The second week of George Zimmerman's trial in the second degree murder of Trayvon Martin will continue Monday, with more testimonies expected after key witnesses testified in the court room last week.
The first week ended strong for the defense team, who managed to turn a few state witnesses into its own, according to legal analysts.
The medical examiner who performed an autopsy on Martin will be called to the witness stand today. The prosecution hopes that he will provide some critical evidence into the case.
Police investigators will also be called to the stand, including several forensics experts.
One of the key evidences the all-female jury will look for is how the bullet entered Martin's body. The trajectory of the gunshot could indicate who was on top when he was shot.
There are contradicting stories from witnesses who testified last week, with one saying that a man with dark clothing was on top of a man with red and lighter clothing, and another describing someone wearing a "pattern of black and red" on top. Martin was wearing a dark-hooded sweatshirt and Zimmerman a red and black jacket.
Among the witnesses that took the stand last week is Rachel Jeantel, Martin's childhood friend.
Jeantel, who spoke with Martin just moments before he was shot to death on Feb. 26 last year, was a star witness who took the stand last week. Jeantel had testified that Trayvon "kept complaining that a man was just watching him." She claimed that Trayvon asked Zimmerman, "why are you following me" and heard him say "get off". However, the defense lawyer tried to highlight inconsistencies in their cross-examination of Jeantel, who sometimes spoke in a soft voice that was difficult to hear.
Jeantel was questioned for 90 minutes on Wednesday, with the defense highlighting two lies she told – her age, and why she did not attend Martin's funeral – in an attempt to show she cannot be trusted as a witness. The witness had tried to convince people that she was just 16 years old, hoping that she would be considered a minor and be afforded more privacy.
In addition, she lied about why she did not attend Martin's funeral, saying that she was in the hospital at the time.
It was revealed that she had lied on both accounts. Under questioning from the defense team she admitted: "You got to understand. You're the last person to talk to a person and he dies on the phone after you talk to him. You got to understand … you don't know how it felt. Did I really want to go see the body after I'd just talked to him?"
Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Trayvon Martin, who was shot to death when a fight broke out between himself and Zimmerman on his way back from a local convenience store last year. If he is found guilty, he will face up to life in prison.
The prosecutors claim that Zimmerman, who was an over zealous neighborhood watch volunteer, followed and shot Trayvon, while the defense claim that Trayvon aggravated Zimmerman who then shot him in self-defense.
Over the first three days of the trial, the prosecution pushed its case aggressively as they tried to convict Zimmerman. As the prosecution brought out its witnesses, the defending attorneys have attempted to undermine the credibility of them, and create doubt in their reliability among jurors.
Watch the live stream of the trial in the video provided below:
