Prosecutors want to bring up George Zimmerman's school records at his murder trial to show he knew about Florida's "stand your ground" law. Defense attorneys are arguing they are irrelevant.
While the jury was out of the courtroom Tuesday, prosecutors asked Judge Debra Nelson to allow them to introduce school records showing Zimmerman took a class that addressed Florida's self-defense law. They say it will show he had knowledge of the law, even though he claimed he didn't in an interview with talk show host Sean Hannity. That interview was played for jurors Tuesday.
The judge said she would rule later Tuesday. The jury was dismissed for the day shortly after 4:30 p.m.
Prosecutors also want to introduce a job application Zimmerman made to a police agency in Virginia and an application to ride around with Sanford police officers.
Follow LIVE UPDATES from Tuesday's testimony.
Tuesday's testimony
- Kristen Benson, a latent finger print expert with the Seminole County Sheriff's Office.
- Dr. Valerie Rao, the chief medical examiner from Jacksonville.
- Mark Osterman, George Zimmerman's best friend.
- Chris Serino, the Sanford Police detective who investigated the shooting.
Kristen Benson is a latent fingerprint expert with the Seminole County Sheriff's Office.
Benson told prosecutor John Guy that she found "no prints of value" on the gun George Zimmerman used to shoot Trayvon Martin.
She then admitted to defense attorney Mark O'Mara that water could have washed away a latent print. It was raining on the night of the shooting.
Dr. Valerie Rao is the chief medical examiner for Nassau, Clay and Duval counties, including the city of Jacksonville.
Rao told prosecutors that head injuries George Zimmerman received on the night he shot and killed Trayvon Martin are consistent with hitting concrete once, and were not life-threatening.
She also said all the injuries in various photos of George Zimmerman taken the night of the shooting could have come from a single punch or blow. Zimmerman has said Trayvon Martin slammed his head into the concrete repeatedly.
Prosecutors are trying to show Zimmerman's life wasn't in danger when he shot Martin.
But under cross-examination, Rao told defense attorney Mark O'Mara that Zimmerman's head could possibly have hit the concrete three or four times on each side.
Jury sees Zimmerman's interview on "Hannity."
Before Rao was called to the stand, prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda played a video for the jury of George Zimmerman's interview on national TV with host Sean Hannity on the Fox News Channel.
During the interview, which aired on July 18, 2012, Zimmerman said he would not have done anything differently than what happened the night of the shooting. He still would have gotten out of his car and followed Trayvon Martin. He also told Hannity it was part of "God's plan," and it wasn't for him to second-guess how it all played out.
Mask Osterman says George Zimmerman is "the best friend I've ever had."
Osterman, a federal air marshal, said he spoke with Zimmerman both the night of and the day after the shooting.
Osterman later wrote a book about his recollections of what Zimmerman told him, called "Defending our Friend: The Most Hated Man in America."
Under examination by prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda, Osterman said that Zimmerman told him Trayvon Martin had grabbed his gun during their struggle, but that Zimmerman was able to pull it away.
That account is different from what Zimmerman told investigators in multiple interviews, when he only said it appeared Martin was reaching for his gun prior to the shooting. He never told police the teen grabbed it.
"I thought he had said he grabbed the gun," Osterman said. "I believe he said he grabbed the gun."
Osterman also said he gave Zimmerman advice about buying a gun and training with it, adding he believes anyone who is not a convicted felon should carry a gun.
Chris Serino was the lead detective assigned to the Trayvon Martin shooting.
Before the jury returned to the courtroom Tuesday, prosecutors got the judge to strike from the record Serino's opinion that he found George Zimmerman credible in his account of how he got into a fight with Trayvon Martin.
Judge Debra Nelson told jurors Tuesday to disregard Serino's statement from Monday. Prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda said the statement was improper, because one witness isn't allowed to give an opinion on the credibility of another witness.
Defense attorney Mark O'Mara argued the statement was proper because Serino was vetting Zimmerman's veracity during his probe, but the judge agreed with the state's argument.
De la Rionda then questioned Serino about his opinion given Monday that he didn't believe Zimmerman displayed any ill will or spite to Martin. Prosecutors must prove there was ill will, spite or a depraved mind by the defendant to get a second-degree murder conviction.
De la Rionda played back a police call Zimmerman had made to report Martin in the neighborhood: Zimmerman uses an expletive and "punks" and then says, "These a-------. They always get away." The prosecutor asked the investigator if those words showed some spite, and Serino said, "a little."
Next, de la Rionda challenged Serino's contention that he found Zimmerman's story without major inconsistencies. The prosecutor played back Zimmerman's police interview in which investigators question Zimmerman about small differences in the neighborhood volunteer's story. The prosecutor also pointed out Zimmerman claimed that after he shot Martin, he spread out the teen's arms. But a photo taken immediately after the shooting shows Martin's arms under his body.
"Is that inconsistent with the defendant's statement he spread the arms out?" de la Rionda asked.
"That position, yes it is," Serino said.
Tuesday is Serino's second day on the witness stand. He and another investigator, Doris Singleton, testified Monday about their investigation as jurors heard a series of police interviews in which the detectives grew more pointed in their questioning.
In an early interview, just hours after the Feb. 26, 2012, shooting, Singleton recounted that Zimmerman noticed a cross she was wearing and said: "In Catholic religion, it's always wrong to kill someone."
Singleton said she responded, "If what you're telling me is true, I don't think that what God meant was that you couldn't save your own life."
But in an interview days later, Singleton and Serino suggest that Zimmerman was running after Martin before the confrontation. They also ask Zimmerman why he didn't explain to Martin why he was following him. The officers insinuate that Martin may have been "creeped out" by being followed.
"Do you think he was scared?" Singleton asked Zimmerman in one video interview.
Under cross-examination, though, Serino said Zimmerman seemed straightforward in his answers and didn't show any anger when talking about Martin. Serino said the increasingly pointed questioning is a tactic known as a "challenge interview," where detectives try to break someone's story to make sure they're telling the truth.
Zimmerman has said he fatally shot the unarmed black teen in self-defense in February, 2012, because he says Martin was banging his head into a concrete sidewalk behind townhomes in a gated community. Zimmerman, 29, could get life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder.
The state argued during its opening statement that Zimmerman profiled and followed Martin in his truck and called a police dispatch number before he and the teenager got into a fight. Zimmerman has denied the confrontation had anything to do with race, as Martin's family and their supporters have claimed. A 44-day delay in Zimmerman's arrest led to protests around the nation; he was ultimately charged by a Florida special prosecutor. Zimmerman's father is white and his mother is Hispanic.
In his first interview at the police station, Zimmerman said he saw Martin walking through his neighborhood on a dark, rainy night while Zimmerman was driving to the grocery store. He told Singleton that he didn't recognize Martin and that there had been recent break-ins at his townhome complex.
Zimmerman told the police officer that he lost track of Martin and got out of his truck to look for a street name he could relay to a police dispatcher. When the dispatcher suggested Zimmerman didn't need to follow Martin, Zimmerman started to head back to his vehicle. At that point, Zimmerman alleged, Martin jumped out of some bushes, punched him and he fell to the ground.
Zimmerman said Martin began hitting his head against the sidewalk as Zimmerman yelled for help and that Martin told him, "You're going to die tonight."
With Zimmerman's shirt and jacket pushed up during the struggle and his holstered gun now visible, he thought Martin was reaching for his firearm holstered around his waist. Zimmerman told the officer that he shot Martin and the teen said, "You got me."