[rain pattering]
[radio chatter]
[ominous music]
♪ ♪
MALE REPORTER:
The George Zimmerman trial
is nearing its end.
MARK: Do you know
whose voice that was?
My son, George.
They tried to discredit me
about the 911 call.
JASMINE: And then, they bring
in witness after witness
to build up this great
community leader
that George Zimmerman was.
WOMAN: George was tutoring
some young children.
Best friend I've ever had.
They took the stand
and they lied under oath.
DON:
Just when I thought this case
couldn't get any more bizarre...
WOMAN:
When I looked out the window,
I saw two African-American guys,
you know, sitting there
with a pair of rusty scissors
and my son in one arm.
Had nothing to do
with this case.
MAN: That was textbook.
White fear.
WOMAN: It's about
that fear of a black guy
coming through the window.
MALE REPORTER:
After 14 days of testimony,
slide shows, witnesses,
theatrics, and even
a little courtroom bickering,
the case comes down to this.
SYBRINA:
After closing arguments,
I was like, I'm leaving.
They didn't want
to watch their son die twice.
MALE REPORTER: Police have
been urging the community
to keep things peaceful.
FEMALE REPORTER: Now all
eyes are on this jury.
MALE REPORTER: And every
legal expert in the country
says you can never predict
what a jury will do.
DEBRA: Please be seated.
Good morning.
We're on the record.
Case Number 12CF1083A.
State versus George Zimmerman.
MYCHAL:
As a black person in America,
this trial was all-consuming.
Every single day was
waking up, turning the TV on,
and watching the entirety
of this trial play out.
MALE REPORTER:
Did Zimmerman deceive police--
MALE REPORTER:
The shell casing was
right by number eight.
MALE REPORTER:
Juror number three, yes.
Juror number four, yes.
MARC: Once these things
become TV media spectacles,
it just gets bigger and bigger
and feeds off itself.
You're looking at our design
of the Retreat at Twin Lakes.
MYCHAL: You got headline news
breaking out
the eighth grade dioramas.
As they move,
he says Trayvon Martin
disappears out of sight.
MYCHAL: This was reduced
to such a spectacle.
And we're talking about
very serious things here.
MALE REPORTER: Today,
a former college professor
who taught George Zimmerman
Criminal Justice
testified via Skype.
DEBRA: Sir, I am telling you--
I have someone trying
to call in on this line.
[Skype notification sounds]
MALE REPORTER: As Pleasants'
face and screen name
were carried on national TV,
pranksters began
to join the video chat,
disrupting his testimony.
[Skype notification sounds]
It was like a clown show.
JOY-ANN:
I've watched trials before,
both as a civilian
and a journalist,
And nothing about what
the prosecution did
makes any sense.
MICHAEL:
The prosecution never really
stood up for Trayvon.
JERALYN: The State was afraid
that if it introduced
Trayvon Martin's personality,
the good achievements
he had done during his life,
the defense would counter it
with tweets and phone calls
and phone records
that would show Trayvon Martin
was not the perfect person.
But how are you going
to convince a jury
that he was
intentionally m*rder*d
without showing something?
TRACY: You know, just sitting
behind the prosecuting team,
and watching them, I felt that
who better to call as a witness?
I was the last relative
that he had conversed with.
I felt as though
I know him best.
MYCHAL: I remember
I begged and begged,
"Put me on
the witness stand."
But they didn't,
and I have
a huge problem with that.
FEMALE REPORTER:
After nine days of testimony,
and dozens of witnesses,
the prosecution
has just rested its case
in the George Zimmerman
m*rder trial.
MALE REPORTER: And now,
it's time for the defense
to begin their case.
When they started out, they
called the sh**t's mother.
Good afternoon, ma'am.
GLADYS:
Good afternoon, Mr. O'Mara.
MARK: Tell us your name.
Gladys Zimmerman.
MARK: I want to have you
listen to the 911 phone call
by Ms. Lamilla
with screams in the back of it.
Does he look hurt to you?
WOMAN: I can't see him.
I don't want to go out there.
I don't know what's going on.
MAN:
You need to call the cops.
[screams]
MARK: Do you know
whose voice that was
screaming in the background?
Yes, sir.
MARK: And whose voice was that?
My son George.
GLADYS:
The way that he was screaming,
it describes to me as fear.
I would say terror.
She may have wanted it
to be her son,
but I know it was Trayvon.
DON:
I think this is a good example
of how both witnesses
can firmly believe
what they're saying
is the truth.
