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Before the trial: A pictorial glance at tributes for Trayvon
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Page B1
JUNE 7 - JUNE 13, 2013
VOLUME 21 NO. 23
www.flcourier.com
WILL JUSTICE PREVAIL? After more than a year of protests, investigations and legal wrangling, George Zimmerman gets his day in court after killing Trayvon Martin. Here’s an update as the trial begins on Monday in Sanford.
George Zimmerman, shown here at a previous court hearing, does not have to testify at his upcoming trial.
In a series of pretrial hearings, Circuit Judge Debra S. Nelson laid the groundwork for what jurors will hear during the second-degree murder trial, expected to be one of the most watched this year. In general, she banned defense attorneys from introducing reputation-damaging evidence about Martin – but she left lots of wiggle room. If defense attorneys can convince her during the course of the trial that it’s relevant, she may allow them to put on evidence showing that at the time of his death, Martin had marijuana in his system; that he had discipline problems at school; and that he had a history of fighting.
Still possible COMPILED FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
At the start of George Zimmerman’s murder trial, expect Trayvon Martin to be portrayed as an innocent teenager, an unarmed 17-year-old who was killed on Feb. 26, 2012 in Sanford while walking home in the rain. By the time it concludes, however, Zimmerman’s defense attorneys hope that jurors will have a more menacing view of him. That’s critical to justifying Zimmerman’s claim that he shot Martin dead in self-defense.
Defense attorney Mark O’Mara suggested that the information about Martin’s past can still “become relevant” for jurors if prosecutors present evidence beyond the five-minute encounter between Martin and Zimmerman. “The Martin family, through their handlers, presented a picture of who Trayvon was, and who George was, that is totally inaccurate,” O’Mara said. O’Mara predicted he would be able to show
POOL PHOTO BY JOE BURBANK/ ORLANDO SENTINEL/ MCT
See JUSTICE, Page A2
Trayvon’s texts tell familiar story A Black boy influenced by street culture COMPILED FROM WIRE AND STAFF REPORTS
pretrial hearing last week. Martin’s slang-filled, abbreviated, and often misspelled messages – as well as pictures of a semi-automatic pistol, marijuana plants and Martin flipping up his middle fingers – are all part of Zimmerman’s defense plan to put the Miami Gardens 17-yearold posthumously on trial. “So you just turning into a lil hoodlum,” one friend, whose name has been withheld, texted Martin. Martin replied with a denial: “No not at all.” At one point, Martin joked that the friend was “soft.” “Boy don’t get one planted in ya chest,” the friend joked back. The message was a reference to being shot. Ironically, Martin was shot dead three months later.
When the George Zimmerman trial begins, jurors, at least initially, won’t hear Trayvon Martin described as a pot-smoking would-be thug who brawled, sought out guns and got suspended from school. Zimmerman’s defense lawyers won’t be allowed to paint that portrait in opening statements as part of a defense strategy to shred the character of the Miami Gardens teenager who was shot to death last year in Sanford. But in the months and days before his shooting death, Mar- Counters Zimmerman’s tin was getting in fights, getting statements high on marijuana, getting susAlthough Zimmerman might pended from school and talking not take the stand, his statewith friends about getting a gun, ments given to police and his according to cell-phone text messages defense lawyers in a See TRAYVON, Page A2
Zimmerman turned down for job as cop BY RENE STUTZMAN ORLANDO SENTINEL / MCT
FINEST | B5
Prosecutors have filed paperwork revealing that murder defendant George Zimmerman applied to become a police officer in a county near Washington, D.C., but was turned down. His application and rejection letter are among the latest pieces of evidence the state has notified defense attorneys they may use at Zimmerman’s trial, which begins Monday. The new list of evidence, filed this week, says Zimmerman applied to become an officer in Prince William County, Md., but that appears to be an error. There is no Prince William County in Maryland, however, there is one in Virginia, and it’s the site of Zimmerman’s hometown: Manassas.
Meet Taneish
Date uncertain
KARI RENE HALL/LOS ANGELES TIMES/MCT
DAVID ‘DEACON’ JONES, 1938-2013
Eatonville native, ‘The Deacon of Defense,’ dies In a 1994 file image, football legend David “Deacon” Jones, considered one of the National Football League’s greatest defensive players ever, dons a commemorative Los Angeles Rams jersey. Jones died June 3 at age 74.
SNAPSHOTS FLORIDA | A3
Super high rates for Blacks charged with pot possession
ALSO INSIDE
NATION | A6
NAACP applauds Virginia’s expansion of voting rights
The paperwork does not spell out when Zimmerman applied
for the job, but it is not the first indication that he had an interest in police work. He was a student at Seminole State College, about to complete a two-year degree in criminal justice, at the time of the shooting. He also took part in a citizens’ academy, a program sponsored by the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office that allows people to become more familiar with police work. On his 2008 application to join that program, he wrote, “I hold law enforcement officers in the highest regard as I hope to one day become one.” The new evidence list includes information that Zimmerman trained at a Longwood gym that specializes in boxing and kickboxing. A webpage for the business, Kokopelli’s Gym, describes it as “the most complete fight gym in the world.”
Now unemployed Zimmerman is now free on $1 See ZIMMERMAN, Page A2
COMMENTARY: CHARLES W. CHERRY II: RANDOM THOUGHTS OF A FREE BLACK MIND | A4 COMMENTARY: BEN JEALOUS: ORGANIZED PEOPLE CAN BEAT ORGANIZED MONEY EVERY TIME | A5