with which george zimmerman is charged, was committed, and george zimmerman is the person who committed the crime. george zimmerman is not required to present evidence or prove anything. whenever the words reasonable doubt are used, you must consider the following. a reasonable doubt is not a mere possible doubt, a speculative, imaginary, or forced doubt. such a doubt should not influence you to return a verdict of not guilty if you have an abiding conviction of guilt. on the other hand, if after carefully considering, comparing, and weighing all of the evidence, there is not an abiding conviction of guilt or if having a conviction it is one which is not stable but one which waivers and vacillates, then the charge is not proved beyond every reasonable doubt, and you must find george zimmerman not guilty because the doubt is reasonable. it is to the evidence introduced in this trial and to it alone that you are to look for that proof. a reasonable doubt as to the guilt of george zimmerman may arise from the evidence, conflict in the evidence, or lack of the evidence. if you have a reason

with which george zimmerman has charged was committed and george zimmerman is the person who committed the crime. george zimmerman is not required to present evidence or prove anything. whenever the words reasonable doubt are used, you must consider the following. a reasonable doubt is not a mere possible doubt, a speculative, imaginary or forced doubt. such a doubt should not influence you to return a verdict of not guilty if you have an abiding conviction of guilt. on the other hand, if after carefully considering, comparing and weighing all of the evidence there is not an abiding conviction of guilt or if having a conviction, it is one which is not stable, but one which wavers and vase lacillates, then the ce is not proved beyond a reasonable doubt and you must find george zimmerman not guilty because the doubt is reasonable. it is to the evidence introduced in this trial and it alone that you are to look to that proof. a reasonable doubt as to the guilt of george zimmerman may arise from the evidence, conflict in the evidence, or the lack of evidence. if you have a reasonable doubt

zimmerman. he initiated the fracas. but you you don't convict someone of murder because he shows poor judgment or because he racially profiles. to believe that, the verdict was racist, you have to believe that six women jurors want to harm blacks. you also have to believe that the state of florida did not do everything it could to convict zimmerman. rational people know florida threw everything it had at zimmerman. and while our jury system is fallible, we saw that in the o.j. simpson case, you simply cannot brand a jury racist without visible proof. that's grossly unfair. the cold truth is, nobody on earth knows what happened on the night trayvon martin was killed except george zimmerman. he is the only one. you may not like the verdict and you are entitled to your opinion. but you are not entitled to undermine the justice system or impugn the basic decency of the united states. and that's the memo. now for the top story tonight, attorney general holder says the justice department will reenter

zimmerman not taking the stand. >> george zimmerman has pled not guilty and claims he fatally shot trayvon martin in self defense. >> state versus george zimmerman. >> twenty-three days after the state versus george zimmerman, the state began his closing argument. here is how attorney de la rionda began his closing argument today. >> a teenager is dead. he is dead through no fault of his own. he is dead because another man made assumptions. that man assumed certain things. he is dead, not just because the man made those assumptions, because he acted upon those assumptions and unfortunately, unfortunately, because his assumptions were wrong trayvon benjamin martin no longer walks on this earth. >> even though george zimmerman chose not to testify in his own defense, the prosecution tried to use george zimmerman's words against him. >> this innocent, 17-year-old kid was profiled as a criminal. to quote the defendant and pardon my language "he was one of those bleep-holes that get away. pardon my language, he was one of those f-punks. now the defendant, george zimmerman, didn't scream that ou

what it proves is that if george zimmerman, if people understand that george zimmerman that trayvon martin grabbed him by the head in a manner that might have caused george zimmerman's dna to get under his nails and slammed his head into the sidewalk you might expect some amount of dna to be under his fingernails, but it also might not. so i have to say, it's helpful to the prosecution and it's not a slam dunk and not a big ticket item and it is something to add to the evidence flat prosecution has presented to show that the contact might not be as zimmerman described. >> mike geragos, do you think this was ultimately a wash? the defense was able to get the dna expert to basically say just the fact that he couldn't find dna didn't mean there wasn't trayvon martin's dna on the holster and the gun? >> i do think it's a wash. i can't tell you, lawrence will tell you how many times you will see and especially with guns and depending on what with the kind of surface is of it . it's very difficult to know when someone handles that gun to pick up the dna off of it or the fingerprints off of it or

