Prosecutors: Keep Trayvon Martin's Life Separate
SANFORD (CBSMiami) – The prosecution in the George Zimmerman murder case requested that some of Trayvon Martin's personal information stay out of the courtroom.
Zimmerman faces second-degree murder charges for the shooting death of Martin, 17, in a Sanford housing community. Zimmerman claims the shooting was in self defense. Martin was unarmed at the time.
Late Friday, prosecutors asked the judge to leave out certain details that were irrelevant to the case and would prejudice a jury. Information like Martin's social media screen names, the fact that he had a set of gold teeth, any text messages sent or received the night of his death and the level of marijuana that had been found in Martin's blood that night has been requested to be omitted.
Several other motions were also filed by defense and prosecution that asked Seminole Circuit Judge Debra Nelson to prohibits the defense from mentioning any of the punishment that Zimmerman could face if convicted, prohibits the defense from including testimony that Zimmerman had no previous felony convictions and force the defense to turn over all documents to the state which is required by law.
Zimmerman's defense also wants to bring in two more witnesses, even though the deadline for the list was supposed to be released in April. Adding the extra witnesses to the list does not mean they will be called, but only that they could be called.
The defense also wants Judge Nelson to hear motions to see whether the jury can be taken to the scene of the killing, whether the jury can be anonymous and Whether expert witnesses can testify at the hearing via video conference to avoid the expense of bringing them to Sanford.
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