Both witnesses believed
what they were saying,
both mothers.
But obviously,
it couldn't both be true.
[ominous music]
MALE REPORTER:
George Zimmerman's friends
took the stand today.
All looking to prove one thing:
That he was the one
pleading for help
during this confrontation
with Trayvon Martin.
MARK: And do you know
George Zimmerman?
Yes, I do.
♪ ♪
JASMINE: The whole case
starts to become
whose voice is it
on the 911 tapes?
Not only I just
heard the scream,
I felt the scream.
Like my nephew is screaming
for his life.
I just immediately recognized
it as George's voice.
There was no hoping
it was one person or another.
MARK: Do you know
whose voice that is
in the background, screaming?
Yes, definitely.
It's Georgie.
I hear him screaming.
I thought it was George.
MARK: Can you tell me
why you think that?
Just the tone.
And did you have discussions
with him about g*n safety?
Firearm safety is--
was always at the first,
the top of our list
of discussions.
JERALYN: The defense
was pretty creative,
asking a sly question
here and there
about George's character,
even though it had nothing to do
with his actions that night.
George was tutoring
some young children
and I encouraged that.
And I was very proud
of him for that.
JERALYN: The fact that
the prosecution
let so much of this evidence in,
without objecting was
a failure on their part.
He is my very dear friend.
I think of him as a son.
One time he asked me to show him
how to tie a Windsor knot
for a tie.
And that just touched
a very personal part
of my heart.
And he's always
been there ever since.
MARK: Every defense lawyer
would try to get character
in the question.
It's up to the prosecution
to make the objection.
But if they don't
make the objection,
go for it.
I was a combat medic in Vietnam.
It was the Tet Offensive.
♪ ♪
Your job is to run.
You go to where they're at.
♪ ♪
But invariably, because you know
the men that you eat
and sleep with,
you know who it's gonna be
before you get there.
Is it a male or female?
CALLER: It sounds like a male.
And you don't know why?
MARK: Whose voice
do you believe that to be
screaming for help?
There's absolutely
no doubt in my mind
that is George Zimmerman.
♪ ♪
And I wish to God I did not have
that ability to understand that.
♪ ♪
He knows combat.
And he knows that scream.
And so once again,
you have the defense
just outclassing
the prosecution.
JOY-ANN:
And it's not clear how hard
the prosecution is trying.
MALE REPORTER: Oh, if you're
keeping score at home,
that's seven,
seven defense witnesses
who say it was George
Zimmerman yelling for help,
compared to only
two State witnesses
who say it was Trayvon Martin.
JASMINE: Of course they're
gonna say it was his voice.
They're all friends
with Zimmerman!
JOY-ANN:
And then Chris Serino,
who was the lead detective,
gets called by the defense.
MALE REPORTER:
Over two days last week,
Serino testified
on behalf of the prosecution.
And once again,
it's the 911 tapes
that are under the microscope.
MARK: Did there come
a time that you met
with Tracy Martin
and his girlfriend,
Brandi Green, in your office?
Yes, sir, there was.
MARK: Do you recall
about how many days
after the event
of the sh**ting that was?
It was either the day after,
or the day
after the walkthrough.
I think it was the 28th.Okay.
I went ahead and played
the 911 recordings for him.
And what was
Mr. Martin's response?
CHRIS: Emotional.
I let him listen first
before I asked anything.
MARK: Okay,
and what did you ask him?
CHRIS: I enquired as if
that was, in fact,
his son yelling for help.
MARK:
And what was his response?
CHRIS: He...
Looked away,
and under his breath,
as I interpreted it,
said, "No."
MARK: When he said, "No,"
what question do you think
he was answering?
That the voice in the background
was not that of his son's.
♪ ♪
TRACY: I lost a lot of respect
for him at that
particular moment,
because I never said that
it wasn't him on the tape.
That was far from the truth.
JOY-ANN: So what happens?
Defense calls Tracy Martin.
The defense says,
"We'll put him on the stand,
and we'll call him a liar."
TRACY: By them calling me
to the stand,
you know, they thought that
I was gonna do some damage
to our case.
But I stood on
what I been standing on
since this incident happened.
After he played the tape,
he basically just said,
"Do you recognize the voice?"
MARK:
And what was your response?
My response was
that's simp--I didn't... Um...
Tell him I didn't know...
I didn't tell him,
"No, that wasn't Trayvon."
I kind of...
I think the chairs
had wheels on them.
I kind of pushed
away from the...
Away from the table.
And just kind of shook my head
and said, "I can't tell."
