STATE OF FLORIDA V. ZIMMERMAN 6/29/2013


Gavel5Posted on June 29, 2013
Prosecutors in the 2nd degree murder trial of George Zimmerman on Friday called the man expected to be the defense’s central witness: John Good, a Zimmerman neighbor. And John Good testified that he told Sanford police that on the night of the shooting he’d seen a black man on top of a lighter-skinned man “just throwing down blows on the guy, MMA-style” possibly advancing the Defense argument that Trayvon Martin the aggressor and as a result Zimmerman’s killing of him was indeed self-defense.

 

Good said two people were wrestling on the ground describing what he saw with Mixed martial Arts or “MMA terminology” as the “ground and pound.”

Good testified that the man on top was wearing dark clothes, and the one on the bottom had lighter skin and was wearing white or red. Good testified further that he said he was watching television in the living room of his Retreat at Twin Lakes townhome on the evening of February 26, 2012 when he heard noises outside. Good testified that he opened his sliding glass door and stepped out onto his porch.

Good testified that the encounter between Martin and Zimmerman looked like a “tussle.” “I yelled out, ‘What’s going on?’ and ‘Stop it,’ I believe” he said on the stand on cross examination by Zimmerman lead defense counsel Mark O’Mara. O’Mara then asked Good if he could identify the person on top with this exchange:

“The person who you now know to be Trayvon Martin was on top, correct?” O’Mara asked.

“Correct,” Good answered.

O’Mara followed with the next question to Good: “And he was the one who was raining blows down on the person on the bottom, George Zimmerman, right?”

Good’s response was “That’s what it looked like.”

However, Good was less certain on two issues that could benefit the state while he testified for the State. He was not 100 percent sure whether it was Zimmerman or Martin calling out for help even though he thought it may have been Zimmerman. He also admitted that he didn’t see the punches connect but that he just saw “arm movement going downward.”

Jurors also heard from the first people to arrive at the scene after the shooting as well on Friday.

As part of the State’s case, Jonathan Manalo, testified that he was the first person to see Zimmerman after the shooting. Manalo testified that Zimmerman “looked like he’d been in a fight” and Manalo testified that he took cell phone pictures of Zimmerman’s bloodied face and head.

Manalo also testified that Zimmerman asked Manalo to call his wife and while Manalo was on the phone with her, Zimmerman blurted out: “Just tell her I shot someone.”

However, Zimmerman also told Manalo “I was defending myself and I shot him,” the witness testified on cross-examination.

The State also called Lindzee Folgate, an Altamonte Family Practice physician assistant who treated Zimmerman Feb. 27, 2012, the day after the shooting, to testify on his medical records. On direct, Folgate testified and read Zimmerman medical history taken Aug. 19, 2011, which said that due to difficulty sleeping, Zimmerman had “started to exercise intensely with MMA.”

Folgate testified and read another Zimmerman record from Sept. 23, 2011, that indicated Zimmerman was in MMA training “three days per week.”

Zimmerman had two lacerations on his head Feb. 27, 2013 Folgate testified that were 2 centimeters and 0.5 centimeters with neither injury needing stitches. As to Zimmerman’s nose, Folgate testified: “I would say likely broken, it’s hard to say definitively.”

Folgate testified on cross examination by Defense counsel Mark O’Mara that the cuts, scrapes and bruises to Zimmerman’s head could be consistent with having his head slammed into a concrete sidewalk, as Zimmerman says Martin did before the shooting although she also agreed that was speculation when prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda followed up on re-direct.

The first Sanford police officer to arrive, Tim Smith, also testified Friday, and said he held Zimmerman at gunpoint and handcuffed him after Zimmerman told him that he was the one who shot the Martin. Smith testified that Zimmerman was compliant and calm, but also bloodied and wet, with grass on his clothes.

ANALYSIS

With Friday’s testimony from State’s witness John Good, who is to be the star witness for the defense, the State tried to “take some of the air” out of Good’s testimony that would most certainly bolster the Zimmerman defense theory of the case that it was Martin on top and was the aggressor and attacked Zimmerman and Martin “was raining blows” on Zimmerman, and as a result, Zimmerman was justified in using lethal deadly force in self-defense. The State apparently wanted to get that testimony out to the jury early, so that if the defense chooses to call Good in their case in chief, the jury would have already heard the testimony of Good and as a result, it would have less impact on the jury. Remember, the defense is not obligated to put any evidence on before the jury at all and all of the burden of proof in with the State of Florida. However, make no mistake; the testimony of Good was good for the Zimmerman defense.

The trial resumes Monday morning