Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story (2018–…): Season 1, Episode 3 - Justice for George - full transcript

Emmett Till was killed

in a horrible, deliberate way.

His mother could've kept
the funeral private,

but she wanted people to see

just how wicked
this country was.

I'd never in a million years
thought that I would be

in the same position.

Thousands of protestors

descending on Sanford.

...Demanding George
Zimmerman be arrested

for killing the 17-year-old...



With that arrest came hope.

But we knew that we
still had a long way to go.

Today, for the first time,

George Zimmerman
appears in court.

They put on a show for America,

and America bought it.

Mark O'Mara
knows what he's doing.

Get your crosshairs
off George Zimmerman.

George,
the one true God sees all

the good works
that you have done.

Donations to George Zimmerman

are said to be skyrocketing.

This started
a hardcore White backlash.

I didn't know what racism



really looked like in America.

You have to hold
the mirror to America's face

without America seeing
all the ugliness.

They'll look away and say,
"We're just fine."

What do we do? - Stand up, fight back.

The jury is seated

in George Zimmerman's
murder trial.

And something we have
never seen from Zimmerman,

a big smile across his face.

Here we go.

Today, the killer of
Trayvon Martin was arrested

and has been charged.

After the arrest,
we felt like finally

we'll have some type of closure.

We'll have some type of justice.

But that was just the
beginning of a long journey.

If you were aware
of Angela Corey's reputation

in communities of color,

you might be worried.

She had a lot of bad press
because of how she treated

African-American defendants
in Jacksonville.

There were people who
absolutely despised her

with a white-hot
burning passion.

And Marissa Alexander was
the spark that lit the fire.

She was a Black woman

who had just been
beaten by her husband.

She went into the garage,
running away from him,

came back with a gun, and fired
two shots in his direction.

She claims Stand Your Ground
before the trial began.

And the judge in the case
rejected it.

Angela Corey convicted Alexander

on three counts
of aggravated assault.

The judge sentenced her
to 20 years in prison.

She didn't even shoot the guy.
She shot warning shots.

She was standing her ground,
but that wasn't given to her.

If there was a Stand Your
Ground case, it's this one.

A--wait--wait a minute.
Hold on, I--

There's actually
a YouTube video of Corey

getting into a screaming match
with the Congresswoman

from this area, Corrine Brown.

I cannot hear the Congresswoman.

All the community is asking for

is mercy and justice.

And so the question becomes,

is this prosecutor
gonna be as passionate

about prosecuting
George Zimmerman

as she was prosecuting a Black
woman who shot at the ceiling.

By returning the
second-degree murder charge,

it allows her to get the
political goodwill or capital

that she was looking for
among African-Americans.

I think, by this point,

the case was so politicized

that had they not indicted,

she was afraid
there would be riots.

I wanna introduce to you
Bernie de la Rionda,

one of my top
homicide prosecutors

who will lead
this investigation.

Her chief assistant
was Bernie de la Rionda.

Bernie is
a very good prosecutor.

Knows the law very well.

He's been prosecuting cases
in Jacksonville

since the mid to late '80s.

He's got like 30 to 40 people
on death row,

more than any other individual
prosecutor in this state.

We look forward
to presenting this case

in a courtroom of law.

Bernie is a Jack Webb
in "Dragnet" kind of guy.

Just the facts.

You all have not heard
all the evidence.

Please be patient
and wait for the trial.

On the other side,

George Zimmerman wasn't happy
with the first counsel he got.

He's not returning my messages,

he's not returning my texts,

and he's not
returning my emails.

Zimmerman finally wisened up,

and he ended up
hiring Mark O'Mara.

Tonight we learn
that Zimmerman does have

a new attorney, Mark O'Mara.

He's been described
as brilliant, a tactician,

hallmarks of a skillful
trial attorney.

Mark is--is more measured.

And intellectual and
scholastic in his approach.

More professorial.

Mark O'Mara was
excellent in public relations.

He always stayed and answered
every last question

that every reporter had.

He's very disarming.

Nobody wanted Trayvon Martin

to be prejudged as he was
walking down that street.

