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Zimmerman's Lawyers Say they Could Finish Testimony Wednesday


July 9th, 2013 | WMFE- Attorneys in George Zimmerman's second degree murder trial say they expect to finish presenting their case Wednesday. The defense team began calling witnesses late last Friday, after two weeks of testimony from the prosecution.

[Mark O'Mara-  Photo: courtesy Joe Burbank, Orlando Sentinel]

The defense team led by attorney Mark O'Mara has been building an argument that Zimmerman shot teenager Trayvon Martin in self defense in Sanford last year.

Witnesses called to give evidence for the defense Tuesday included Sanford City Manager, Norton Bonaparte Jr, who gave evidence about the recording of a 911 call placed by a neighbor the night of the incident.

Bonaparte told defense attorney Mark O’Mara he later played the tape for the Martin family as a courtesy to them before it was made public.

“The decision was made just to allow them to  hear them,”Bonaparte said.

“Ok, was there any consideration given to the idea of playing them to those individuals separately, one separate from the other, so as to not infect their view of what they heard, one from the other?" O'Mara asked. 

“No there was not," Bonaparte replied.

The defense has focused its case on whose voice can be heard in the background of  the 911 call-  they say its Zimmerman screaming for help, but Martin’s family maintain it’s the teenager’s voice.

Jurors also heard from a forensic pathologist, Dr. Vincent DiMaio, who said Martin’s gunshot wound backs up Zimmerman’s explanation that the teen was leaning over him before he was shot.

 

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