A new picture of George Zimmerman, aired publicly for the first time today by ABC News, appears to show blood dripping down the back of his head minutes after he shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida. Zimmerman stands charged with second-degree murder, but claims he acted in self-defense after Martin slammed his head into the concrete during a scuffle. The original police report from that night noted that Zimmerman was bleeding from the head and nose, but grainy surveillance footage from the police station soon after the shooting was much less conclusive than today’s new evidence.
The photo was reportedly taken with an iPhone by an unnamed person who said they heard the fight, but did not see it. Zimmerman told the photographer to call his wife, and when asked what to say, responded, “Man, just tell her I shot someone.”
In a statement, Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump said, “How bad could it have been if they didn’t take him to the hospital [and] didn’t stitch him up. The special prosecutor has seen all the evidence and still believes George Zimmerman murdered Trayvon Martin.”
Zimmerman is in court this morning for a bail hearing in Florida, where ABC News notes, “the burden of proof to deny bail, even in a second-degree murder trial, is higher than needed to seek a conviction in a trial.” Zimmerman’s lawyer Mark O’Mara said, “He needs to get out. He should not be in jail. I want him out because I need him out. He wants to get out. His family wants it out. It should happen.”