I ask not to prejudge
George Zimmerman,

and please do not prejudge
the criminal justice system.

It's going to work.

The way that
you'd normally go about

defending a client,

does that change now,
given the atmosphere

across the country?

It truly does, completely.

It sounds ignorant,
but I would've thought

that we had come
further since the '60s.

And maybe we just have a lot
further to go than I realized.

Does it affect you emotionally?

Yeah.
Yes.

Mark O'Mara is a good attorney.
He knows what he's doing.

Today for the first time,

George Zimmerman appears in
court to face the charges...

He's tired, you know.

He's facing the second-degree
murder charges now.

He's frightened.

That's--that would
frighten any one of us.

Zimmerman's wife of five years

says her husband
is not a flight risk

or a threat to the community.

Hello, you have
a pre-paid call from...

George Zimmerman.

Shellie.

Hello, you have a pre-paid--

Shortly after the arrest,

we travelled to Sanford
for the bond hearing.

George Zimmerman
could bond out of jail today.

The man who shot and
killed Trayvon Martin will...

That was the first time
that we--we actually came

face to face with--with
the assailant of our child.

To have to look at
the killer of the child,

the person who took
his breath away from him...

I don't know what I would do if
the person who killed my child

was in front of me.

The lawyer suggested
that I be closer to the wall

with everybody else sitting
closer to the aisle,

just in case my emotions ran hot

I wouldn't be able
to hop over them.

I could hear a person
speaking but I tuned him out

because I didn't wanna
make myself angry.

His attorneys knew

that that would be the headline.

He apologized, as if this
were a fender bender.

It was just a way for him

to try to get out of jail.

Mark O'Mara knew
how difficult it is

to defend someone
who does not get bail.

This was a big deal.

Um, as far as
his financial abilities,

unfortunately, this is
a family of very short means.

George Zimmerman claims
in his bond hearing

that he's broke
and has no money.

The back-and-forth continued

for nearly two hours.

When it was over, Judge Lester

made his decision swiftly.

I'm going to grant
the motion to set bond

in the amount of $150,000 with
the following conditions...

To make bail,
Zimmerman had to put up

$15,000 of the $150,000 bond.

How did Trayvon
Martin's parents take this?

Not well, Trace.

They left that courthouse
visibly upset and angry.

They put on a show for
America and America bought it.

I just felt like
$150,000 wasn't enough money

to release somebody
that had taken a life.

I just didn't feel like
it was equivalent

to what we had lost.

George Zimmerman is a free man.

I have no doubt about him.

I don't know what happened.

My name is Wes Robinson.

I met George Zimmerman in 2005.

You know, I was
in a dark place, you know.

Really stressed out
with my amputation.

In the beginning years
of remission from chemo,

George was a breath
of fresh air.

He did a lot for me.

Our circle consisted
of myself, George,

sometimes my brother.

All his friends
were Spanish or Black.

George Zimmerman's
father is a White judge.

But his mother comes from
an Afro-Peruvian background.

And on your mother's side?

She's Peruvian.
Afro-Peruvian. Yes.

Afro-Peruvian? Afro-Peruvian.

Yeah, there's a lot of
different, in fact, Peru had--

Sounds like a fragrance.

Yeah.

George Zimmerman is not White.

He's part Latino.

The family used
the Afro-Peruvian heritage

as a way to protect
from charges of racism.

Georgie is not racist.

We are not racist.

We don't see colors.

I mean, we are color-blind.

We went to a lot
of the bars by UCF a lot.

And guys would
look up at us and say,

"Why are these Mexicans
in the VIP?

"Who do you guys think you are?

You come into our country.
This is America."

All of that bothered him.

And then,
he was all about Shellie.

At that point in time,
we just went different ways.

Okay, merry Christmas,
everybody.

Everybody has to say something.

Oh, man.

Merry Christmas
to future Christmases.

Oh, I like it.
Okay, George.

Merry Christmas to everybody,
and, um,

I feel truly blessed over here.

How many kids does
George and Shellie

think they're gonna have?

Five! Um, three. Three.

George and Shellie were
kind of like an example

for me what relationships
should be like.

