For his part, Zimmerman’s attorney went back to the same tactics that worked so well for him in April. He flooded the judge with evidence about the night of the shooting and tried to show his client in a sympathetic light. He asked for Zimmerman to be let out of jail on the same bail amount as before.
But the judge did not appear willing to cut O’Mara any slack this time around. Lester cut him off multiple times during questioning of witnesses and even during his closing arguments.
O’Mara said that his client now knows it was wrong to let his wife lie for him on the witness stand. “He should have jumped up and said she’s lying,” O’Mara said.
Lester stopped him. “I don’t think I would expect that,” he said. “Maybe a tug on a sleeve.”
O’Mara also said he wanted his client to take the witness stand and explain why things went so badly at the last hearing. He said, though, he would only let Zimmerman testify if it was the judge and not the prosecutor asking the questions.
Lester, however, was uninterested in giving Zimmerman any special treatment.
“He’s the same as everyone else,” the judge said. “If he wants to testify, he can testify. If he doesn’t want to testify, he doesn’t have to testify. He has a Fifth Amendment right.”
After pausing a few moments to talk it over with his team, O’Mara said Zimmerman would not be testifying.
At the end of the hearing, Lester said he would need time to review the evidence and take it under consideration. He said he would issue his ruling sometime in the future.
Watch clips from Bernie de la Rionda’s closing argument:
Nick R. Martin
Nick Martin is an associate editor at TPM in New York City. He came to the site in 2011 as a reporter for TPMMuckraker. Previously, he worked in Arizona, first as a staff reporter for a local newspaper and later as a freelance journalist. He also ran the news blog Heat City. Contact him: nick [at] talkingpointsmemo.com
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