ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - A color photograph of George Zimmerman with a bloody, swollen nose taken on the night he shot and killed unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin last February was posted on the Internet on Monday by Zimmerman's legal defense team.
As the photo began
to be circulated widely by the news media, lawyers on both sides
disagreed about its significance to the second-degree murder case
against Zimmerman.
"It's not a game
changer," Zimmerman lawyer Mark O'Mara told Reuters. But O'Mara said the
photo was significant in that it shows vividly the injuries Zimmerman
incurred during his confrontation with Martin at a condominium in the
central Florida town on Sanford.
On February 26, Zimmerman, who was a neighborhood watch
volunteer, shot and killed 17-year-old Martin who was walking to the
home in Sanford where he was staying with his father.
Zimmerman's murder trial is set for June 2013.
Zimmerman claims he shot Martin in self defense during a struggle.
"Does it really show what happened that night to George? Yes," O'Mara said.
Attorney Ben Crump,
who represents Martin's family, however said the photo adds nothing new
to the case. Previously released evidence has indicated Zimmerman was
hit in the nose during the fight with Martin.
"Trayvon Martin was defending himself. He had every right to stand his ground to defend himself," Crump said.
O'Mara told Reuters
that prosecutors in May had given him a grainy black-and-white
photocopy of the image which was taken in the back seat of a Sanford
police cruiser. O'Mara said he received the digital image from
prosecutors after repeated demands by his office and he posted it Monday
on Zimmerman's defense website.
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