They seem very supportive
of each other.

One unit together.
Nothing can break them apart.

We were great friends

and I thought he was
a wonderful person.

Um, that's why I married him.

Oh, boy.
George.

Oh, my God, we almost hit him.

He's so funny.

Oh, my God.

George went from
having minority friends

and being around
all of us all the time

to marrying a White woman.

And I felt like George
changed during that time.

He was getting away from what

his mother represented

and moving closer and closer

to what his father represented.

Hispanics have the potential
to be White

in a way that
Black people don't.

In a society where
White people thrive,

there's a way in which one
wants to be White,

only in relationship
to not being Black.

I believe you
become your atmosphere.

White family.
White perception.

White privilege.

The Black people were laughing.

Because the people
he chose to care about,

and the people
he chose to have in his life,

I would be ignorant to say
that he wouldn't have changed.

One day, George said,
"Oh, I met this U.S. marshal."

His name was Mark Osterman.

Sometimes George called me
his--his token White friend.

Were you a role model for him?

He says so.

And would you consider him

a very good friend?

Best friend I've ever had.

White masculinity
is aspirational.

We're all supposed
to wanna be White men,

because it affords
so much power.

You helped him pick out the gun

that he ultimately shot and
killed Trayvon Martin with.

Yes, sir.

Part of White Christian
male culture is guns.

And so that gun made him
a little more White.

George Zimmerman
got let into the club.

If he wasn't viewed
as a White man before,

he is now.

George told me he felt in place.

He felt he was
where he needed to be.

He was studying Criminal
Justice at Seminole State.

I was teaching
a Criminal Litigation course.

George Zimmerman was
one of my students.

Not the most talkative person.
Kind of quiet.

He just had the--the persona

of someone who wanted
a career in law enforcement.

He even looked the part.

We learned that his goal was

to be a police officer.

But for some reason,
he was denied.

He had a prior arrest
for resisting arrest.

So I said,
"Nope, he's rejected."

I think he had a pretty
tough time with that.

Started hearing from Shellie

that they're having problems.

George is being very angry,

uh, raising his voice,

doing a lot of things that

George normally does not do
toward his wife.

And she was crying to me,

telling me how different
George is becoming.

He wanted to become
a police officer

but he never did.

Since he couldn't be a real cop,

he was gonna be
the neighborhood cop.

We moved into
The Retreat in June 2011.

George lived
a couple of houses down.

We'd wave, but we never really
engaged in conversation.

We heard a lot of people lost
their homes in there

when the market crashed.

And in the front
of the neighborhood

there was a couple
of vacant houses.

I believe one of them actually
had a squatter issue

at one point.

These neighborhoods
that were more upscale

decided to go Section 8,

and then, during
the foreclosure crisis was

the downfall of the
Sanford Housing Authority.

Section 8 vouchers were given
out to persons that lived

in the housing authority,

so they could go, you know,
basically anywhere

that offered Section 8.

At the time, that was
The Retreat at Twin Lakes.

The Retreat
had to find a way to control

the "project niggers."

"We've got to keep them
out of our pools,

"keep them out
of our clubhouses,

and keep them from gathering
in certain places."

The Retreat at Twin Lakes,

elegance and class.

You live in this utopia
of White privilege.

And as soon as
that privilege gets extended

to a different culture,

is it really
White privilege anymore?

There had been several
break-ins in the neighborhood.

And that was
the final tipping point

to starting
the Neighborhood Watch.

From the very first
meeting, it was announced

that George was the head of
the Neighborhood Watch.

I mean, all his information
was on

the emails that went out.

He was the person to contact.

He thought he could maybe

protect the neighborhood
and be the hero.

"And, you know what?
If I can't fix my marriage,

I could still
do something right."

During that time,
I believe he called the police

about 50 times.

Two Black males
in their late teens.

Wife beater, black tank top.

This gentleman is walking
in the neighborhood.

I don't know what he's doing.

I don't wanna approach him,
personally.

Suspicious characters at
the gate of my neighborhood.

I'm with the
Neighborhood Watch...

Two days before the shooting,

Shellie finally had enough
and moved to her family house.

