JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- It's the case that's captured the nation's attention. Trayvon Martin, 17, shot and killed by neighborhood watch captain, George Zimmerman, 28.
Zimmerman said he shot the teen in self defense. Pictures prove he took a beating. But Trayvon's family believes Zimmerman racially profiled the African-American teenager as a prowler, and intentionally gunned down an unarmed kid who was carrying only an iced tea and a bag of Skittles.
The State Attorney's Office released new evidence in the case Wednesday. In that evidence was a recorded statement from the Sanford 7/11 clerk who waited on Trayvon moments before he was killed on February 26th.
An investigator asked the clerk, "Did you know you were the 7/11 clerk that sold him the famous bag of Skittles?" The witness replied, "Nah." He didn't remember Trayvon. The clerk says Trayvon was just another customer on an otherwise normal day.
Also released were documents showing Zimmerman's DNA was on the gun he used to shoot Trayvon. That same report said Trayvon's DNA was not on the gun, meaning that while he may have reached for the weapon as Zimmerman claimed, the teenager never touched it.
We also heard Trayvon's father, Tracy Martin, call Sanford Police to report his son missing. A dispatcher asked, "Does he know anybody in the area that he might have gone to? A friend's house or something like that?"
Tracy Martin replied, "No. I have a nephew up here. But he's not at my nephew's house. He hasn't been over there either."
Trayvon was from the Miami area and didn't know anyone in Sanford. That's why his dad quickly became suspicious when his son didn't come home that rainy February night.
Local defense attorney Randy Reep has been following the Zimmerman case closely for Action News. After a quick review of the new evidence, he said he didn't see any big surprises or anything that would change public opinion.
"I think people have sort of come down where they would on the Zimmerman thing," said Reep. He went on to say, "The DNA suggests that Zimmerman could be the only one that shoots the gun. Which is to say that evidence value is zero, because I think that's the one thing that's well established. Everybody agrees Zimmerman pulled the trigger."
The 7/11 clerk didn't offer any new information either. But Reep says that interview was still an important step in the investigative process. He said, "The defense attorneys wouldn't be doing their jobs if they weren't finding every possible witness, someone that could kind of be proving someone's innocence. "
Proving Zimmerman's innocence his defense team's No. 1 priority. And it's their job to gather as much evidence as they can. But ultimately, it could be a jury's job to decide whether Zimmerman killed Trayvon in self defense or in cold blood.
And as more and more evidence is released, Reep says finding an impartial jury becomes more and more difficult. "It just exposes the opportunity for more people to know about the case, so that could taint a potential jury pool in that way."
Right now, Zimmerman is in hiding awaiting trial. No trial date has been set.