to the extent he made a statement about zimmerman's claim that seems inconsistent with what zimmerman has said before in this case, touching the gun, actually being able to touch the gun with a holster, that is not what zimmerman has ever said to authorities that we know of so far. that seems inconsistent. on the other hand, this man was his friend, he was not a cop, he was not required to write things down or record anything that was said. so to the extent he gives an inconsistency, i'm not sure it's going to be all that impressive. he also was interested in writing a book and so perhaps a little bit of exaggeration creeps in order to make it a more exciting book. so, yeah, it's an inconsistency. whether it's a moment to anybody, that's highly debatable. >> we're going to take a quick break and be back with more from the george zimmerman trial, which is set to resume in just a few minutes. until then we'll review the day's event in the courtroom with our experts. plus we're watching another major story with a deadline looming. egyptian president mohamed morsy in cairo. . "eliminating

zimmerman? >> yes. >> tell me how you met george. >> i met georgy at a mortgage company called first trust back in 2006. >> okay. and was that a place where you worked together? >> yes. >> what type of work did you do back then? >> mortgage business. >> and was mr. zimmerman doing something similar? >> yes. he was in the sales and i was processing. >> okay. >> did you guys become friends over the time you worked together? >> yes. >> did you maintain that friendship? >> yes. >> and it is that friendship that brings you here today, is that correct? >> yes, it is. >> and i know that you were present or around during the time that both proceeding the event that brings us here and, of course, right after the event, correct? >> that's correct. >> what i'd like to do, however, today, is just focus your attention on one subject of that and that is the, we are calling the 911 tape, to identify it to you the tape that has a voice in the foreground and turns out her name is mrs. lauer and voice in the back

zimmerman, correct ? >> yes, sir. >> and you had read other statements that other witnesses had gathered together as to what they heard? >> yes, sir. >> that included mrs. lauer, who told you she heard what she heard? >> yes, sir. >> and her fiancee as well, back then her fiancee? >> yes. >> you had spoken to them yourself? >> yes, i had. >> as you were now going back to mr. zimmerman, who did not have this information available to him, tell me what concerns you had that mr. zimmerman told you that night that did not comport to the information that you were aware of? >> i had none at that time. >> did he seem to be cagey in his answering to you? did he seem to be side stepping your answers in any form or way to get around answering your direct questions? >> no, sir. >> did he seem to do anything that based upon your training and experience evidenced to you what he was being less than straight forward with you? >> no, he was being straight forward in my opinion. >> i think it was in this interview that you

if zimmerman's on the ground, how did zimmerman grab that gun out to shoot trayvon? >> well, you know, i listened to the prosecutor' prosecutor the o explain the impossibility of this. when you're in a street fight, there's never been two street fights that actually go down the same way, and how your body reacts and gets to certain things and does certain things is probably still kind of a mystery to everybody it happens to, but it happens, and he got the weapon. he managed to get the weapon no matter how that occurred. that is really irrelevant to the actual elements of the crime. if you want it to be murder, then it's not an element. if you want it to be self defense, you make it an issue. i don't think they were successful at doing that. >> mark, have you ever seen a jury of just six women, you know, one sex? >> no. i've never seen that. i was kind of surprised that it was ever even allowed to happen. it just seems like you would want a couple of males on there just so they could maybe kind of align themselves with george zimmerman and actually being in a situatio

. >>> tonight, high drama in the george zimmerman trail. tray vob's mother testifying that the voice here on the 911 audiotape screaming in the background belongs to her dead son. and the attorney for trayvon's family is here to go on the record. >> have you ever heard him while he was growing up, heard him cry or yelling? >> yes. >> you think he's yelling help? >> yes. >> there just were gun shots. >> just heard gunshots? >> yes. >> screaming or yelling, do you recognize that? >> yes. >> and who do you recognize that to be? >> trayvon benjamin martin. >> you know whose voice that was screaming in the background? >> yes, sir. >> whose voice was that? >> my son, george. >> are you certain of that? >> because he's my son. >> what was the manner of death, sir? >> the manner of death is home. he was killed by another person. he was still alive, and he was killed. he was suffering. >> objection. not a relevant issue. >> just a second. your objection is relevance? overruled. >> there's only one reason to squeeze the trigger at someone's heart and

did he run towards zimmerman, did zimmerman run towards him. there's so many questions. >> this is the point that viewers have to understand, it's not what really did happen out there, because nobody knows, because no one can hear from trayvon martin. but the prosecution had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that george zimmerman was the aggressor. and with that four-minute gap and the opportunity to one home, the jurors, i can see quite reasonably would think i'm not sure whether he was really scared or whether she was standing to confront or whatever. but absent proof beyond a reasonable doubt, that high burden, that's what the prosecution was dealing with that made it so difficult. it's the burden of proof in the case. >> it was the burden of proof, and you're right, i think unfortunately, when you look at the evidence when you look at this four-minute period, that there's clearly, in the minds of the jurors could have been reasonable doubt. so i could. agree with you more. greta, until this moment, there's another question mark. why do the

