By the end of Friday the fate of George Zimmerman will be in the hands of the jury as the defense is set to make their closing arguments in the murder trial. In their closing argument the prosecution tried one last time to convince the jury that Zimmerman was a "wannabe cop" who "profiled" Trayvon Martin and killed him, according to the Chicago Tribune.
"A teenager is dead," prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda said in his closing argument. "He is dead through no fault of his own. He is dead because another man made assumptions. Because his assumptions were wrong, Trayvon Benjamin Martin will no longer walk on this Earth."
Throughout the closing arguments de la Rionda hammered home the belief that Zimmerman's version of events was filled with exaggerations and outright lies. De la Rionda makes the point that Zimmerman changed his story in order to fit with his self-defense case. While playing segments of Zimmerman's own voice explaining what happened to the police de la Rionda pointed out contradictions to the jury, according to The New York Times.
Some of the contradictions de la Rionda focused on: if Martin grabbed Zimmerman's gun how did he not leave DNA on it, why would Zimmerman follow Martin if he was scared of him and how could Martin punch Zimmerman, cover his mouth and grab for the gun at the same time, according to The New York Times.
"He went over the line," de la Rionda said. "He assumed things that weren't true and, instead of waiting for the police to come and do their job, he did not. He, the defendant, wanted to make sure that Trayvon Martin didn't get out of the neighborhood. In the defendant's mind he automatically assumed that Trayvon Martin was a criminal, and that's why we're here."
The defense began their closing argument this morning by cautioning the jury that if something wasn't proven by the state, if there is anything they don't know for sure, the jury is not allowed to connect the dots to make it true, reports the Orlando Sentinel.
The defense is expected to use about three hours for their closing argument. When they are finished the prosecution will be allowed an hour of time for a rebuttal before the case is handed over to the jury.
A live stream of the last day in court can be seen here.