MARK: So your words were,
"I can't tell."
Something to that effect,
but I never said, "No, that
wasn't my son's voice."
Did you really know
what to do at that point?
No, I was...
Our world was, from that point,
until today,
our world has just been
turned upside down.
[melancholy music]
WOMAN: The jury members saw
a father that was in pain.
And they saw the love
that Tracy has for Trayvon.
JOY-ANN:
The defense tried to turn him,
as a witness,
against his own child.
It was one
of the more crass moments.
It didn't play well
in the public.
I think it was distasteful
for a lot of people to see.
One of the jurors just
had her hand over her mouth
like this the entire time.
MARC: Just because you can
doesn't mean you should.
The jury could say,
"Why are you not
leaving this family alone?"
You know, it's bad enough
that they lost their child.
TRACY: I really wasn't
focused on Don West,
about Mark O'Mara.
I was just fixated
on the individual
that had k*lled my son.
I wanted to make eye contact.
I wanted to look into his eyes.
I wanted to see
what my son saw that night.
♪ ♪
TRACY: And he never
made eye contact with me.
♪ ♪
[ethereal music]
JOY-ANN:
I think the prosecution
made a decision early on
not to pursue this
as a stalking case.
But if they had pursued it,
I think they would've had
a stronger leg to stand on
because they could've used
George Zimmerman's background
to build a case that he had this
inordinate fear
of this young black man.
JOY-ANN:
That he became the aggressor
and decided to chase him.
For the defense,
it's a different story.
The argument became the idea
that there was a fight
and that that is
the most important
aspect of their interaction.
DEBRA:
Call your next witness, please.
The defense
will call Adam Pollock.
JANICE: Adam Pollock
owned Kokopelli's Gym,
where he trained people
in MMA-style fighting.
And one of those people
that he trained
was George Zimmerman.
MARK: Let's talk a bit
about Mr. Zimmerman.
Do you know him? Absolutely.
When he came to your gym,
was he grossly obese?
ADAM: Absolutely.
And was that a main focus
of his workout regimen?
ADAM: That was the main focus
of why he was there,
was to lose weight
and get into better shape.
JASMINE: That was not true.
This guy is a wannabe
police officer.
And he was taking
this fighting class.
So it's almost astounding
that the defense
brought someone up
who teaches people how to fight
to convince the jury
that George Zimmerman was slow,
and he was out of shape,
and he didn't really
know how to fight.
He's just physically soft,
and a very, very pleasant,
very nice man,
but he was predominantly fat.
Not a lot of muscle.
RICHARD:
They tried to downplay
Mr. Zimmerman's physical
capabilities
because when you hear that
someone has been training
in physical combat,
the average juror
would expect that person
to physically dominate someone.
FEMALE REPORTER:
You know, you look at him
in the courtroom today,
he gained 110 pounds
since the incident.
Is that part of this?
Is it possible
he put on the weight
for this reason?
JASMINE: The George Zimmerman
I saw in the courtroom,
who came walking in
looking like
he was out of shape,
looking like he didn't
know how to throw a punch
is not the same militant,
fit George Zimmerman
that we saw the night
of the Trayvon Martin sh**ting.
And that's what's critical.
MARK: On a scale of one to ten,
what number would you
assign to his abilities?
.5.
MARK: Less than a one.
Yes.
RICHARD: Well, he
admitted George Zimmerman
trained with him,
but what he said was
he didn't learn
any real techniques
or have any real ability.
RICHARD: But that seems
to be inconsistent
with Mr. Zimmerman's
statement.
When he came to see you
after Trayvon was k*lled,
what did he say to you
that night?
The first thing he said
to me was "Thank you,"
and you know,
I said, "For what?"
And he said,
"You helped save my life."
ADAM: He told me
that he was having his head
smashed into the sidewalk.
When he was hitting
my head against it,
it felt like my head
was gonna explode.
And I thought I was gonna
lose consciousness.
ADAM: He said, "Well, you
taught me how to move
if you're in a bad situation."
And he was able
to move just a little bit
to get onto the grass.
JOY-ANN: So here we have
a man who is claiming
that he was on
the brink of death
when he sh*t Trayvon Martin.
But when the ambulance arrives,
they ask him if he wants
to go to the hospital,
and he says no!
MALE REPORTER:
There's no dispute
there was a fight here,
but Zimmerman's injuries
paint a conflicting picture
about the severity
of this fight.
WOMAN: George Zimmerman
only had
a two centimeters long
lesion on the back of his head.
