The six women on the jury in the George Zimmerman trial have heard both sides present their case and now they must deliberate and decide if Zimmerman was guilty of second-degree murder, or possibly manslaughter, when he shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin last year, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
In the defense's closing arguments attorney Mark O'Mara placed heavy emphasis on the fact that if there is any doubt in the mind of the jurors about whether or not Zimmerman is guilty than they must find him not guilty.
"If you have a reasonable doubt as to whether George Zimmerman was justified in the use of deadly force, he's not guilty," O'Mara said. "(Martin's death) is a tragedy, truly. But you can't allow sympathy to play into it. Welcome to a criminal courtroom. You have to be better than your presumptions. A verdict must be based on the law. Period."
In the prosecution's rebuttal attorney John Guy argued that in order to understand what happened that night the jurors needed to look "into the heart of the grown man and the heart of that child." Guy tried to convince the jury that Martin probably was afraid of Zimmerman because of the way he was acting, reports the Orlando Sentinel.
"Isn't that every child's worst fear, to be followed in the dark by a stranger?" Guy said. "That was Trayvon Martin's last emotion. If that defendant had done what he was supposed to do, none of us would be here. None of us. If he really wanted the police to get Trayvon Martin, he would have stayed in his car."
In his closing statement O'Mara also questioned the credibility of many of the prosecution's witnesses and repeated often that the state did not have evidence to back up their version of what happened that night, according to NBC News.
"How many 'could-have-beens' have you heard from the state? How many 'what-ifs' have you heard from the state?" O'Mara asked. "If it hasn't been proven, as the instruction tells you, it's just not there. And you can't consider it. You can't fill in the gaps. You can't connect the dots."
Guy left the jury by saying that Martin "deserves" justice, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
"Trayvon Martin may not have had the blood of George Zimmerman on his hands," Guy said. "But George Zimmerman will forever have Trayvon Martin's blood on his hands. Forever."
Around 2:30 p.m. on Friday the six women of the jury retreated to the back room where they will pour over all of the evidence that has been presented and decide the case that has riveted the country for the last month. Late in the afternoon the jurors requested an index of all of the evidence, according to the Washington Post.
It is not known when the jury is going to make their ruling; it could be as early as tonight.
