By: Taren Vaughan
More evidence has been brought forth in the Trayvon Martin murder trial. During Day 7 of the trial, Medical examiner Dr. Valerie Rao testified and spoke on the injuries George Zimmerman received during his fight with Trayvon Martin and she said Zimmerman’s injuries from the altercation were insignificant. According to a report from HLN, the Prosecution presented evidence of DNA test results to the jury today and it may contradict Zimmerman’s story of how Trayvon Martin died. In his testimony, DNA lab analyst Anthony Gorgone said no traces of Trayvon Martin’s DNA were found on the gun and the scrapings from underneath Trayvon’s fingernails did not contain any of George Zimmerman’s DNA:
Gorgone testified Wednesday that he only found Zimmerman’s DNA on the gun he used to shoot Martin, and did not find any of Martin’s DNA on the gun. Zimmerman’s holster only tested positive for Zimmerman’s DNA as well. The lack of Martin’s DNA on the gun and the holster may contradict Zimmerman’s claim that Martin grabbed his gun during the altercation.
Gorgone testified that testing of Martin’s hooded jacket that he was wearing as an outer layer the night of shooting did not yield much of Zimmerman’s DNA. Only one stain on Martin’s hooded jacket yielded a partial DNA profile that matched Zimmerman. This may challenge the claim Zimmerman and Martin were in fight for their lives, if only a minimal amount of Zimmerman’s skin or blood transferred to Martin’s outer clothing. Scrapings from under Martin’s fingernails yielded none of Zimmerman’s DNA.
Martin was also wearing a gray sweatshirt under his hooded jacket. Gorgone said two stains on that sweatshirt matched both Martin’s and Zimmerman’s DNA.
Earlier on, the Prosecution called several witnesses to the stand to aid in supporting the idea of George Zimmerman being a “wannabe cop” who is very knowledgeable of Florida’s self-defense and Stand-Your-Ground laws:
Records admitted into evidence on the eighth day of testimony included a letter rejecting Zimmerman’s application to be a police officer in Virginia in 2009 because of his credit issues. A release form filed with the Sanford Police Department lists Zimmerman’s reason for wanting to ride along with them as, “solidify my chances of a career in law enforcement.” Records also indicate Zimmerman applied for a diploma in criminal justice in 2011 at Seminole State College in Florida.
Captain Alexis Carter, the instructor who taught Zimmerman’s criminal litigation class, gave his testimony this Wednesday and said he thoroughly covered Florida’s self-defense laws in the course, even though the laws were not mentioned the book for the course:
“It’s not one of those things that you’re just going to whisk through in a day,” said Alexis Carter, who is now a military prosecutor.
The testimony seemed to counter a key claim that Zimmerman made last year in a Fox News interview that was replayed in court: that he didn’t know about Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” laws until after the shooting.
Self-defense laws were “something that I constantly iterated … it was something that I think the students really wanted to know about, it was so practical, they were very much engaged in class discussion,” Carter said. He called Zimmerman “one of the better students” in his class and said he gave him an A. He also said he taught his students about “imperfect self-defense,” which he said means “the force that you are encountering, you meet that force disproportionately — excess force. Like a gunshot.”
Prosecutors say that while evidence showing that Zimmerman wanted to be a cop isn’t “bad,” they hope it will give jurors some insight into his thought process the night he shot and killed Martin. They also suggest that his studies in criminal justice show Zimmerman knew how to testify and talk to police.
A second instructor, Scott Pleasants from Seminole State College, testified today via webcam and spoke on the criminal investigations course George Zimmerman took with him. And he says the book for the course did cover profiling and how to go about testifying as a witness but the topics were not discussed in the classroom.
Firearms expert Amy Siewert examined George Zimmerman’s gun and she said he had one bullet ready to fire in the chamber in addition to a fully loaded magazine when he fatally shot Trayvon Martin. Siewert also showed jurors there was no way the gun could fire accidentally as the trigger has to be pulled in order for the gun to go off. And as she didn’t call the loaded gun “safe,” Amy Siewert says it all comes down to personal preference.
The clips for Day 8 of the trial can be viewed below:
Zimmerman is lying and has lied from day one. His credibility is 0. The fact that I hear all these so called expert lawyers on tv saying it’s not enough to convict baffles me.
Agreed.
Had he not tried to be a cop that night, Trayvon would still be alive.
Cosign.
SMH. He gets caught in another lie and still may get off. So sad.
Lord I hope Trayvon gets justice.
Makes me so mad! They are really trying to make sure this POS walks!
Zimmerman has lied so much I can’t even keep up.
SMH! Exactly.
If Trayvon didn’t have Zimmerman’s skin underneath his fingernails, that should hurt his self defense claim! Well it should, will it? Lord help us all.