after his girlfriend left a frantic 911 call claiming zimmerman had pointed a gun at her, which zimmerman denied. but yesterday we reported she changed her story. in her sworn affidavit saying zimmerman, quote, never pointed a gun at or toward my face in a threatening manner, also saying, quote, i want to be with george, and quote, i do not want george zimmerman charged. and tonight, after reviewing the affidavit, the state attorney said conflicting statements and lack of evidence or witnesses were the reasons for dropping the case. zimmerman s attorney just spoke to nbc legal analyst lisa bloom. she asked why george barricade himself inside the house. well, he did it before they arrived. he did it because he wanted to separate himself from samantha, as he said on the 911 tape. and he locked himself in the house so that he would be
been trayvon martin on top of him. let s not forget to other two standard ground rules. you need to have lawfully present and engaged in lawful activity. gregg: so was he engaged in lawful activity. if he was provoking an attack and this is what the case is going to hinge on. if he was not engaged in lawful activity and provoked martin first, standard ground is going to apply. i find it interesting . gregg: but it s waived by the defense here. they are going with a pure self-defense. robert, as to rachel s pointed, this is private community. they have an organized watch program of which zimmerman was a parted and engaged in that night. it s not against the law or improper in any way, is it,
he is not in the courtroom this morning. that is somewhat of a surprise as attorneys for both sides are arguing this long list of motions. judge debra nelson already deciding this morning a number of things. martin s cell phone pictures and texts are not going to be relevant for the jury to see. pictures such as martin smoking pot, pictures of marijuana plants, a photo of a handgun, perhaps he was trying to sell a gun and was involved in fighting. aside from the fighting the judge rules it is not really pertinent, all of which zimmerman s attorneys want it available. the idea of marijuana use is going to be intertwined with the behavior that happens the night that for whatever reason led to the altercation. the state says my guy was the aggressor. the state says trayvon martin is the aggressor. studies suggested aggressive behavior can be residual from marijuana use. reporter: judge nelson did allow the toxicology
association strongly backed florida s stand your ground law, which zimmerman s attorney is likely to use in his defense. and this afternoon republican presidential candidate mitt romney will give a speech to the nra. and when romney ran for massachusetts governor in 2002, the nra gave his democratic opponent a higher rating on gun rights when he first decided to run for president in 06, mitt romney signed up for an nra membership and has since called himself a strong supporter of gun rights. you can see that speech right here on msnbc coming up at 2:00 p.m. eastern time. well, straight ahead in the poly sidebar, how much money mitt romney thinks he ll need to raise to win this election. plus, talk bay wild ride, look at this police officer hanging on for dear life to the front of a speeding bus. [ e ngine revs ] [ male announcer ] strip away the styling. strip away the rearview monitors, tv screens, bluetooth.
neighborhood watch patrol, which zimmerman was supposed to follow, says this. this is what they describe as guidelines. it should be emphasized to members that they do not have police powers and they should be pursue vehicles. they should also be cautioned to alert police or deputies when encountering strange activities. members should not confrotact members if they could be armed and dangerous. how do you use self-defense as an argument when you have disobeyed guidelines. disobeyed instructions of a dispatch dispatcher. you can t say i felt i was being threatened. because if race is not in it, you have clearly can t use self-defense and you killed