Over a year later of Trayvon Martin’s death and there’s still divided opinions about the case. Yesterday marked the opening day of the trial of the George Zimmerman, and it got off to an interesting start. The Martin family addressed the media, Martin’s parents couldn’t held the emotion as they heard the description of their son’s death and prosecutors also dropped a bomb for Zimmerman’s defense.
Prosecutors have had some time to get ready for this trial and knowing the bias media attention it draws and not wanting to waste any time; they revealed their star witness to be none else than the girl Trayvon Martin was talking with during the last minutes of his life!
The girl, only known as Witness #8 previously, is due to testify today. Identified in court on Monday only as Rachel, a friend of Martin from Miami, she received a running account about what was happening, starting when he noticed a man, Zimmerman, watching him in the gated central Florida community he was visiting.
17-year-old Trayvon was unarmed at the time when Zimmerman shot him on February 26, 2012 in Sanford Florida. During the phone call, Martin told Rachel that he noticed Zimmerman watching him. In a previous written testimony, Rachel described Martin as being scared and she urged Trayvon to run.
She last heard Martin say, “why are you following me” after which she said she heard what sounded like Martin falling. Then the phone line went dead.
Rachel’s testimony is huge since she was the last person to speak to Trayvon and to have listened key elements that can surely help to clarify the tragic moment where Trayvon’s life was taken away too soon. The Martin family lawyer, Ben Crump, has said her testimony helps destroy Zimmerman’s claim that he acted in self-defense.
Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty to a second-degree murder charge for shooting Martin Martin was returning from a convenience store and was unarmed. Zimmerman then, told police his account of events saying he shot the teen in self-defense.
Rachel is from Miami and had been friends with Martin but there is no much information about her at the moment; we believe she must be in her late teens and perhaps a friend from school.
How do you think this will all go down?? Will Rachel’s testimony put George Zimmerman behind bars?? We’ll have to wait and see.
The day finally came 19-year-old Rachel Jeantel took the stand.. (Check the video below minute 1:30:56)
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“He said this man was watching him, so he put his hoodie on. He said he lost the man,” Martin’s friend said to Crump. “I asked Trayvon to run, and he said he was going to walk fast. I told him to run, but he said he was not going to run.”
“Trayvon said, ‘What, are you following me for,’ and the man said, ‘What are you doing here?’ Next thing I hear is somebody pushing, and somebody pushed Trayvon because the head set just fell. I called him again, and he didn’t answer the phone.”