zimmerman. i was not on the jury, but i think what happened here could be a manifestation of that maxim. >> i want toss here with you and still talk about the jury. ultimately it is the interpretation of the law by the jury. it's what rules. so of course without changing the meaning or legal impact, should some laws be rewritten to make them easier to understand? >> potentially, and that's the age old question. there always is, as i said, are written by lawyers and committee well before the trial. each state has their own set of jury instructions, but then the lawyers, the prosecution and the defense in criminal cases, grapple over a negotiated overwording because somebody's life is at stake in criminal cases and every word matters. i think, however, that this judge, judge nelson, did a reasonable job taking the previously drafted jury instructions by the legal committee, which are on the books, and crafted them to apply to this case. again, i'd be very curious to see what question the jurors ha

got freed. >> zimmerman's attorney mark o'mara says zimmerman will have to be very careful about his safety because people said they won't listen to the not guilty verdict. earlier today, chris cuomo asked about the public's reaction to the verdict. >> let's begin with what is all around us, the reaction. a lot of it outrage to the not guilty verdict. are you surprised by that part of the reaction? >> i'm a bit surprised there's outrage because we had hoped everybody would look at this case as being a very fair trial where both parties were represented well. i think most, if not all, of the evidence came out and the jury took their time deliberating and came up with a fair and just verdict. we've all agreed we should listen to a fair and just verdict. i hope that those people, even though they're frustrated, will accept the verdict. >> address the basic concern, which is your client, george zimmerman, wound up killing trayvon martin and yet there is no legal responsibility, and people can't understand it. what are they missing? >> well, what they're missing is that george had an abso

. >> that was absolutely george zimmerman. i knew that that was george zimmerman. it was easy for me just based on my past experiences, very easy. that was george zimmerman. >> don leap aly's performance i of the jury was strong. paying close attention. laughing when he made hey joke. looking close and serious when he was upset. meantime, the prosecutors say they didn't know he was going to be able to testify with this kind of expertise. afterward they asked the judge to throw his testimony out. but the judge refused. it is going to stay in. erin. >> david mattingly, the testimony could be crucial. out front, sunny hostin, and paul, tracy martin takes the stand. calling into question, you had the friend. and that. david mattingly, an emotional friend, so certain. vietnam vet. how successful was the defense >> they started building the rock pile of doubt. if you look at the way things stack up. they call the mother and brother of trayvon martin. now the brother had some problem. he said at first he couldn't recognize the voice. raefl the only unequivocal identificat

zimmerman walks. says "the los angeles daily news." "l.a. times," zimmerman not guilty. "the new york post" simply states, tray-vesty. hello, everyone. i'm don lemon live here in sanford, florida. a different story here. that place is empty. it was filled with people yesterday and a jury deciding the fate of george zimmerman. the trial of george zimmerman is over. he is now a free man. of course, not guilty. emotions are still strong. how one case is sparking controversy about race in america. healing in america. and the law in america. so, let's get started now. two words from sanford, florida, reverberating across the nation. not guilty. >> the verdict? >> state of florida versus george zimmerman, verdict, we the jury find george zimmerman not guilty. >> here in sanford and across the nation, people vowed to fight to honor the fallen teen. others rallied to show support for george zimmerman. trayvon martin's family tried to heal going to church. the pastors mentioned the martins in sermons. meanwhile, george zimmerman is enjoying a first full day of freedom out of the

we have not heard directly from the zimmerman family, or from george zimmerman himself, of course, this evening and we will watch for that. we have so much more coverage for you now, geradlo rivera is live in sanford, florida, and has been as they have been deliberating all evening earlier today and yesterday, and throughout the trial he has been covering it. "geraldo at large," geraldo, you are with us? >> yes, i am, it's a fox news alert. geraldo rivera reporting on the verdict of george zimmerman. the tragic florida youngster, that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. it was one of those awful tragedies in life, but not all tragedies are crimes. that is what happened here. they over charged george zimmerman, i believe, largely because of outside political pressure. political pressure from civil rights icons. political pressure, indeed from the white house itself. you recall the president of the united states suggesting that if he had a son, his son would look like trayvon martin. it is one of those awful confluences of politics and justice, and they do not mix. this i

