SANFORD, Fla. — Prosecutors have released evidence in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, and one photograph shows George Zimmerman with a bloody nose.
The photo was among a large amount of evidence released by prosecutors on Thursday as part of the second-degree murder case against Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer who shot Martin in February.
- Documents: Discovery documents released May 17
Medical examiners also found evidence of marijuana in Martin's system after he was fatally shot, but experts WFTV talked to said it wasn't enough to impair him at the time of the shooting.
Also included in the release was an investigator's recommendation to prosecutors that Zimmerman be arrested on manslaughter charges. The investigator, who was on the scene after the shooting, wrote on March 13 that the confrontation should have been avoided. That report came nearly a month before Zimmerman was arrested.
The documents, photos and video were turned over by prosecutors to defense attorneys earlier this week before they were released to the media.
The autopsy said medical examiners found THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, when they tested Martin's blood and urine. A police report shows Martin had been shot once in the chest and had been pronounced dead at the scene. A paramedic report said Zimmerman had a 1-inch laceration on his head and forehead abrasions the night of the shooting.
"Bleeding tenderness to his nose, and a small laceration to the back of his head. All injuries have minor bleeding," paramedic Michael Brandy wrote about Zimmerman's injuries in the report.
Zimmerman has claimed self-defense and said he only fired because the unarmed teenager attacked him. He has pleaded not guilty.
“The injuries that he has are circumstantial evidence that it was reasonable for him to believe that he was about to suffer some great bodily harm or death during this altercation,” said WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer.
Whether Zimmerman was injured in the Feb. 26 altercation with Martin has been a key question. Zimmerman has claimed self-defense and said he only fired because the unarmed teenager attacked him.
Zimmerman was not arrested for weeks because he invoked Florida's "stand your ground" law, which does not require a person to retreat in the face of a serious threat. He was released on bail and is in hiding while he awaits trial on a second-degree murder charge. He has pleaded not guilty.
The investigator who called for Zimmerman's arrest, Christopher Serino, told prosecutors in March that the fight could have been avoided if Zimmerman had remained in his vehicle and awaited the arrival of law enforcement. He said Zimmerman, after leaving his vehicle, could have identified himself to Martin as a concerned citizen and talked to him instead of confronting him.
He said there is no evidence Martin was involved in any criminal activity.
The lawyer for Martin's parents seized on the investigator's recommendation.
"The police concluded that none of this would have happened if George Zimmerman hadn't gotten out of his car," said attorney Ben Crump. "If George Zimmerman hadn't gotten out of his car, they say it was completely avoidable. That is the headline."
A separate report written by Serino at the crime scene said Martin had $40.15, Skittles candy, a red lighter, headphones and a photo pin in his pocket. A single 9mm shell casing was found near Martin's body.
New witness accounts also emerged Thursday. A witness, whose name is redacted, told investigators he saw "a black male, wearing a dark-colored hoodie," on top of a white or Hispanic male who was yelling for help.
The witness, who was looking out the sliding glass door at his home about 30 feet away, said he saw the black male throwing punches "MMA (mixed martial arts) style."
He said he told the fighters he was calling the police. He said that as he was making the call, he heard a shot. He looked outside and saw the person who had been on top laid out on the grass as if he had been shot. He said the other fighter was standing on the sidewalk, talking to another person with a flashlight.
"I can tell you there was no fighting at the time the gun went off,” one neighbor said.
First responders said when they arrived, Martin had no pulse and was pronounced dead at the scene.
“He was covered in a significant amount of blood, I can tell you that,” the first responder said.
Audio recordings of one 911 call were also released, and Martin’s family has said publicly it was him who was heard screaming for help in the background.
However, Zimmerman’s father told investigators two days after the killing that it was his son who needed help.
“That was George,” Zimmerman’s father said. “I mean, he was not just yelling, he was, sounded like he was screaming for his life."
But Martin's girlfriend was on the phone with him when he first came in contact with Zimmerman, and she said Zimmerman was chasing Martin.
“He told me the guy was getting real close to him. Next thing I heard, 'Why you following me for?'” the girlfriend told police.
The case has become a national racial flashpoint because the Martin family and supporters contend Zimmerman singled Martin out because he was black.
Another police report says that on four occasions between last August and Feb. 2, Zimmerman called police to report young black males acting suspiciously in his neighborhood. He never called about anyone of another race.
Two acquaintances paint an unflattering picture of Zimmerman in police interviews.
A distraught woman tells an investigator that she stays away from Zimmerman because he's racist and because of things he's done to her in the past, but she didn't elaborate on what happened between them.
"I don't at all know who this kid was or anything else. But I know George, and I know that he does not like black people. He would start something. He's very confrontational. It's in his blood, we'll just say that," the unidentified woman says in an audio recording.
A man whose name was deleted from the audio told investigators said he worked with Zimmerman in 2008 for a few months. It wasn't clear which company it was.
The man, who described his heritage as "Middle Eastern," said that when he first started many employees didn't like him. Zimmerman seized on this, the employee said, and bullied him.
Zimmerman wanted to "get in" with the clique at work so he exaggerated a Middle Eastern accent when talking about the employee, the man said. The employee told investigators that Zimmerman made reference to terrorists and bombings when talking about him.
"It was so immature," said the employee, who ended up writing a letter to management about Zimmerman.
Channel 9's Kathi Belich said confusing segments that appear on the autopsy report could affect what the public and potential jurors think about the case.
The autopsy report shows Zimmerman shot Martin from "intermediate range" and that the bullet went through his lung and heart. Intermediate might sound like a considerable distance, but Sheaffer said it has a very specific forensic meaning when used by medical examiners.
"It means that the firearm was within 2 feet of Trayvon Martin but not touching Trayvon Martin when he was shot," said Sheaffer.
Intermediate range is close range, and that's consistent with the state investigator's testimony at Zimmerman's bond hearing last month when the judge asked him how far Zimmerman and Martin were from one another when the shot was fired.
"It was close proximity," said state investigator Dale Galbreath. "There were powder burns on the sweatshirt near contact on that, and there was also stippling on Mr. Martin to indicate it was close proximity."
Stippling, or the pattern of gunpowder burns on shooting victims, helps investigators determine whether the gun was inches or feet away from the shooting victim.
FBI photographs of mannequin testing show how much difference even a few inches can make. The gunpowder scatters much more in a matter of inches.
Shaeffer said the closer the physical confrontation was, the more reasonable Zimmerman's argument appears that he was in fear of being killed or badly hurt.
The report also references Zimmerman's previous 911 calls in the seven months before the shooting. In those calls, Zimmerman reported suspicious people in his neighborhood that included young, black males.
Sheaffer said the evidence could work against Zimmerman.
“Trayvon Martin. Young man, African-American. Unarmed, not engaged in a criminal act when he's shot and killed,” said Sheaffer.
WFTV
