end of this trial you will know in your head, in your heart, in your stomach that george zimmerman did not shoot trayvon martin because he had to. he shot him for the worst of all reasons, because he wanted to. george zimmerman is not guilty of murder. he shot trayvon martin in self-defense after being viciously attacked. in his closing arguments mark o mara called for a moment of silence, first for a minute and then two and then more. to demonstrate how much time the defense says martin had to run and get home after he saw zimmerman. that s how long trayvon martin had to run, about four minutes. when he said he was running, that s how long. then hauled out a chunk of concrete to show how martin used the sidewalk as a weapon.
know, in february of last year, and then we had aurora and then newtown and then we had wisconsin and the temple and i think people will understand this in the context of united states having to grapple with what exactly we think in terms, what exactly our policies will be about firearms, what exactly we think will make us safer. theses questions that are kind of enduring and much bigger than what s going on in sanford, much bigger than whatever ultimately happens with george zimmerman, i think in that context we ll understand trayvon martin is part of that. ron mott here with me in sanford, florida, and the new yorker there, and thanks to both of you. thanks, craig. coming up, we re going to take a closer look at race relations in sanford right here in the city as this city and the entire country awaits the jury s verdict. first i want to send it back to richard lui in new york with today s other top stories.
uses profanity and a-hole and f-ing punk and in reference to trayvon martin, a complete stranger walking down the street minding his own business and they argue it is evidence of ill will. after the shooting he goes to the police station and calls him a suspect and still referring to him as a criminal and 234 the interview five months later with his attorneys sitting next to him he said it was god s plan. i think all of the recordings put together are the best evidence that the prosecution has. for the defense the photos of george zimmerman s injuries which they held up every chance they had in the courtroom showing them over and over again and george zimmerman certainly appearing as though he has been punched in the face and on the back of his head a couple of lacerations and bumps and cruises and which the defense says shows that he got beat up and that his only alternative was to draw the gun and shoot and kill to save his own life. what is the significance of adding manslaughter,
ask yourself all things being equal, if the roles were reversed, and it was 28-year-old george zimmerman walking home in the rain with a hoodie onto protect himself from the rain, walking through that neighborhood, and a 17-year-old driving around in a car who called the police, who had hate in their heart, hate in their mouth, hate in their actions, and if it was trayvon martin who had shot and killed george zimmerman, what would your verdict be? that s how you know it is not about race. besides race, what else was this case about? well, i can say quickly it is
consider race. i want to play this clip and talk to you about it on the other side. here it is. this case is not about race. it is about right and wrong. it is that simple. amy holmes, is it that simple? i don t think it is at all. i agree of course it is about race. george zimmerman racially profiled trayvon martin. trayvon martin was walking home. he was a black kid in a neighborhood and george zimmerman decided because of those facts that he must be a mal malefactor, someone on his way to rob a house. george zimmerman was told stay away. he called 911. george zimmerman kept following this young man, and this young man had what i thought was a perfectly reasonable reaction to being stalked down a neighborhood street late at night to say what is going on here? it is interesting to me that the prosecution, the person trying to you the state trying to