon Martin didn’t get away. It was his job, in his mind, to accomplish this.
The defense argues that because Trayvon Martin, at some point in the fight, got the upper hand that this justifies George Zimmerman to commit an act of self defense. But he wasn’t defending himself in the first place. It was Martin who was defending himself. And yes, he did get the upper hand at some point. Did George Zimmerman ever claim that he gave up the fight? Did George Zimmerman, once the fight ensued, ever claim he said “I surrender” or try and flee from Martin? No. He was the aggressor. He was the one who stalked and put fear into the mind of Trayvon Martin.
Florida law is clear, one can ONLY declare self defense if one is not committing an unlawful act. George Zimmerman was not behaving in a legal way. He was seeking to illegally stop Trayvon Martin from getting away and was emboldened by his gun in his pants. He figured he had the ultimate tool to make sure this didn’t happen. And because Zimmerman was not acting in a legal way, the fact that he feared for his life is irrelevant! The fact that he lost the upper hand in the fight is irrelevant. George Zimmerman’s actions disqualify him from those considerations. And since he cannot claim self defense, you must find that the death of Trayvon Martin was against the law. You must convict George Zimmerman of the crimes charged against him.