how sympathetic she was to zimmerman's presentation. and obviously that's who she believed and the rest of the jury believed as they heard the story. the evidence. >> clearly -- by the way, i should point out, at the end of the interview, she said she doesn't want to do any more interviews, she doesn't want to speak again. she's hoping this will burst the bubble of pressure on the jurors to speak. and she kind of just wants to be left alone. >> she didn't ask to be a public figure, she didn't want to be a public figure. she's not selling a book deal. >> there is another thing, there is a book that she and her husband have talked about writing. >> she's the one? >> yeah, she's the one, that emerged today. she said part of the reason they would like to, they don't want to profit off it, they would like the story told, she thinks they have an interesting story, her husband being an attorney, what it was like to be on the jury. she made a big deal of stressing, she didn't want to profit from this. we didn't pay for this interview. she wante

all eyes are on the zimmerman trial. i know the prosecution is feeling a lot of pressure about what the outcomes of this case will be. a all of these things are factors when you're making a determination. if you get a mistrial, whether or not that case gets retried. >> surely the prosecution is feeling pressure. george zimmerman's feeling pressure. now the jurors feel a ton of pressure. lots of twists and turns in this trial. what moment stood out to us? we're going to stick with the jury as they head into deliberations and get into that next. it starts with something little, like taking a first step. and then another. and another. and if you do it. and your friends do it. and their friends do it... soon we'll be walking our way to awareness, support and an end to alzheimer's disease. and that? that would be big. grab your friends and family and start a team today. register at alz.org the last thing i want is to feel like someone is giving me a sales pitch, especially when it comes to my investments. you want a broker yo

state of florida versus george zimmerman. we the jury find george zimmerman not guilty. so say we all foreperson. >> welcome everybody to this special edition of new day. that was the moment we have all been waiting for. the reading of the verdict in the george zimmerman murder trial. jury's decision, you heard it, not guilty. some people expected it. many did not. thanks for joining us. i'm chris cuomo. >> i'm kate baldwin. it's 8:00 in the east on this sunday july 14th. thank you for joining us for "new day." it was inevitable after the verdict came down that one side would be happy and one side would express relief, declare justice -- they would also declare that justice had been done and they would want to move on. listen here. >> your bond will be released. your gps monitor will be cutoff when you exit the courtroom over here and you have no further business with the court. >> thank you, your honor. >> but we knew from the beginning if trayvon martin was allowed to be killed and the man that did it to not go to jail there would be outrage and there is. civil rights

the voice belongs to zimmerman. zimmerman's family also said it was him. the next day, a forensic expert says the evidence supports zimmerman's story. the defense rests on wednesday. george zimmerman tells the judge that he won't take the stand. that the prosecution gets closing arguments. the judge says she will allow the jury to consider the lesser charge of manslaughter but rules out third-degree murder. finally, yesterday, the defense delivers its closing arguments. the judge gives the jury her final instructions and deliberations get under way. >> here's what we know about the six-member all-women jury. a juror number one, hispanic nurse with several children and she lived in chicago at the time of the shooting. juror number two, middle-aged white woman. married 30 years, with children. one child by the way is an attorney. and juror number three, another middle-aged white woman and is described as -- has described protests in sanford as rioting and her husband is an attorney. she also has children. juror number four, retired white woman. she knew a go

long before the trial, marks o'mara was fighting for george zimmerman and he kept george zimmerman off the stand. me hush -- pushed for an all or nothing second degree charge. a big day for mach who i spoke with just a short time ago. mark, there seems to be confusion earlier in the afternoon when the judge asked mr. zimmerman whether he would testify or not. he said he needed more time to decide. what finally made him decide not to? i assume for most of this trial, you've known he's not going to testify. >> actually, that's not true. he was really considering testifying. he wanted to tell the jury what he did, why he did it and what he was facing when he made that decision to fire the shot. i think the confusion was more of semantics than substance, though. whenever that decision is made, it's always with consultation with counsel and george wanted to include that information. so that was a little bit of confusion but really without a point. >> what convinced him not to do it? i assume your advice was not to do it. >> yeah. the way i look at it, i have to convince myself if the state

robert zimmerman jr., george zimmerman's brother is here. last night i was in sanford, florida where a few hundred people gathered after the verdict. in cities across this country thousands as you can see on the screen right there are rallying in support of trayvon martin. how does that make you feel? >> judge, thank you for having me. i think that is one of our fundamental rights is to assemble and express ourselves as long as it's peaceful. it's peaceful assembly that's the operative word. i think that people who are directing themselves toward the emotion that is tied up or consumed people with this case are not paying attention to the verdict and paying attention to the filter that the court system kind of puts on what is admitted and what is not admitted. i wish that these people not just paid attention to the verdict but paid attention to the process and to the job that was done on both sides in actually presenting a fair case and having george exonerated. you heard my opening statement. i feel based upon what i thought and heard the c