JOY-ANN: You have to wonder
whether he really was
in fear for his life.
MALE REPORTER: A prior
witness for the prosecution
said he did not see anyone
get their head smashed
against the sidewalk.
Did you see at any time
the person on top
grab the person
on the bottom's head
and slam it into the concrete?
No.
[dramatic music]
MALE REPORTER:
There was no blood
on the sidewalk where
Zimmerman said this happened.
♪ ♪
In addition, Trayvon Martin's
body was found
almost ten feet
from the sidewalk
and Zimmerman said
he never moved the body.
♪ ♪
FEMALE REPORTER:
Now, the defense is calling
Dennis Root, a former
law enforcement officer
and an expert witness
in the use of force.
♪ ♪
WOMAN: When it was time
for the prosecution
to cross-examine Dennis Root,
it actually started off
pretty well.
JOHN: Okay, and the defendant
didn't describe to you
how it was they moved
from where he claimed
the confrontation started
to where they ended up?
♪ ♪
No, there was no explanation
as far as how they transitioned.
JOHN: I think you said you
reviewed some medical records
Yes, sir. JOHN: Okay.
Did you review
the medical record
that... Um...
Where the woman measured
the longest laceration
on the back of his head
as two centimeters?
DENNIS: I don't want
to quote the dis--
Yes, there was a...
They weren't that large.
Is that what you're asking? JOHN: Right.
JOHN: Two centimeters, right?
That's less than an inch.
DENNIS: Okay, I'm really
not good with that.
I gotta be honest with you.
I get confused.
NATALIE: But then
he brought out the dummy.
And that's when things
kind of...
Went downhill.
[suspenseful music]
Right? Yes, sir.
Okay.
SUNNY: Well, when they
brought the dummy out,
I was very concerned.
I thought,
"What is this?"
So as the defendant
described it to you,
Am I... Is this the way
he described it
in the area of his belly button?
I'm not a big fan
of demonstrative evidence.
Lawyers should've learned from
"If the gloves don't fit,
you must acquit."
Were you aware
that the defendant described
to his best friend
that, um, when he slid down,
the defendant slid down,
that Trayvon Martin
is up around his armpits?
Were you aware of that?
SUNNY: And when John Guy
gets the dummy in his hand,
he's playing,
essentially, the role
of Trayvon Martin,
and he's on top!
He's basically conceding
that George Zimmerman
is on the bottom.
Completely flip-flopped
from what the opening statement
said the facts would show.
How do you win a case that way?
JERALYN:
He gives the jury
two different versions
of what could've happened.
And that's
the classic definition
of reasonable doubt!
MALE REPORTER:
The strange thing here
is it usually doesn't
come from the prosecution.
JASMINE:
And then you see, you know,
Mark O'Mara and Don West
licking their chops.
[ominous music]
So I'm clear, would you consider
a big ol' piece
of concrete a w*apon
if I hit you in the head
with it?
DENNIS: If you hit me
in the head with concrete,
yes, I would consider
that--How about if I just took
and smashed it on the concrete?
♪ ♪
So...
George Zimmerman,
Trayvon Martin.
Were the injuries
on Mr. Zimmerman's...
Back of his head consistent with
someone doing this
on cement?
SUNNY:
Mark O'Mara uses that dummy
to demonstrate for the jury,
and sear into
their memories forever,
George Zimmerman's
head just getting banged,
and banged, and banged
on the ground.
What about somebody
resisting the attempt?
JANICE:
There's a moment where Bernie
is pretty clearly
chewing John Guy out.
MAN: Bernie was looking
really upset
and was just in John Guy's face
♪ ♪
[ominous music]
SYBRINA:
During the trial, I heard
negative things about my son.
But it's always a practice to
blame the victim.
JOY-ANN: Mark O'Mara decided
that what he was going
to do in this trial was
to prosecute Trayvon Martin,
make him seem
like a thuggish attacker.
He wasn't just walking home,
but was actually waiting
for the opportunity
to commit a crime.
MARK: So you said there was
no evidence that Trayvon Martin
was doing anything wrong,
correct?
None whatsoever.
MARK: You don't know
that though, correct?
No, I do not.Right.
Matter of fact, there was
a type of a tool found
in the area where Trayvon Martin
may have been hiding.
MARK: You looked in the bushes
and you found... What was it?
CHRIS: It was a piece of a
window. Looked like a Slim Jim,
the device used to go ahead
and jimmy-lock some vehicles.
♪ ♪
Race permeated every aspect
of this case.