She felt like this is it.

They're going--
they're heading for divorce.

There's nothing
that could fix this.

The day of the shooting,

George came out
to her family house,

knock at the door,
and had a huge, huge fight

about how he really
want her to come back,

but she refused to come back

until his anger issues
are fixed.

After he left, she was crying
so much

about how fearful she was,

and that she'd seen a new George

that she'd never seen before.

A couple of hours late,
I hear from Shellie.

"Oh, my God,
you won't believe this."

God, these assholes,
they always get away.

"George has shot someone."

I don't know what
happened that night.

But he should've just
remembered who the hell he was.

Press #-2-2

for the violent offense hotline.

Please enter your pin number.

Name.

George Zimmerman.

You may begin speaking now.

While his face
isn't inside the hoodie,

the Skittles and iced tea
makes it clear

this gun range target is
supposed to be Trayvon Martin.

What do you think of that?

This is the highest level of
disgust and the, I don't know,

lowest level of civility.

The sellers say
they support Zimmerman,

that he is innocent,
and that he shot a thug.

George Zimmerman becomes
this sort of strange hero

to choose for the far right.

Anyone that sides
against George Zimmerman

and condemns his actions

should have a day when
their neighborhood watchman

turns his back and lets
their house be burglarized,

their families beaten,
their daughter raped,

all because they attempted
to instill fear in a man

that was heroically doing
what was right.

Why?

Why were they sympathetic
to George Zimmerman?

If we consult our hearts,
we know why.

There's some pretty awful ideas

that White supremacists
have about Black people.

And the Trayvon Martin case

brought that kind of
a backlash with it.

Memes are essentially
online symbols.

And they capture a mood
or an idea of some sort.

And they proliferate
very quickly.

We started to see an influx
of hate groups using them

to spread their message.

Whether that was
on Reddit threads,

hate forums like Stormfront,

even the mainstream platforms.

They took advantage of Twitter

and they took
advantage of Facebook.

The memes show Black
death as an accomplishment.

Black men as the prey,
as the hunted.

And what it reminds me of

are the historical depictions

of Black men hanging from trees.

For a lot of the very far right,

this sort of alt-right,
George Zimmerman,

he's not even White,
so he doesn't even deserve

their support, but even they
still rally behind him

because at least
he isn't Black, right?

Mr. Zimmerman is White,
in effect.

It made him hugely attractive
to the alt-right,

because they saw
a fellow traveler.

Here's a White guy who's
beating up on Black people.

Here's a White guy
who's aggressive,

takes the fight to them.

People were creating video games

to satisfy some of
that bloodlust.

People felt that
he made the country better

by taking this Black kid
off the planet.

Zimmerman wasn't stupid in
the sense that he understood

that these people had come out
in support of him.

He was searching for money,

and these are
potential financial backers.

This website,
"The real George Zimmerman,"

in it, George Zimmerman
announces

he's got a Paypal account,
urging supporters

to donate money
for his defense fund.

A lot of people were like,
"This is our hero.

And we're not gonna
let them take you down."

George Zimmerman's
legal defense fund

raised over $200,000.

His wife was lying.

They had this code language
to speak to each other

on the phone about donations.

The Zimmerman's
allegedly funneled donations

from supporters into multiple
personal accounts.

Always in amounts under $10,000,

so as not to alert
federal authorities.

They even used
the phrase "Peter Pan"

as a code word for Paypal.

Zimmerman was also
hiding a second passport

he acquired shortly after
shooting and killing

Trayvon Martin.

It appears that George Zimmerman

was getting ready
to flee the country.

The state filed a petition to
revoke George Zimmerman's bail

on the ground that he had lied
at the first bail hearing

about his finances.

Tell us.

Now Shellie Zimmerman
is in custody.

A warrant was issued
this afternoon,

and she was arrested very
shortly afterwards.

It was done to hide the money

so that they could deceive
the court, lie to the court--

Mrs. Zimmerman
lied to the court,

and this defendant
just sat there

and allowed that to happen.

He was using his wife
as a conduit to do this.