. >>> tonight, high drama in the george zimmerman trail. tray vob's mother testifying that the voice here on the 911 audiotape screaming in the background belongs to her dead son. and the attorney for trayvon's family is here to go on the record. >> have you ever heard him while he was growing up, heard him cry or yelling? >> yes. >> you think he's yelling help? >> yes. >> there just were gun shots. >> just heard gunshots? >> yes. >> screaming or yelling, do you recognize that? >> yes. >> and who do you recognize that to be? >> trayvon benjamin martin. >> you know whose voice that was screaming in the background? >> yes, sir. >> whose voice was that? >> my son, george. >> are you certain of that? >> because he's my son. >> what was the manner of death, sir? >> the manner of death is home. he was killed by another person. he was still alive, and he was killed. he was suffering. >> objection. not a relevant issue. >> just a second. your objection is relevance? overruled. >> there's only one reason to squeeze the trigger at someone's heart and

what it proves is that if george zimmerman, if people understand george zimmerman to have been saying that trayvon martin grabbed him by the head in a manner that would cause some kind of dna from george zimmerman to get under his fingernails and slammed his head into the sidewalk, you might expect some amount of dna from george zimmerman to be under his fingernails. but it also might not. so i have to say it's helpful to the prosecution. it's not a slam dunk. it's not a big ticket item, but it is something to add to the evidence that the prosecution has presented to show that the contact between trayvon martin and george zimmerman may not be as zimmerman described. >> mark geragos, do you think some of this testimony was ultimately a wash? because the defense was able to get the dna expert to basically say just the fact that he couldn't find dna doesn't mean that there wasn't trayvon martin's dna on the holster or the gun. >> i do think it's a wash. i can't tell you how many times you will see, especially with guns and depending on what the kind of surface is of it, it's very difficu

zimmerman wroteut tha he called trayvon martin a suspect. did he know trayvon martin's name at that time? >> no. >> did you? >> no. >> okay. so he had to be called something, would you agree? >> yes. >> did you consider suspect to be such an outrageous term to use that it caused you concern? >> i didn't read it at the time. >> how about today? >> no, i don't think it's unusual. >> all right. let's bring back in msnbc legal analyst lisa bloom, veteran prosecutor paul henderson and former pennsylvania congressman and a former prosecutor patrick murphy. thank you for sticking with us. lisa, i want to the start with you. based on what we were just hearing there, that's testimony that would seem to suggest that the defense wants the jury to think more about mr. zimmerman's cooperation with law enforcement than anything else that may seem allegedly inconsistent in his testimony. >> well, it's certainly a point for them that george zimmerman did cooperate from the very beginning. i was fascinated by his use of the term suspect. you know, the police

of george zimmerman the person? >> absolutely. >> reporter: have other people asked you about her? >> yeah, some have asked, you know, is she there because of her race? and you know, the answer is pretty easy. no. >> reporter: another example of the case that's all about race, despite the word rarely mentioned in court. racism has been the elephant in the room in the trial but never overtly mentioned. >> it's sort of the ultimate personification of how race plays itself out in our society today. you can't -- you don't really know. >> reporter: and you can't really put your finger on it. >> right. but you feel it. right, if you're on the receiving end of that. you feel it. >> are you claiming in any way that you don't understand english? >> reporter: the case is about to come to its conclusion. when it does, it's all hands on deck. what percentage of your police force is going to be ready in anticipation of whatever happens? >> our entire police department. >> reporter: everybody. >> there's no vacations, there's no

