The jury in the trial of George Zimmerman, accused in the fatal shooting of teen Trayvon Martin in Florida, has resumed deliberations for a second day.
The six-member jury got to work on Friday after closing arguments in the case of the 29-year-old neighbourhood watch volunteer who shot to death the unarmed teenager in the gated community Sanford, Fla., in February 2012.
Zimmerman says he shot the 17-year-old in self defence during an altercation with the boy in the Orlando suburb, while the prosecution says it was murder.
Miami teenager Trayvon Martin was visiting his dad in Sanford, Fla., when he was fatally shot by neighbourhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in February 2012. Protests followed after it took 44 days for police to arrest Zimmerman. (Associated Press) The case has gained worldwide media attention, as well as reigniting racial tensions in the U.S., highlighting the long-standing issue of racial profiling.
Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder two months after the shooting, but the jurors have been told they will also be allowed to consider manslaughter.
Jurors reconvened in the courtroom at 9 a.m. ET Saturday. A few smiled as the judge addressed them before they left the courtroom to continue their discussions.
As the jury began deliberations Friday afternoon, police and civic leaders in Sanford went on national television to plead for calm in the community and across the country, no matter what the verdict.
"There is no party in this case who wants to see any violence," Seminole County Sheriff Don Eslinger said. "We have an expectation upon this announcement that our community will continue to act peacefully."
During closing arguments, the jury heard duelling portraits of the neighbourhood watch captain: a cop wannabe who took the law into his own hands or a well-meaning volunteer who shot Martin because he feared for his life.
Zimmerman's lawyers put a concrete slab and two life-size cardboard cutouts in front of the jury box in one last attempt to convince the panel Zimmerman shot the teen in self-defence while his head was being slammed against the pavement.
Lawyer Mark O'Mara used the slab to make the point that it could serve as a weapon. He showed the cutouts of Zimmerman and Martin to demonstrate that the teenager was considerably taller. And he displayed a computer-animated depiction of the fight based on Zimmerman's account.
He said prosecutors hadn't met their burden of proving Zimmerman's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Instead, he said, the case was built on "could've beens" and "maybes."
"If it hasn't been proven, it's just not there," O'Mara said. "You can't fill in the gaps. You can't connect the dots. You're not allowed to."
In a rebuttal, prosecutor John Guy accused Zimmerman of telling "so many lies." He said Martin's last emotion was fear as Zimmerman followed him through the gated townhouse community on the rainy night of Feb. 26, 2012.
"Isn't that every child's worst nightmare, to be followed on the way home in the dark by a stranger?" Guy said. "Isn't that every child's worst fear?"
One juror, a young woman, appeared to wipe away a tear as Guy said nothing would ever bring back Martin.
The sequestered jury of six women -- all but one of them white -- will have to sort through a lot of conflicting testimony from police, neighbours, friends and family members.
Jurors deliberated for three and a half hours when they decided to stop Friday evening. About two hours into their discussions, they asked for a list of the evidence.
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar