Trayvon Martin was shot through the heart at close range. George Zimmerman had a broken nose, bruises and bloody cuts on the back of his head.
The
lead investigator in the case wanted to charge Zimmerman with
manslaughter in the weeks after the shooting but was overruled.
These
are among the details revealed in nearly 200 pages of documents, photos
and audio recordings released Thursday in a case that's riveted the
nation. Yet it's still unclear what exactly happened and whether it was
racially motivated.
The
evidence supports Zimmerman's contention that he was being beat up when
he fired the fatal shot. At the same time, it bolsters the argument of
Martin's parents that Zimmerman was profiling Martin and that the whole
confrontation could have been avoided if not for Zimmerman's actions.
Many
of the pertinent questions remain unclear: What was in Zimmerman's mind
when he began to follow Martin in the gated community where he lived?
How did the confrontation between the two begin? Whose screams for help
were captured on 911 calls? And why did Zimmerman feel that deadly
force was warranted?
Another
opportunity for answers isn't likely to come until a hearing later this
year in which Zimmerman is expected to claim the shooting was justified
under Florida's "stand your ground" law. Zimmerman's attorney, Mark
O'Mara, didn't return a phone call seeking comment Thursday.
Martin's
autopsy indicated that medical examiners found THC, the psychoactive
ingredient in marijuana, when they tested Martin's blood and urine. The
amount described in the autopsy report is such a low level that it
would have played no role in Martin's behavior, said Larry Kobilinsky,
a professor of forensic science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice
in New York.
"This kind of
level can be seen days after somebody smokes," Kobilinsky said. "If it
comes up in the case, I would be surprised. It wouldn't benefit the
defense, it wouldn't benefit the prosecution, and if the defense tried
to bring it up, the judge would keep it out."
A
police report shows the 17-year-old had been shot once in the chest and
had been pronounced dead at the scene. The autopsy says the fatal shot
was fired from no more than 18 inches away.
The
evidence supporting Zimmerman's defense includes a photo showing the
neighborhood watch volunteer with a bloody nose on the night of the
fight. A paramedic report says Zimmerman had a 1-inch laceration on his
head and forehead abrasion.
"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.
Whether
Zimmerman was injured in the Feb. 26 altercation with Martin has been a
key question. The 28-year-old 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.
Other evidence supports the contention of Martin's parents that Zimmerman was the aggressor.
The
investigator who called for Zimmerman's arrest, Christopher Serino,
told prosecutors 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. The report was written on March 13, nearly a month
before Zimmerman's eventual arrest.
He
said there is no evidence Martin was involved in any criminal activity
as he walked from a convenience store to the home of his father's
fiancee in the same gated community where Zimmerman lived.
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."
The
release of evidence did little to clear up whose voice is screaming for
help in the background of several 911 calls made during the fight.
Since
first hearing the calls in early March, Martin's mother, Sybrina
Fulton, has been unequivocal in saying that it was her son's voice on
the tapes.
But Serino wrote
in a report that he played a 911 call for Martin's father, Tracy, in
which the screams are heard multiple times.
"I
asked Mr. Martin if the voice calling for help was that of his son,"
the officer wrote. "Mr. Martin, clearly emotionally impacted by the
recording, quietly responded 'no.'"
Zimmerman's father also told investigators that it was his son yelling for help on March 19.
"That
is absolutely positively George Zimmerman," Robert Zimmerman said. "He
was not just yelling, he sounded like he was screaming for his life."
Investigators
sent all the recordings to the FBI for analysis. They were asked to
determine who was screaming, and also if Zimmerman might have used an
expletive in describing Martin. Prosecutors said in their charging
documents that Zimmerman said "(expletive) punks" in describing Martin
as he walked in the neighborhood.
But
the analyst who examined the recordings determined the sound quality is
too poor to decipher what Zimmerman uttered. In regards to the screams
during the altercation, there also wasn't enough clarity to determine
who it is "due to extreme stress and unsuitable audio quality."
The
trajectory of the bullet — straight through Martin's body — doesn't
shed light on whether Zimmerman and Martin were standing or on the
ground, Kobilinsky said.
Kobilinsky added he thought the evidence diminished prosecutors' case for second-degree murder.
The
case has become a national racial flashpoint because the Martin family
and supporters contend Zimmerman singled Martin out because he was
black. Zimmerman has a Peruvian mother and a white father.
Two acquaintances painted an unflattering picture of Zimmerman in police interviews.
A
distraught woman told 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.
Zimmerman's parents say he wasn't racist. They say he had mentored black students and had a black relative.
In
a police interview, Zimmerman's father, Robert, described the toll the
case had taken on family members who also are in hiding because of
safety concerns.
"It just seems like it's an avalanche and I'm standing at the bottom of it," Robert Zimmerman said.