It appears that George Zimmerman’s defense lawyers are going to get their chance to attack Trayvon Martin’s character after all, as Judge Debra Nelson ruled yesterday that the defense will be allowed to tell the jury that Martin had marijuana in his system when he and Zimmerman had their fateful encounter in February of last year.
Nelson denied a motion by prosecutors to keep toxicology results showing THC in Martin’s system from the jury. This will allow Zimmerman’s lawyers to make the charge that the drug may have influenced Martin’s behavior—though some experts might argue that the drug would make him less aggressive, not more aggressive.
Defense attorney Don West has pointed out that Zimmerman noted in his statement to the non-emergency 911 dispatcher that it appeared the person he was observing in the Sanford, Fla., community was “on drugs.”
Zimmerman defense spokesman Shawn Vincent said yesterday that the defense actually be finished presenting its case by the end of the day today or early Wednesday morning. The prosecution would then have a chance to present witnesses to rebut the defense’s case. That might put closing statements as early as Thursday or Friday.
Vincent stressed that this timetable depended on everything going as planned, which isn’t always a guarantee in a trial.
Nelson’s ruling on the toxicology results came after a day in which the identity of screams for help on 911 calls continued to be at the center of the trial. Zimmerman’s defense team called to the stand a string of Zimmerman associates yesterday who testified that it was definitely “Georgie” screaming for help. Martin’s father, Tracy Martin, conceded that he initially didn’t believe the voice was Trayvon’s but after listening to the tapes 20 times or so he changed his mind and came to think it was Trayvon screaming.
After Sanford Police Det. Christopher Serino and Police Officer Doris Singleton both said Tracy Martin did not recognize his son’s voice on the tape, defense attorneys called Martin himself to the stand and he said he came to think differently of the voice’s identity. He said he heard it several more times when it was played for him at the Sanford Mayor Jeff Triplett’s office.
“After listening to the tape for, maybe 20 times, I said I knew that it was Trayvon’s voice,” the elder Martin said under questioning by defense attorney Mark O’Mara.
But in an illustration of how difficult voice identity was using the 911 tapes, Serino later said when cross examined by the prosecution that Zimmerman also said “that doesn’t even sound like me” when asked about the screams.
