Tests identify only Zimmerman's DNA on handgun

SANFORD, Fla. — Forensic tests made public Wednesday show that George Zimmerman's was the only DNA that could be identified on the grip of the gun used to fatally shoot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

The results rule out Martin's DNA from being on the gun's grip. Zimmerman's DNA also was identified on the gun's holster, but no determination could be made as to whether Martin's DNA was on the gun's holster, according to the report from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder for fatally shooting Martin during a confrontation in a gated community in Sanford in February. Zimmerman is pleading not guilty, claiming self-defense.

A delay in Zimmerman's arrest led to nationwide protests.

The question of whose DNA is on the gun and holster could play a role in Zimmerman's defense.

The results are significant because in several interviews with investigators Zimmerman told them that he felt he had to shoot Martin because he felt the teenager reaching for his gun.

Zimmerman said Martin had been on top of him, slamming his head against the ground and smothering his mouth and nose with his hand and arm when he grabbed his gun from a holster on his waist before Martin could get it. He shot the teenager once in the chest.

WFTV dug up the recorded interview with police that shows Zimmerman re-enacting his version of what happened.  Zimmerman said that he only shot the unarmed teenager after he reached for his gun.

“He reached for it and I felt his arm going down to my side and I grabbed it and I just grabbed my fire arm and I shot him,” Zimmerman said in the video.

But Zimmerman never said Martin "touched" his gun.

Drawings by witnesses that are among the pilce of evidence depict two men fighting on the sidewalk. The witnesses used stick figures to describe how the man with a black shirt was on top of a man with a red shirt. And from other evidence photos it is known that Zimmerman wore a red jacket the night of the shooting.

"This doesn't help or hurt either side.  One wouldn't expect to find DNA in the gun because George Zimmerman said Trayvon Martin went for the gun, but never said that he touched the gun," said WFTV's legal analyst Bill Sheaffer.

Other documents released by prosecutors Wednesday include an interview with the clerk of a convenience store where Martin purchased Skittles and a can of iced tea moments before his confrontation with Zimmerman. The clerk said in the interview more than a month after Martin was shot, that he didn't remember Martin.
 
"To be honest, I don't even remember that day," said the clerk, whose name was redacted from the audio interview.

WFTV