Attorneys in ZImmerman Case Present Differing Views of Fatal Confrontation
Monday, June 24, 2013
By: Matthew Peddie

Monday June 24th, 2013 | WMFE- Attorneys presented their opening statements in George Zimmerman's second-degree murder trial in Sanford Monday morning. It was two very different interpretations presented before a packed courtroom.

[Image: Tracy Martin reacts during opening statements on Monday - photo by Joe Burbank, Orlando Sentinel]

State prosecutor John Guy told jurors the defendant profiled Trayvon Martin, then forced a fatal confrontation with the unarmed black teen.
 
“We are confident that at the end of this trial you will know in your head, in your heart, in your stomach that George Zimmerman did not shoot Trayvon Martin because he had to," said Guy.

"He shot him for the worst of all reasons…because he wanted to.”

Guy argued that evidence will contradict what he called Zimmerman’s “tangled web of lies,” including a lack of blood, bruising, or Zimmerman’s DNA on Martin’s hands.

Defense attorney Don West countered in his opening statement that Zimmerman shot Martin in self-defense after he was, in West’s words, “viciously attacked.”

West told jurors they’ll hear from a man who said he saw Martin straddling Zimmerman on the ground and beating him mixed martial arts style.
 
“He described what he saw in the same terms in this mixed martial arts vernacular," said West.

"He called it a ‘ground and pound.’ A ‘ground and pound.’ That’s the words that he used. A ‘ground and pound’ is when you’re mounted on somebody, they are helpless, and you are basically beating them senseless.”

However, West told the jury it was sad that Martin lost his life, and said the evidence will show there are “no monsters” in this case.
 
The trial is expected to last two to four weeks.