SANFORD, Fla. — Past police dispatcher calls made by George Zimmerman should be presented to jurors at his second-degree murder trial since they show his state of mind and provide context to his fatal encounter with 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, a prosecutor argued Tuesday.
Prosecutor Richard Mantei told a Florida judge the five calls are central to the prosecution's argument that Zimmerman committed second-degree murder since it shows his growing ill will at people he viewed as suspicious who were walking through his neighborhood. In each of the calls, which were played for Judge Debra Nelson with the jurors out of the courtroom, Zimmerman described the suspicious characters as black males.
The calls made in the six months before Zimmerman fatally shot Martin on Feb. 26, 2012, reflect the neighborhood watch volunteer's growing frustration with repeated break-ins at his gated community of townhomes and plays into the prosecution's theory that his view of Martin as a suspicious character was "the straw that broke the camel's back," Mantei said.
Defense attorney Mark O'Mara argued that the calls were irrelevant and that no previous incidents matter except the seven or eight minutes prior to when Zimmerman fired the deadly shot into Martin's chest.
"They're going to ask the jury to make a leap from a good, responsible, citizen behavior to seething behavior," O'Mara said of the prosecution's depiction of Zimmerman's actions.
Nelson said she would make a ruling after reviewing prior cases.