Trayvon Martin Trial Day 12: George Zimmerman Declines Chance to Testify

By: Taren Vaughan

Multiple members of both Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman’s families have given their conflicting testimonies about whose screams were heard on the 911 calls. Following the testimonies given by forensic pathologist Dr. Vincent Di Maio and Zimmerman’s neighbor Eloise Dilligard on Day 11 of the trial, George Zimmerman’s father Robert Zimmerman took the stand today to give his testimony, along with resident Olivia Bertalan who lived in the community where George Zimmerman was a neighborhood watch volunteer and the altercation took place between him and Trayvon Martin, NBC News reports:

The defense rested after briefly hearing testimony from Robert Zimmerman, George Zimmerman’s father, and Olivia Bertalan, a resident at the Retreat at Twin Lakes gated community where Zimmerman was a neighborhood watch volunteer and where he and Martin had their fatal encounter.

Bertalan had been robbed while she was home with her young son by what she told the court were two teenagers about six months before Martin was killed. She said Zimmerman came over to her house and offered her a lock for her sliding glass door.

“We were terrified when this happened,” she said. “He was just saying he wanted to make sure we were OK.”

The defense’s final witness Robert Zimmerman gave his testimony and claimed the screams on the 911 calls were “absolutely” coming from his son George, despite conflicting opinions from Trayvon Martin’s mother, brother and father.

Before Robert Zimmerman testified, former law enforcement officer Dennis Root took the stand as the defense’s first witness today.

Dennis Root, a person who has instructed multiple police departments on the correct way to handcuff people and is an expert when it comes to using force, told the court in his testimony he became involved with the case after he made a phone call to defense attorney Mark O’Mara:

“I thought I had a unique perspective,” he told the court.

Root said he evaluated witness statements for the defense team, spoke to Zimmerman once, and went to speak to a gym trainer who instructed Zimmerman in boxing and grappling.

“Mr. Zimmerman was described as being a very nice person, but not a fighter,” he said.

Asked by O’Mara to evaluate Zimmerman’s physical abilities, Root said, “Mr. Zimmerman is an individual who is by no stretch of the imagination an athlete.” He added that Zimmerman would likely find himself “lacking” compared to Martin’s physical abilities.

Dennis Root was shown a foam mannequin and re-enactments of what may have occurred the night Trayvon Martin was killed by attorneys from each side. Assistant State Attorney John Guy and Attorney O’Mara both straddled the dummy during the demonstrations. Former officer Root said the biggest worry he has when interviewing individuals who have been involved in shootings is that they may have problems remembering things:

“People, when they’re involved in a high-stress event, can have what they call critical-stress amnesia, or they can have temporary memory holes, I call them,” he said. “Sometimes it takes up to 72 hours before they truly get their full memory back about everything that took place. And for some, depending on the stress of the event, they may never remember everything that took place.”

He recommended delaying getting a police statement until 72 hours after a shooting has taken place to get the most accurate account.

George Zimmerman told the judge today in court that he did not want to testify on his own behalf before the defense rested its case. But while he was attempting to do so, defense attorney Don West kept interrupting Judge Nelson as he continued to object to her questioning of George Zimmerman about whether or not he wanted to testify. And it was clear Judge Nelson was getting irritated with Attorney West during their exchange.

The clips for Day 12 of the trial can be found below: