George Zimmerman’s DNA was the only that could be identified on the grip of the gun he used to fatally shoot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, a forensic lab in Florida has found.
The George Zimmerman DNA revelation suggests to legal experts that there was no struggle before the self-appointed neighborhood watch leader killed Martin, The Christian Science Monitor reported .
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which conducted the testing, said that George Zimmerman’s DNA was also identified on the gun holster, but no determination could be made if Martin’s DNA was also on the holster.
Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for shooting Martin after confronting the teenager as he walked back to the house where he was staying in a gated community outside of Orlando. George Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty, though some believe the new DNA revelation will throw a wrench in his defense.
Zimmerman has claimed that he shot Martin only after the teenager attacked him, knocking him down and slamming his head into the ground as he covered Zimmerman’s mouth with his hand. Zimmerman claimed that Martin grabbed at the gun in his holster before Martin could get to it.
The case drew national attention when Zimmerman was uncharged for months after the initial shooting in February. It led to national protests and plenty of debate over Florida’s “ stand your ground ” law that a person may justifiably use force in self- defense when there is reasonable belief of a unlawful threat, without an obligation to retreat from the situation.
As the Christian Science Monitor notes, prosecutors can now argue that the George Zimmerman DNA on the gun shows that Martin never struggled or reached for the gun himself.
But the George Zimmerman DNA findings do not necessarily mean the trial is a loss for Zimmerman, the Los Angeles Times noted. The defense could still argue that Zimmerman pulled the gun from the holster before Martin could touch it.
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