These are the cards
that were dealt,
and they played them.
There are studies that suggest
that aggressive behavior
can be residual
from marijuana use.
We also know from
looking at the 7-11 video
that Mr. Martin is swaying.
We also know from the evidence
that Mr. Martin
is carrying a lighter.
STEPHANIE:
Listening to his attorneys
speak negatively
on Trayvon was t*rture.
♪ ♪
He's not even on trial!
♪ ♪
And it just hurt.
♪ ♪
FEMALE REPORTER:
Emotions running high
in the courtroom today
while the defense calls
one of their final witnesses:
A former neighbor
of George Zimmerman.
An event happened
at your residence
where a crime was committed.
Yes.
MARK: Can you
explain to the jury
what happened with that?
I was home on a Wednesday
with my son; he was, I think,
nine months at the time.
And I heard someone
ring my doorbell.
When I looked out the window,
I saw two young
African-American guys
wearing blue shirts.
So I just assumed they were
with a company or something.
But then they kept ringing
over and over again.
And I just knew it was bad.
I called 911.
They said to get
to the farthest room
and grab anything
you can use for a w*apon.
I heard them come up
the stairwell.
And he was shaking the doorknob,
trying to get in,
and I was sitting there
with a pair of rusty scissors
and my son in one arm.
And the police came
and they ended up leaving.
♪ ♪
OLIVIA:
They had stolen my camera,
laptop,
and they had tried
to get our TV.
♪ ♪
SUNNY:
She was pretty.
She had a family.
I saw the jurors nodding
during her testimony.
But I kept on thinking
why is she even testifying?
What does this have
to do with Trayvon Martin?
♪ ♪
Had nothing to do
with this case!
MALE REPORTER:
This witness may have been
talking about a home invasion,
but the real focus here
seems to be about race.
She suggests that the reason
George Zimmerman
was right to suspect
Trayvon Martin
was because two young black men
had broken
into this woman's home.
SUNNY: It was so manipulative,
and it was playing
the elephant in the room.
It was playing that race card
without really playing it.
DON: I think that it would be
an unfair characterization
to suggest that we were
playing to a race issue on that.
I don't think so.
MARC: It is shortsighted
and simply ignorant
of anybody to think that
both sides did not factor in
race into every aspect
of their cases.
RICHARD: Mark O'Mara
knew who his audience was.
His audience wasn't, you know,
the millions of people
watching that trial.
His audience was the people
sitting in that jury box.
And the people sitting
in that jury box,
everyone can relate
to having someone
who looks just like them
saying that this was a concern.
JOY-ANN:
And I think that's sort of
part of what was
at work in that jury pool.
They saw Trayvon Martin
as that black guy I fear
who could've broken
into my house.
Those are the kind
of presumptions
that prevent black people
from getting justice.
White fear!
You, jury members, you should be
scared too, of the black people,
'cause they're
gonna come get you next.
FEMALE REPORTER: Olivia
Bertalan says in the end,
it is George Zimmerman
who makes her feel safe.
I was just appreciative
that he was offering his hand
and had told me I could
spend time with his wife,
because I was so afraid.
Did any of your interactions
with Mr. Zimmerman
in this regard
leave you with some impression
that he was just too involved
in trying to help you out?
No.
MARK: Did you think
that his behavior
was helpful to you?
Very.
MYCHAL: In calling upon that
sense of nobility,
that men are protecting
white women
from the v*olence of black men.
I mean, we're calling back
to the days of lynching here.
MAN:
As if we're back in the 1950's
with the death of Emmett Till.
MYCHAL:
Emmett Till, the teenager
k*lled in Money, Mississippi.
The picture of his
d*sfigured face and body
helps to set off
the Civil Rights Movement.
SUNNY: The person who st*lks
and kills this young black man
is a civillian.
MYCHAL:
He was lynched for supposedly
whistling at a white girl.
PATRISSE:
That is the age-old trope,
that whiteness and White America
is actually embodied
in white women.
And that we have to
protect White America,
therefore, we have
to protect white women.
I think that that is not
a leap at all.
But just deeply historical.
It's a historical truth.
I know that's the stereotype.
It's been exploited
ever since what? Jim Crow?
But I don't quite get
the connection to this case
unless you're suggesting
that we were doing that somehow
on purpose to appeal
to the women on the jury.
No, that's offensive to me.
DAN:
And there's nothing to suggest
that race was a motivator
in George Zimmerman's actions.
