The second day of the George Zimmerman murder trial will begin as the prosecution argues that a phone call Zimmerman made to police months before he shot and killed Trayvon Martin be admitted as evidence of the state of mind Zimmerman had when approaching Martin, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The call had originally been admissible but when the prosecution called Ramona Rumph, of the Seminole County Sheriff's Office's communications division, the defense objected. At that time the court decided to go to recess for the day. Rumph is expected back on the stand when court begins session Tuesday morning, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Both the prosecution and the defense opened up the trial with slightly bizarre tactics; the prosecution used profanity while the defense told a knock-knock joke. In the prosecution's opening statement John Guy repeatedly used profanity in quoting Zimmerman from the 911 call he made while following Martin, "F**king punks," according to the Associated Press.
In their opening statement the attorney for the defense, Don West, told a joke about picking the jury.
"Knock. Knock."
"Who is there?"
"George Zimmerman."
"George Zimmerman who?"
"All right, good. You're on the jury."
Randy McClean, a criminal defense attorney from Florida, told the Associated Press that the opening statement by the prosecution was "brilliant" because it was able to get inside of the mind of Zimmerman. McClean had less praise for the defense.
"If you're defending your client for second-degree murder, you probably shouldn't start your opening with a joke," McClean said.
The prosecution's opening statement went on to describe Zimmerman as overzealous in his desire to defend the neighborhood and that's why they are making a push to bring in the phone calls from prior to the shooting as evidence. Zimmerman called the police almost 50 times over eight years to report all sorts of potential "threats" in his neighborhood; slow moving cars, loitering strangers, and garages that had been left open, according to Fox News.
The families for both Martin and Zimmerman were in the courtroom on Monday. The prosecution acted to have Zimmerman's mother, father and wife removed from the courtroom by invoking sequestration rules, which means that any potential witnesses are banned from the courtroom until the state concludes its case, according to Fox News.
The defense attempted to have Martin's family removed as well but Judge Debra Nelson allowed them to stay, a move that defense attorney Mark O'Mara called "prejudicial," according to Fox News.
The prosecution plans on calling more witnesses today and Judge Nelson will rule on the admissibility of the earlier police calls made by Zimmerman, to watch a live stream of the proceedings click here.