, the verdict, we jury find george zimmerman not guilty. >> the verdict is in britain george zimmerman is acquitted for the shooting death of trayvon martin, an unarmed african-american teenager in florida. the verdict sparked protests around the country. >> we still today want justice. >> we still today want justice. >> and we will not be satisfied until justice is obtained. >> and we will not be satisfied until justice is obtained. ofwe will speak with some those in the streets and to the reverend jesse jackson as well as philip agnew, head of the dream defenders, a coalition of young people of color in florida, formed after trayvon martin's death. 2013 and beyond, it is in europe propelled by black and brown youth in our formative years criminalized, marginalized , cast aside and forgotten. we found strength in our struggles, determination. we are good kids growing up in bad states. >> all of that and more coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. thousands of protesters have taken to the streets across the country following the

for eliciting or allowing zimmerman to be a watchman. these are options that exist. they could say allowing zimmerman who was overzealous, he had a gun, in terms of being a watchman. it's a completely different standard and a high likelihood someone will get sued here. >> lisa, if there is a civil suit, the question, of course -- or actually, the fact would be, george zimmerman would have to provide testimony. how would that play out? >> his attorney last night was adamant and spoke of immunity, which i was curious about and wanted to hear more about what mr. o'mara means by that. obviously a guilty verdict -- i'm sorry, acquittal allows him to be a viable target for civil suit. we'll have to see. what we know for sure is o'mara's defense team emboldened will full on defend him against any civil rights charges should that come up as well. >> thanks so much new the martin family attorney joins me in a moment with his reaction to the verdict. when we made our commitment to the gulf, bp had two big goals: help the gulf recover, and learn fr

and it was george zimmerman. and the idea that the guy with the gun is the one who's afraid has a certain implausibility i think. so yes, the evidence has not gone in very well for the prosecution, but the idea that this case is over as mark says, that the prosecution is dead, i just don't think that's true. >> i respectfully disagree with that. here's why. >> how do you expect them to recover? what are they going to do at this point to recover? who are they going to put on? >> they don't need to recover. >> they have a burden. they have a burden of proof. understand something. >> recovering many i applies -- >> this is not a fight. this is not a fight. this is, they've got a burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. that's how the legal system, workings in america, which means the defense doesn't have to do anything. defense doesn't have to do a thing. you don't have to cross-examine if you don't want to. how are you going say beyond a reasonable doubt the prosecution has proved this case? >> the case isn't ove

zimmerman screaming. there will be a lot of other evidence as well. we'll present the case. we're just getting started. >> will it go on the same day that the martin family got on the stand. >> i wasn't sure how and when the state was going to end their case and i had mine planned out. it's always fluid according to how things go and the witnesses do. i'm happy with the way it worked out. >> got two witnesses done. that's okay. >> why wasn't he here this week? >> why wasn't he here this week or why wasn't he on the stand or -- >> why wasn't he in court at all? why wasn't he -- >> we'll probably bring him in when the timing is right for him as a witness. >> what is the your opinion on the judge's decision to deny -- >> joas are a particular and unique way to look at everything that is out there and weigh it all towards the state's side they get every benefit of every doubt at this state, at this stage. i respect her ruling. you know, it is what it is. this is what we do. >> how much weight do you believe t

zimmerman's behalf against others? >> absolutely. >> reporter: despite all the heated emotions this morning trayvon martin's family say they hope the country will collectively find a way to heal and change. >> just remember, trayvon could have been anyone in america's baby. >> reporter: how do you think this would have ended had george zimmerman not had a gun that night? >> i can tell you how it wouldn't have ended. it wouldn't have ended with a dead 17-year-old kid. >> reporter: for "nightline" i'm matt gutman in sanford, florida. >> our thanks to matt. and time now for our closing argument. and trending on the web today, five crucial trial moments that may have led to the zimmerman acquittal. which do you think was most important to the jury? our number 1, lead police investigator chris serino was asked by the defense if he believed zimmerman was telling the truth. he said yes. although the judge later told the jury to disregard that answer. there was the moment that renowned forensics expert vincent demayo testified

zimmerman the person? >> absolutely. >> have other people asked you about her? >> yes. is she there because of her race? and the answer is pretty easy. no. >> another example of a case that's all about race, despite the work rarely mentioned in court. racism has been the elephant in the room in the trial but never overtly mentioned. >> the sort of ultimate personification of how race plays itself out. you don't really know. >> you can't put your finger on it. >> but you feel it if you're on the receiving end of that. >> are you claiming in any way that you don't understand english? >> even before the verdict was read, it was all hands-on deck. >> what percentage of your police force is going to be ready in anticipation of whatever happens? >> our entire police department. >> everybody? >> there's no vacation, no furloughs. >> just yesterday the family of george zimmerman released a statement saying the judicial system has run its course. pray for justice, pray for baes, pray for our country. >>> next, the