JERALYN:
If you think racial animus
was George Zimmerman's motive,
it has to be proven
beyond a reasonable doubt.
MICHAEL: I didn't feel like
George was racially profiling.
It wasn't that
he was looking out for
a young black kid just because
he didn't like young black kids.
He was looking out
for a young black kid
because a young black kid
is the one
that broke into our home,
and that was creating crimes.
And he was walking.
Throughout the neighborhood.
JASMINE: But the problem
is that's the definition
of racial profiling.
MARK: At some point then,
one of those people
were found and arrested
and charged with that crime.
Yes.
[suspenseful music]
OLIVIA:
A month or two afterwards,
a police officer came to my door
and showed me a lineup
and asked me to identify
the guy who broke
into our house.
She then told me that he lived
on the other side
of our neighborhood.
MICHAEL:
He was 17.
He walked away from it untouched
because he's a minor.
MICHAEL: Yeah,
he said they always get away.
They did, they got away
from my house.
They got away
from the neighbor's house.
Even when they did get caught,
they still got away.
They got sent back home
with a slap on the wrist.
Ms. Bertalan,
I believe you said
that this crime happened to you
on August 3, 2011.
Did you have contact
with George Zimmerman that day?
Correct? Yes. Yes, sir.
JOHN: And the
reason he came to your house,
as he described to you was that
he had heard you
had been a victim, right?
Yes, sir.
And that wasn't the only
conversation you had
with this defendant
about that case
and you becoming
a victim, right?
Right.
Is it correct to say that
you and he talked about this
approximately
Probably around there.
And you discussed
that that person
lived in Retreat at Twin Lakes
near the back gate, right?
Yes.
♪ ♪
SUNNY: She tells her story
of George Zimmerman
trying to protect his neighbor
because he thinks
that young man may be back.
MALE REPORTER: Is this a
case of mistaken identity?
Who did George Zimmerman think
he was following that night?
And did he have ill-will
and spite in his mind
when he did it?
Number one: If you think
this is the same assailant,
you've now called 911.
Why not wait for the police?
Why not do as they tell you?
MALE REPORTER:
Zimmerman made multiple calls
to the non-emergency line,
and may have been
doing this for months.
If you think this
is somebody dangerous,
and committing home invasions,
probably it's not a good idea
to pursue them into the dark.
MALE REPORTER: Trayvon
Martin was running away
from Zimmerman that night.
And this testimony reveals
that Zimmerman may have been
acting out of rage.
And he winds up
k*lling this teenage boy
because of spite,
because of animus.
And because he's not the victim,
he's the villain.
That was the story
that was missing
in the prosecution
of George Zimmerman.
You should not get to
get away with m*rder
because you lost a fight
that you started.
MALE REPORTER:
We begin with the latest
on the George Zimmerman trial.
Closing arguments
set to start today.
After 12 days of testimony
and more than 50 witnesses,
there is a lot
of summing up to do.
During closing arguments,
I was really hopeful.
I don't know if
I was being naive,
or I just didn't understand
the court system,
but I was hopeful.
It's their last opportunity
really
to rehabilitate the case
in Trayvon's favor.
MYCHAL: We're not used to
rooting for the prosecutor.
The state that has locked us up,
that has been responsible
for all of this destruction
of our communities,
now we turn to you
to protect us.
Trayvon Martin's parents
are sitting in that courtroom
hoping for this place
to bring them justice.
They have to believe in it,
because there is nothing else.
A teenager is dead.
[ominous music]
He is dead
through no fault of his own.
♪ ♪
He bought Skittles
and some kind of watermelon,
or iced tea,
or whatever it's called.
That was his crime.
LARRY: Bernie tends to see
everything in black and white.
♪ ♪
He had $40.15 in his pockets.
LARRY: He's not comfortable
with racial issues.
And I think that was something
he struggled with in this case.
The prosecutors themselves
is white people
participating in a white drama,
could not stand up to defend
this young black boy
who had fallen.
If the minimum you're going for
is at least to hang that jury,
you gotta give that jury
something to hang onto.
You gotta give them a narrative.
♪ ♪
BERNIE: The back of his head,
you recall testimony
There was two.
How small were they?
You recall the testimony
of the witness, Ms. Colgate,
I think I had it--
Tell me how big it was.
I think she was...
It was hard to keep...
Anyway, you remember.
JAMIE: Bernie was asking
questions of the jury
in his closing arguments.
You don't ask any
questions of the jury
in your closing arguments!
You give them answers!
Why are his hands not injured?
