Chief witness in Trayvon Martin case lied under oath
Credibility may affect the case
The state’s chief witness in the Trayvon Martin murder case lied under oath, prosecutors say.
The young woman who says she was on the phone with Martin when he encountered George Zimmerman lied about her whereabouts at another time, the prosecution told a judge Tuesday.
The woman, whose name has not been released, had told prosecutors that she was in the hospital on the day of Martin’s funeral. The defense then sought her medical records.
In court on Tuesday, the state said the woman, known as Civilian Witness 8, was not in the hospital, so there are no such records to be turned over.
Prosecutors did not immediately respond to a question Wednesday from CNN about the witness’s credibility and how this may affect the case.
Questions have long surrounded the woman. Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump first played an audio recording of the woman a year ago at a news conference. The recording seemed to have very poor quality.
Police said that as of that point they had not interviewed her.
Crump said the witness was 16 years old. But prosecutors have since said she was already 18—legally an adult -- on the night of the killing, February 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida.
Martin, 17, was walking to the house of his father’s fiancee after a trip to a nearby convenience store.
Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, has acknowledged shooting Martin.
Crump has accused Zimmerman of killing Martin “in cold blood.”
Zimmerman says he acted in self-defense.
Vivian Kuo and Josh Levs | CNN
The parents of Trayvon Martin have settled a wrongful death claim against the homeowners association of the Florida neighborhood where the teenager was fatally shot, the Orlando Sentinel reported Friday.
The report of the settlement comes more than 13 months after neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman shot Martin in Zimmerman’s neighborhood in Sanford, Florida.
Feb. 26 will mark one year since then-17-year-old Travyon Martin was gunned down by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch coordinator in a gated community of Sanford, Fla.
Martin was visiting family in the area and was walking back from the store when, despite requests by local police not to do so, Zimmerman began following Martin because he appeared “suspicious.”
The two ended up in a physical confrontation, and the unarmed Martin was shot in the chest and killed.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Robert Zimmerman, whose brother, George, is awaiting trial on a charge of second-degree murder in the shooting death of African American teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida, told a Southland television station today that his family is not racist.
“I’m trying to re-introduce our family in the right light,” Zimmerman said in an interview on Fox 11.
George Zimmerman, 28, is free on bail and awaiting trial in the Feb. 26 shooting death. He has acknowledged shooting Martin but maintains he acted in self defense.
ORLANDO, Fla.—"Murderer," one e-mail's subject line said.
"Please shoot yourself, you racist piece of sh-t," read the body of another e-mail. "You killed an unarmed teen that you stalked."
And several dictated the same, succinct line: "Hope you die in prison."
These venom-drenched words are just a smattering of at least 400 e-mails and letters, all sent to George Zimmerman over the past 10 months.
Trayvon Martin is no longer only a person. He is now a movement.
And a recent gathering at the West Angeles Church of God in Christ’s north campus sanctuary in Martin’s name was not just a rally. It was a national call to action.