There was a credibility question

that now needs to be
sort of rehabilitated

by explaining away
what they were thinking

when they did what they did,
and that's what happened.

I'm trying to figure out
when he was ever credible.

The judge has
set bail for Mr. Zimmerman

at $1 million.

So now, after months
of marches and protests

in the name of Trayvon Martin,

the supporters of George
Zimmerman

are planning their own rally,

"Justice for George."

Donations to George Zimmerman

are said to be skyrocketing.

Stands to reason that
the discourse on Fox News

is driving
a lot of these donations.

I spoke to
Mr. Zimmerman's father,

uh, and I did speak
to Mr. Zimmerman.

I'll keep that
conversation private.

There was some
jailhouse phone calls.

And they kept using S.H.
as a code.

"S.H. called, that he's gonna
take care of this,

take care of that."
And we believe

it was Sean Hannity.

Free again,
Zimmerman had to post

$100,000 to meet the
requirement for his release.

After staying silent for months,

George Zimmerman finally makes
his first media appearance

On "Hannity" tonight.

There was a report suggesting

that I offered to pay
your legal fees.

Never happened.

Never happened. No, sir.

Um, do you regret
getting out of the car

to follow Trayvon that night?

No, sir.

Do you regret that you--
you had a gun that night?

No, sir.

Sean Hannity got the first
interview with Zimmerman,

which was one of the biggest
gets in the media

in a long time.

Do you feel you wouldn't be
here for this interview

if you didn't have that gun?

I feel that it was
all God's plan,

and for me to second guess it
or judge it,

um...

Is there anything you
might do differently

in retrospect now that time
has passed a little bit?

No, sir.

The Trayvon Martin case

led to sort of a hardcore
White backlash.

Get the hell off the couch,
you know,

stand up, and stand your ground.

"Stand your ground"
became the slogan

for his supporters.

The NRA actually
bears some of the blame.

In the face of great peril,

we always stand our ground.

The NRA's modus operandi

is to scare White people

into thinking
they need to have weapons.

And they need to be
able to fire that weapon

if they feel afraid,
no matter what.

The Stand-Your-Ground law is
obviously

a part of this movement.

After Trayvon Martin was killed,

it put a lot of pressure
on Rick Scott.

Several months later
Governor Scott established

as task force to reexamine
Stand Your Ground.

We're here today to announce
that the work of the task force

on citizen safety
and protection will begin.

And the task force was
really like a sham

from the beginning,
because of the people

that were on the task force.

It included Dennis Baxley,

one of the original primary
sponsors of the law.

It included David Simmons,

who was one of the authors
of the law.

And in the end they
let Marion Hammer testify.

And her testimony was pivotal.

Your view has been
colored and discolored

by inaccurate media coverage

and the rampant,
deliberate disinformation

that has surrounded
the issue in recent months.

The "Tampa Bay Times"
had just put out

an investigation that showed

what some of these cases
looked like.

I mean, we're talking about,
like, two guys

who were on a boat dock,
and they got into a fight,

and they fell into the water.

And as one of them
was climbing out,

the other guy shot him
in the back of the head.

Not guilty under
Stand Your Ground.

The report also showed that

you were more likely to be set
free through Stand Your Ground

if the victim was Black.

73% of those who
killed a Black person

face no penalty.
59% who killed a White person

faced no penalty.

Pretty soon after, the task
force put out the report

saying that they weren't
gonna change the law.

We had great people, uh,
on that, uh, committee.

They went around the state
and listened

about the
Stand Your Ground laws,

and they came back and said
we shouldn't change it,

and I agree with them.

But the other thing that
Stand Your Ground does,

which makes it
a totally unique law,

is it provides a path
to immunity from trial

for those who invoke it.

If you believe
that you're worthy

of Stand Your Ground protections

after you've killed someone,

you can call for
a pre-trial hearing.

And it was up
to a judge specifically

to grant you that immunity.

Big developments
in the Trayvon Martin

shooting case.

The attorney representing
George Zimmerman

now says he will not rely on
Florida's so-called

Stand Your Ground law.

For Mark O'Mara,

there is strategy
involved with that.