zimmerman was acting in an angry way? >> not at all. >> so when asked the question could you hear those words being yelled by mr. zimmerman in the campaign event, i think you said no? >> no. >> but you have in fact heard him yell? >> absolutely. >> maybe happy yelling during a campaign? >> yes. >> vote for us, vote for my guy? >> yes. >> down with the other guy? >> pep rallies and such. >> as a matter of fact that's part of a campaign, isn't it? get everybody motivated? >> get everybody excited and motivated so i have heard him in that setting. >> so that's part of your testimony that you bring today, having heard mr. zimmerman scream even though in a happy way? >> yes. >> of course you have never heard him scream for his life before, have you? >> no. >> but you did hear him on that 911 call? >> yes, i did. >> we talked about, you were asked about continuous nature of the calling. i'm going to posit two different possibilities to see if we can get through them a little bit. >> yes, sir. >> if i were to scream one scream o

zimmerman. he was on the ground as trayvon martin straddled him forcing zimmerman to shoot. >> if this mannequin were carrying a firearm. where would be the gun be right now in relation to me? >> with the actual left inner thigh. >> with the jury on mr. zimmerman was that consistent with someone doing this, punching him? >> i don't think so. >> how about this? how about somebody resisting the attempt the two lacerations, somebody was resisting pushing down? >> reporter: before that expert witness was dismissed, prosecutor did get him to concede on the stand in the final moments of trayvon martin's life he could not say with certainty exactly what martin was doing. >> shep: zimmerman's defense also played up the wimp factor like he is a wimp? >> yeah, this follows up testimony earlier this week from zimmerman's former trainer saying he was obese and not athletic at all. on the stand this expert witness paid for by the defense as you can see. he testified, well, he did not have a warrior mind, set

the mother of george zimmerman saying it was george zimmerman. you have friends saying it was george. you have others saying it is trayvon. what does the jury do with this? and if it is a wash, if one cancels out the other, who is the legal implications of this given the charges if any, faith? >> i don't think one cancels out thor. i think the jury is going to decide what kind of weight they're going to give to these witnesses' testimony. these are friends of george zimmerman. two of the witnesses wrote a book and are selling that book about george zimmerman's story. other witnesses know him from different areas' work and police figures and military. so these are all his friends. you can tell today, they did not want to say anything bad about george zimmerman, even during convention. using under the guise these are fact witnesses, they were able to bring in bits and pieces of character evidence, so to speak. one witness mentioned i know that george tutored kids. another witness mention head is trained on how to use a firearm responsibly. another

well, are you heartbroken for george zimmerman's parents and george zimmerman as well? and it feels as though you can't make a comment in this case without getting attacked from one side or the other. do they get attacked? do they feel the outward pressures that so many have felt in what's become such a black-and-white battle in case? >> they get attacked a lot. for example, in the course of the jury selection alone, you heard various comments about people who had misperceptions about who they are and what they are. what they are, grieving parents who care deeply about their son and who have committed themselves to making sure their son's life was not in vain, in both ways, whether it's a criminal prosecution or in the foundation efforts they're working on as well. >> you know, a lot of people are saying, boy, this case is going well for the prosecution. boy, this thing's in the bag. wow, that prosecution witness sounded like a defense witness. and a lot of the analysts -- not all, but a lot of the analysts are saying, i don't think they're going to win this case. i don

they said that zimmerman wishes he could get his old life back, the trial has changed zimmerman's life forever. next our legal team, our legal experts weigh in tonight on the verdict. also this hour, an exclusive interview with the brother of george zimmerman, his reaction to the verdict that set his brother free. ] in your lifetime, you will lose 3 sets of keys 4 cell phones 7 socks and 6 weeks of sleep but one thing you don't want to lose is any more teeth. if you wear a partial, you are almost twice as likely to lose your supporting teeth. new poligrip and polident for partials 'seal and protect' helps minimize stress, which may damage supporting teeth, by stabilizing your partial. and 'clean and protect' kills odor-causing bacteria. care for your partial. help protect your natural teeth. an impressive epa estimated 34 mpg highway... and during chevy's model year-end event you're getting a great deal on our remaining 2013 models, but they're going fast. what are you doing? moving in. before someone else does. ohhh...great. [ male announcer ] the chevy model year-end event. the 13s a

zimmerman contends that trayvon martin was on top of him, beating him, and george zimmerman thought he was going to kill him and that's why he shot him. and when he found trayvon martin, weighs face down with his hands underneath him. yet, there was no blood on any of george zimmerman. how are they explaining that? >> well, they are not yet explaining it it the defense doesn't have to explain it at all. remember, the defense does not have to put on a case, may not put on a case. what the defense is trying to do is poke holes in the prosecution's case. there is sort of an interesting side note is that they are actually able to put george zimmerman's testimony before the jury because the prosecution is doing it with tape and george zimmerman never gets cross-examined on the witness stand. but, remember, the defense never has to prove anything at all. so, we may never get that answer from the defense side. but it may not be, you know, a huge moment to the jury. maybe it will. maybe it will not. let me say another thing, shep, this is the biggest nightmare for the defense. the jury may not

