In the ongoing legal saga of George Zimmerman’s killing of Trayvon Martin, newly released evidence suggests police doubted the shooter’s story from the beginning.
According to the Huffington Post, the Florida state attorney prosecuting Zimmerman for second-degree murder has submitted an early report in which an investigator writes, “Findings show that George Michael Zimmerman had at least two opportunities to speak with Trayvon Benjamin Martin in order to defuse the circumstances.” The same report suggested that, considering the physical size of the two parties involved, the use of lethal force did not seem warranted.
Investigators also questioned the fact that Zimmerman followed the teenager but later described being afraid of him—behavior that they deemed inconsistent. The release of the formerly sealed evidence was objected to by both the defense and prosecution teams, but Judge Kenneth Lester said Florida statutes protecting open records couldn’t be ignored.
