SANFORD, Florida (Reuters) - Florida Judge Debra Nelson denied a defense request to dismiss the second-degree murder charge against George Zimmerman, ruling the jury should decide whether to convict the neighborhood watch volunteer who killed unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin.
Zimmerman's defense lawyer had asked for the dismissal once prosecutors rested their case in chief, leading to arguments in which the defense said prosecutors failed to prove their case after nine days of testimony.
Prosecutors countered that Zimmerman offered at least three different explanations for how his confrontation with Martin began, casting down on his claim of self-defense.
"There are two people involved here. One of them's dead. One of them's a liar," prosecutor Richard Mantei said.
Nelson denied the defense motion immediately after arguments, and the defense then began its case.
Zimmerman, 29, killed Martin, 17, in the central Florida town of Sanford on February 26, 2012. Police initially declined to arrest Zimmerman, believing his claim of self-defense, but a special prosecutor brought a charge of second-degree murder 45 days later.
Earlier on Friday, Martin's mother said in court she recognized the voice of her son screaming for help in the background of an emergency call made to police moments before he died.
"I heard my son screaming," Fulton said.
The defense called as its first witness Zimmerman's mother, Gladys Zimmerman, who said it was her son screaming for help.
Testimony from voice-recognition experts has been ruled inadmissible in the trial on the grounds that it was impossible to tell from the brief, poor-quality recording whether it was Martin or Zimmerman calling for help.
In addition to Martin's mother, the state's final witnesses included his brother, 22-year-old Jahvaris Fulton, who said he too was convinced it was his brother who can be heard screaming on the recording.
UP TO 10 MINUTES TO DIE
After Martin's mother and brother testified, prosecutors called Shiping Bao, the central Florida medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Martin.
Bao said Martin did not die instantly, even though the lone bullet from Zimmerman's 9 mm Kel-Tec semi-automatic handgun pierced the right ventricle of his heart.
"It is my opinion that he was still alive, he was still in pain, he was still suffering," said Bao, even as he stressed Martin could not possibly have survived the wound.
"I believe that he was alive for one to 10 minutes after he was shot," Bao added.
Bao's testimony was accompanied by graphic photographs from the autopsy that were shown to jurors. He did not explain how Martin could have been in pain, if he lost consciousness before he died, and acknowledged that he previously said the youth may only have lived for up to three minutes after the shooting.
(Additional reporting by Kevin Gray; Editing by Tom Brown, Daniel Trotta and Bernard Orr)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/trayvon-martins-mother-says-shes-certain-her-son-140105842.html
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