>> the joke was horrible. >> george zimmerman. george zimmerman who? all right, good, you're on the jury. >> nobody got it. i didn't get it until later. then i thought about it, and i'm like, i guess that could have been funny. but not in the context he told it. >> was there a particular witness that stands out to you? who did you find to be the most credible? >> the doctor -- i don't know his name. >> the doctor for the defense? >> yes. >> what about him? >> i thought he was awe-inspiring. the experiences he had had over in the war, and i just never thought of anybody that could recognize somebody's voice yelling in like a terrible terror voice when he was just previously half hour ago playing cards with them. >> that is george zimmerman. >> a lot of analysts watching the trial felt that the defense attorneys, marks o'mara, don west, were able to turn prosecution witnesses to their advantage. chris serino, the lead investigator for example, did he make an impression on you? >> chris serino did. but to me he just was doing his job. he was doing his job

zimmerman mentioning mr. martin in the recording where he was facing him, my perception of that call at that time, i sensed stress in his voice about the fact he was approaching him, looking at him, his hand was going toward his waistline. as he left, that tension diminished. that, to me, also reinforced what i'm already heard from mr. pollack and saw from, again, reviewing the information in this case. he's not the confrontational one. he's not that i'm going to get on you type. when mr. martin ran, basically he's running, there's no immediate threat to him. his perception is, he's taken off running. so he gets out and that's where he is now trailing or following, i would say following the person, to see where they went. because that's what he was doing for them. >> well, didn't you hear the defendant say i don't want to give up my phone number because i don't know where he is? >> yes. >> doesn't that indicate to you that he still might be a little concerned about what's going on? >> mr. zimmerman? >> yes. >

zimmerman with mr. zimmerman on his back, consistent with the forensic evidence that you found at the time of the shot? >> yes, sir. >> that statement, i take it, is separate and apart from mr. zimmerman's statement describing essentially the same thing. >> right. but again, i would not have used that to give my opinion. i have to use the physical evidence in conjunction with the statement of mr. zimmerman. >> the -- you pointed out in your direct evidence that there were two lacerations on the back of mr. zimmerman's head and that you testified that you believed those two have been from separate impacts. >> yes, sir. >> because you could see the sort of valley in between. >> yes, sir. >> those were the two blows that created the lacerations. >> right, in addition they were so separate that if you impacted one, you couldn't get the other one. so there were two reasons. >> your testimony was that was consistent with having mr. zimmerman's head struck at least twice on a surface like concrete. >> objectio

zimmerman approached mr. martin because of his race he saw him immediately as a suspect because of his race and presumed him guilty because of his race. the investigation will unearth what george zimmerman's motivation and intent was on that night when he killed trayvon martin. let me open it up, does anybody think they can prove that case? >> well, the thing that i thought was interesting is during his closing argument, o'meara argued that he did profile trayvon and that's how he justified that he was black. if that's all you need to do, this kid looked like all these kids suspected of crime. that's why everybody was upset and that's why george zimmerman was suspecting him. >> cenk: that's interesting. >> i don't think that's--we live in a country where people seriously sit down and cannot decide which is worse cracker or the n-word. i don't think you'll get a jury to make a finding on a case like that out the most exquisite type of evidence that just isn't there right now. you get a jury of 12 people like m

zimmerman. so i would refer to them insignificant injuries. >> reporter: on cross-examination, the defense attorney mark o'mara implied valerie rao owed her job to the special prosecutor in the zimmerman case. and then walked her back from some of her findings. >> it's your position that it's consistent that george zimmerman may have only received as little as three -- did you call -- what term did you -- smasher? >> sorry? >> slamming. three slammings into cement, correct? >> i didn't use the word slamming. >> i'm sorry, i thought that was your word. >> no, i got that from the re-enactment. >> what word would you use? >> impact. >> so it's your position there are at least three impacts between that head and cement? >> yes. concrete. >> reporter: earlier, zimmerman's best friend took the stand, it was mark osterman who first convinced zimmerman to buy a gun. he also housed george and shellie zimmerman for a time after the shooting and wrote a book about the case. >> you wrote a book where you qu