If this 17-year-old young man
is wailing on him,
how come
he's not defending himself?
And what is the jury left with
but we don't know what happened.
That's a reasonable doubt!
♪ ♪
Armpits...
How does he get the g*n out?
♪ ♪
The truth does not lie!
Then we move onto Hannity!
He tells one lie after another.
Listen:
You said on the 911 call
that he's running.
Maybe I said running,
but he was more...
You said, "He's running."
Yes, he was like skipping...
Going away quickly.Mm-hmm.
But he wasn't running
out of fear.
But what does he say?
Oh, he's skipping away.
La, la, la.
[melancholy music]
That's what he's claiming.
♪ ♪
Confusion is doubt.
Doubt is acquittal.
Mr. O'Mara,
whenever you're ready.
MARK: Thank you.
If I may sit...
MARC: It's not
like Mark O'Mara
and his team had
the best closing argument
in the history of trials.
You can't help
but have a first impression.
You might have an impression
of George Zimmerman.
You might have
an impression of him
because he's standing
at the defense table.
Maybe, in fact, that because
the City Attorney's office
decided to charge him,
he has to have done
something wrong.
He stayed focused.
Self-defense,
his client was in fear
of his life,
and he reasonably
defended himself.
♪ ♪
That's cement.
And that is not
an unarmed teenager
with nothing but Skittles
trying to get home.
Had Trayvon Martin
been sh*t in the hip,
and survived,
what do you think he
would've been charged with?
Aggravated battery?
Two counts?
You go back to that room,
and say, "Let's talk first
about self-defense."
If I think George may have
acted in self-defense,
we are done.
And the prosecution
couldn't prove
beyond a reasonable
doubt otherwise,
that's the essence
of what happened.
JOY-ANN: It wasn't till
the final closing arguments
before the prosecution
included that really passionate
narrative about a scared kid.
The human heart.
It has a great many functions.
JOY-ANN: John Guy, the final
voice of the prosecution,
tells a beautiful sort of tale
about how we owe it to the dead
to serve in their memory,
and to do the right thing
for their families.
So if we really want to know
what happened,
out there behind those homes,
on that dark, rainy night,
♪ ♪
Should we not look
into the heart
of the grown man,
and the heart of that child?
The defendant didn't sh**t
Trayvon Martin
because he had to.
He sh*t him
because he wanted to.
This is the truth.
Thank you for your time.
JOY-ANN:
He tried to make that case,
but he didn't make it
throughout the whole trial.
He made it in his closing,
but that was too late.
I think the prosecution
utterly failed.
And they failed every day
until the very end.
Ladies and gentlemen
of the jury,
I thank you for your attention
during this trial.
At this time, if all of you
will please take your notes
with you and follow
Deputy Jarvis
back into the jury room.
All right.
Thank you very much,
Court is in recess.
♪ ♪
SYBRINA: After both sides
did their closing arguments,
we went into
this conference room.
I remember just getting
an eerie feeling.
Our attorney said
that we should stay there
during deliberations.
I was like,
"Listen, I'm leaving."
If I have to catch
a flight home,
if I have to catch a bus home,
if I have to rent a car,
it doesn't matter,
I'm leaving here.
♪ ♪
TRACY: I prayed about it,
asked God to guide me
in the right direction.
That direction was
packing our stuff,
getting on the Turnpike,
heading South.
I didn't fold anything up.
I just brushed everything
into the suitcase,
and put my stuff in the vehicle.
That probably was the longest,
quietest three-hour ride
that I've ever rode.
♪ ♪
I don't remember no one even
conversating on the way back.
♪ ♪
All I saw was
the Turnpike headed home.
[ominous music]
DEBRA: Please be seated.
We're back on the record.
♪ ♪
I understand
that we have a verdict.
♪ ♪
FOREWOMAN:
In the circuit court
of the 18th Judicial Circuit
in and for
Seminole County, Florida,
State of Florida versus
George Zimmerman, verdict:
We, the jury,
find George Zimmerman
not guilty.
So say we all for a person.
♪ ♪
No! No! Oh my God!
They found him not guilty? No!
DEBRA: Thank you all very much.
Court is adjourned
for this case.
MARK: Thank you, Judge.
♪ ♪
TRACY: I'm just fortunate
that I went down to Miami
because if I stayed...
♪ ♪
I would've gotten arrested.
I honestly
don't think the bailiffs
or the sheriffs
that was in that room
would've been able to come
between me and what I was going
to try to get at.
FEMALE REPORTER: Outside the
Seminole County Courthouse,
protestors were devastated.