'Cause it would've gotten into
all the political components

of is it Stand Your Ground
or is it not?

Do you believe in it or not?

The facts don't seem to support
a Stand Your Ground event.

What it seems to support
is that Mr. Zimmerman

acted in just traditional
self-defense.

The good, old-fashioned
self-defense case.

Period.

For the defense,

it's the idea that
there was a fight.

And that that is
the most important aspect

of their interaction,
was the fight.

Where the person
on the ground, Zimmerman,

could not retreat.

That George
was the innocent victim,

and that Trayvon Martin was
the thuggish attacker.

And at that point
it became very clear

that this was gonna be
the trial of Trayvon Martin.

Depositions in any
case, and for attorneys,

that's the battle before you
go to war in the courtroom.

We showed up for depositions
and there were cameras there.

But the only depositions that
they chose to videotape

were of Trayvon Martin's
friends and family.

And they didn't even let the
prosecution know ahead of time

that they were
going to be videotaped.

There was a fear that
the information contained

in these depositions
would get leaked to the media.

I think it was a clear and key
strategy to the defense

to begin assassinating
the character of the witnesses

before they ever took the stand.

Mark O'Mara knows that
by possibly

putting this out into the world,

that he's tainting
the jury pool.

It is a strategy, because
remember, jurors watch TV.

They read papers.

This is the deposition
of Sybrina Fulton.

Why don't you raise
your right hand, please?

Do you solemnly swear or
affirm that the testimony

you're about to give...

Yes.

As we go through this,

I'm certain that it is going to
bring to the forefront

memories of Trayvon's passing.

I don't mean to be insensitive.

I'm trying to balance
that insensitivity

with my job, okay?

Okay.

Mark O'Mara is
a very experienced attorney.

But this is a really big case.

He wanted legal heft.

And he brought in Don West.

My friend and colleague
Mark O'Mara

got involved as counsel.

And after some discussion
and wondering

whether it was the best
or the stupidest thing

we would've ever
taken on together,

um, I joined up.

What's the street address
where you live?

The witnesses have
made a fundamental decision

for protection and safety
of their family,

that they will not give
their personal addresses out.

Mr. Martin, you're aware
that you may

be subject to contempt for
refusing to answer questions.

Yes, and I'm not
giving my address.

Let's call the judge.

This is
the truth-seeking process.

My job is to coax it,
sometimes push,

sometimes hit a little bit
to make it come out.

I mean,
he's already answered that.

I mean, why are we going over
the same thing over and over?

I would object
as being repetitive.

It'd take a whole lot less time

just to have the witness answer.

I think
it's unfair to the witness.

This isn't a proper
objection to a deposition.

It sure is, sir.

Frankly, until it rises
to the level of harassment,

I can ask questions repeatedly
if I choose to.

Don West, I think, on
the surface looked ruthless.

Now, that's strategy.

That's how you play the game.

Were you aware
that he had some tattoos?

Was that okay with you?

Yeah, that was fine with me
because I felt that

the tattoos were appropriate.

Do you have any tattoos? Yes, I do.

Is that why you thought
that that was appropriate?

The lawyers raised things that
were completely irrelevant

in my estimation.

Did you know him to have
some removable gold caps

for his teeth? Yes.

Tracy ever talked to you
about concerns

with Trayvon
smoking a lot of weed?

No.

Let me ask you
a couple of other questions.

Did you receive any of
the money that was raised

at any of the rallies?

No, all of--all the money
that we've been raising

has been going
to the foundation.

Did it assist you in
your own housing expenses?

No.

Then they come to
this line of questioning

about the foundation.

And whether or not Tracy
and Sybrina have somehow

profited off of
their son's death.

Are you saying you never
received any of the money?

Personally, no, I didn't.

I'm gonna flat out ask you,

because the way
the questions were asked,

it implied like you gathered
all this money to steal it.

Did--is that what you were
trying to do?

No, I would much rather
have my son back.

Do you wanna take just
a couple of minutes?

Might be a good time for a few.
Should we do that?

Yeah.

Yeah, why don't we just
take a few minutes.

Off work, 11:23 a.m.

