CHICAGO TRIBUNE5 Hours AgoNew evidence in George Zimmerman case: Trayvon texted about being a fighter, smoking marijuana
Defense attorneys in the George Zimmerman case today released evidence they discovered on Trayvon Martin's cell phone, including text messages in which he wrote about taking part in an organized fight, smoking marijuana and being suspended from school.
Defense attorneys in the George Zimmerman case today released evidence they discovered on Trayvon Martin's cell phone, including text messages in which he wrote about taking part in an organized fight, smoking marijuana and being suspended from school.
The new evidence also includes texts in which he wrote that his mother had just kicked him out of the house and that he was in trouble for cutting class.
The evidence packet also includes more than two dozen photos: Some — including one that shows
Trayvon with gold teeth and two of him making an obscene gesture — have already been widely circulated online, but today defense attorneys officially notified prosecutors they intend to use them at Zimmerman's second-degree murder trial June 10.
There are also new photos, which defense attorneys indicate came from Trayvon's cell phone. They show the teen blowing smoke. They also show a handgun, which appears to be a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson, as well as what appear to be several marijuana plants.
Circuit Judge Debra S. Nelson must now decide whether to allow jurors to learn about the text messages and photos. In paperwork filed earlier this month, Assistant State Attorney Bernie de la Rionda asked her to ban all of Trayvon's text messages, describing them as irrelevant.
De la Rionda also asked the judge to bar all evidence about Trayvon's marijuana use, school suspensions, fighting and those gold teeth.
She may hear argument about those things Tuesday.
In a prepared statement, Benjamin Crump, the attorney for Trayvon's family, described the new pieces of evidence as "irrelevant red herrings" and "a desperate and pathetic attempt by the defense to pollute and sway the jury pool."
He predicted the judge would find them irrelevant and ban them at trial.
The new text messages about fighting may be the most damaging to the state.
Zimmerman says he acted in self-defense when he shot Trayvon, an unarmed black 17-year-old, in Sanford Feb. 26, 2012.
Zimmerman described Trayvon to police as an aggressive young man who punched him, breaking his nose and knocking him to the ground then climbed on top and began hammering his head onto a sidewalk.
Trayvon wrote about fighting in a text message sent Nov. 22, 2011.
His unnamed opponent, he wrote, "got mo hits cause in da 1st round he had me on da ground an I couldn't do ntn."
Trayvon's texts also show that he was interested in guns. A few days before the shooting, he wrote an unidentified friend, "U wanna share a .380"
And about a week before that, he texted a young Miami woman who's been described as his girlfriend, "U gotta gun?"
Her response: yes, although she did not have possession of it. "It my mommy but she buy for me," she wrote.
He also exchanged text messages about marijuana.
On Feb. 20, 2012, he wrote a friend that he would in be the Orlando area for several days and explained it was because "I hid my weed."
New evidence in George Zimmerman case: Trayvon texted about being a fighter, smoking marijuana
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/os-george-zimmerman-trial-trayvon-20130523,0,2516893.story
John Hames
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