That's not right!
That's not how this world
is supposed to be!
[crowd chanting:]
Justice for Trayvon!
Justice for Trayvon!
How can you m*rder
an innocent child
and sleep at night?
MALE REPORTER: As Zimmerman
walked the halls,
people yelled, "Shame."
ALL: Shame! Shame! Shame!
Shame! Shame!
MALE REPORTER:
Others could only shed tears.
WOMAN: I couldn't imagine
being that family right now.
I just thought we were
gonna get some kind of justice.
♪ ♪
AL: For black America,
it was the cold water
in the face again.
Here we are.
♪ ♪
And I just started crying.
♪ ♪
I saw grown men knees buckle.
They just went
down to their knees.
It was so much disappointment.
There was no energy
in them to fight.
There was no energy in them
to burn down nothing,
because all the energy
had been spent
praying and hoping
that this man get some time.
♪ ♪
FRANCIS:
It was a sad situation.
♪ ♪
TRACY: So many people
pulling for us...
So many people
depending on us...
♪ ♪
SYBRINA:
We didn't want the verdict
to define
who Trayvon Martin was.
We wanted to make sure
that we defined
who Trayvon Martin was.
JAMIE: Sybrina said
that this isn't it.
We had the eyes of every
camera in the nation,
and we had our voices.
ALL: Nationwide protest!
Nationwide protest!
We had to go out there
and we had to tell the world
that this wasn't over.
TRACY: Even though the k*ller
of our son got acquitted,
we got work to do.
FEMALE REPORTER:
Thousands of demonstrators
taking the streets
across the country.
MALE REPORTER:
In San Francisco,
ALL: Not one more!
MALE REPORTER:
In Chicago, signs reading
"We are all Trayvon."
In Los Angeles,
hundreds of marchers
shut down an entrance
to Interstate 10.
In New York, a mass of
demonstrators
shut down Times Square.
And in Oakland,
protests turn violent--
flag burnings
and broken windows.
But at the epicenter
of the case, Sanford, Florida,
Sunday morning sermons
requesting understanding.
v*olence doesn't solve anything.
SYBRINA: We had to fight
for not only my son,
but everybody's son.
MALE REPORTER:
Reaction to the verdict
dominating social media.
MALE REPORTER: In the hours
after the verdict,
nearly 4 1/2 million tweets
were unleashed.
AL: The whole movement of
young people becoming active
started with
that not guilty verdict
and Black Lives Matter.
MICHAEL: Patrisse Cullors,
Opal Tometi, Alicia Garza--
young black actors
were ready to go.
PATRISSE: I looked
into Alicia Garza's post.
I was like,
"What's Alicia writing?"
♪ ♪
I took it out and I was like,
"Let's put a hashtag on that."
♪ ♪
OPAL: We wanted to call
attention to the fact
that this would
not have happened
if he was not a black teenager.
PATRISSE: We weren't
just going to go
protest in black communities.
We were going to protest
in Beverly Hills.
It goes to
the heart of whiteness.
Our slogan right now
is "Black lives matter."
PATRISSE: So I see these folks
with these
"black lives matter" signs,
and I'm like, "Whoa, I think
we're on to something."
MALE REPORTER: Civil rights
organizations plan
to hold 100 rallies
at federal buildings
across the country
this Saturday.
FEMALE REPORTER: Those
protestors in Tallahassee
at the governor's office
continuing their sit-in.
OPAL: People who I had never
seen at a protest
or a rally were asking,
"When's the next one?
What are we going to do next?"
[indistinct chanting]
MALE REPORTER:
These demands for justice
showing no signs of stopping.
ALL: [chanting] Trayvon Martin,
Trayvon Martin.
[chanting continues]
[phone line trilling]
ANDY: His initial
introduction is
meek, mild, humble.
That charade wears off.
MAN: Oh, yeah.
George referred to black
people--
it's not "black people."
It's "monkeys."
MAN: That's not appropriate
right now.
MAN: Drop it.
MAN: Say to me what?
MAN: These witnesses were
scared to death of this guy.
That guy's gonna
come k*ll my whole family.
MAN: He's a scary person.
He should not be on
the streets holding a g*n.
01x05 - Reasonable Doubt
Watch/Buy Amazon
Focuses on the k*lling of Trayvon Martin that became a huge American talking point and helped spur the "Black Lives Matter" movement.
Focuses on the k*lling of Trayvon Martin that became a huge American talking point and helped spur the "Black Lives Matter" movement.