40 minutes past the
hour right now in Florida.

And the search is on
for six men and women

to serve on the jury in
the George Zimmerman trial.

You know, lawyers will tell
you that a case is won or lost

in jury selection.

How do you find an unbiased jury

in a case
this highly publicized?

Jury selection is a science.

That's why
criminal defense lawyers

hire jury selection experts.

In this case, the defense
jury selection expert

is exceptional.

His name is Robert Herschel.

These jury selection experts,

they have access to LexisNexis.

As soon as they
find out who the juror is,

they start
looking the person up,

and they get
a profile of the person.

500 people have
received jury summons

to show up at the courthouse.

We seek justice
for our son Trayvon.

And we also seek
a fair and impartial trial.

I think it's
important that jurors

get to know that George
is a real person.

He's a sensitive person,
he's generous.

He's, uh, very likeable if you
actually get to meet him.

The challenge is
to find a group of people

who have somehow
not been influenced

by more than a year
of non-stop coverage.

People should not
fool themselves

and think that
a jury is unaffected,

and that they're gonna
not be influenced

by all the outside
noise that happens.

And do you really make the best
juror if you are that unaware

of what's going on
in our society?

And you watch
the news every day?

Yes, I do.

All right.

In jury selection
it became clear

that everybody knew
something about the case.

And they had their take on it.

What else did you learn about
Trayvon Martin from the news?

Anything else you can recall?

Um, I know that his mom
loved him a great deal.

But his father wasn't present.

Which is hard for a boy. - Sure.

This potential juror
had no idea,

had never heard me
open my mouth.

That spoke in volumes.

The one issue that
no one's gonna wanna admit

that they're looking at is race.

Race is not supposed to matter
in terms of jury selection.

There were, uh,
several potential

African-American jurors.

You know, just seeing them
walk in the courtroom,

you know, it gave us
a little hope.

Rightfully or wrongfully,

I think we were more suspicious

about African-American jurors.

I think it made me question

whether when
we had a Black juror

that we were really
hearing the genuine views.

We kept coming back to this idea

that the Black jury

would not be able to give
George Zimmerman a fair shake.

Like, if it's a Black jury,

the deck is stacked
in Trayvon's favor.

If it's a White jury...

"Oh, well, they can be fair."

I donated to the defense
fund some time ago.

You believe that
the juror has contributed

to somebody's defense fund,

and then might have a picture
of George Zimmerman

on her Facebook, that juror
could still be objective?

Yes.

Another juror,
a White single mother,

faulted Trayvon
for getting suspended

from his Miami high school,

which led him to Sanford
in the first place.

Being a single parent
with two boys of my own,

I don't wanna judge,
but I just wanna say that

this could've been prevented
had he not been up here.

That has nothing to do
with whether or not

George Zimmerman killed
Trayvon Martin in cold blood.

You're trying to find ways to
blame him for his own death.

Every day,
people were being eliminated.

And they mostly were
African-Americans.

I just kept on seeing

every single African-American
juror struck.

And after they
eliminated everybody,

they were left with the jury

of which none were
African-American.

When the jurors
finally were picked,

it didn't look good to me.

Six women seated on the jury.

We're told five
of them are White,

the sixth, Black or Hispanic.

These women were the furthest
thing from a teenage Black boy.

The makeup of that
jury was intentional.

It was not a mistake
or a coincidence.

The whole system's guilty.

Protestors demonstrating

outside the trial
of George Zimmerman.

As Black people,
we need to ask ourselves,

"How can we trust the process?

How can we rely on the system
for true justice?"

If we don't get one Black
person on the jury,

we're supposed to say that
this trial is gonna turn out

just and fair?

I don't think
that's a fair fight.

It was clear
the state prosecution

did not wanna play race.

They thought that race
would get in their way.

These prosecutors
were not comfortable

with racial issues.

That's a big problem, because
this was all about race.

But nobody
wanted to talk about it.

Except them.

I know God is in control,

but the devil is busy.

And something we have never seen

from George Zimmerman,
a big smile across his face.

Opening statements
begin Monday morning.

Here we go.