Live Coverage And Analysis Of George Zimmerman Trial
BALDWIN: Want to give you a little backgrounder here on this man by the name of Mark Osterman. He testified after the detective today. He is -- consider himself George Zimmerman's best friend. He is the reason why George Zimmerman ultimately purchased and carried this gun. But here's a little bit more about him. This is from David Mattingly.</s>DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When George Zimmerman was worried about an aggressive neighborhood dog in 2009, he decided to buy a gun and went to his friend, Mark Osterman, for help.</s>MARK OSTERMAN, GEORGE ZIMMERMAN'S FRIEND: He had felt that, once you -- one he gets married -- once you get married, you kind of -- he said that he possibly changed his perspective in life and that he was responsible not just for himself anymore, but for his wife.</s>MATTINGLY: Osterman, a federal law enforcement officer, helped Zimmerman weigh the pros and cons before he settled on a thin, lightweight nine-millimeter. It was easy to conceal, easy to carry, and acting on Osterman's advice, Zimmerman carried it everywhere.</s>OSTERMAN: Always. He carried it always, and I -- the one thing that I did tell him for the reason for doing that was, if it is on your person, it can't be anywhere else.</s>MATTINGLY: It was on Zimmerman's person the night he encountered Trayvon Martin, and he told Osterman how Martin grabbed the gun during their fight.</s>OSTERMAN: According to what he told me was, when the head bashing on the concrete stopped and Trayvon reached for the firearm that was at his side, grabbed a hold of it.</s>MATTINGLY: Osterman wrote about it in a book, quoting Zimmerman. "Somehow I broke his grip on the gun, where the guy grabbed it, between the rear site and the hammer. I got the gun in my hand, raised it towards the guy's chest and pulled the trigger." And this is where the problem lies for George Zimmerman because comments quoted by his friend Osterman do not match what Zimmerman told police. Listen to what he says as he walks investigators through the crime scene.</s>GEORGE ZIMMERMAN, DEFENDANT: And he reached for it. He reached. I felt his arm going down to my side. And I grabbed it and I just grabbed my firearm and I shot him, one time.</s>MATTINGLY: In multiple recorded interviews, Zimmerman never tells police that Trayvon Martin ever touched his gun. DNA testing seems to agree. There was no trace of Trayvon Martin's DNA on the gun's grip. Prosecutors list Osterman's book with Zimmerman's conflicting account as potential evidence, possibly to challenge Zimmerman's credibility. As for his connection to the gun Zimmerman was carrying, Osterman says it's hard to answer the question, does he feel regret.</s>OSTERMAN: He didn't have it to go out and commit a crime of hunting someone down and harming them. It was for self-protection, and I'm glad that that firearm was used to protect George.</s>MATTINGLY: Mark Osterman could appear as a witness for the prosecution and for the defense. As far as what he has to tell them, Osterman says he sees no difference in a case of self-defense if someone is grabbing your gun or grabbing for it. David Mattingly, CNN, Sanford, Florida.</s>BALDWIN: David Mattingly, thank you. As we now know, he testified today. Darren Kavinoky, to you, do you want to talk about why Zimmerman's friend was so sweaty? Do we know why now?</s>KAVINOKY: I don't know. You know, with friends like that, Brooke, who needs enemies? I mean, well, first of all, as far as the sweatiness factor, maybe he just felt like he was on the hot seat and before I start getting hate tweets and so on, God forbid the guy has anything medically wrong with him, but I can just see the "Saturday Night Live" skits now. I mean, that was like, oh, my God, I just felt for the guy as he's mopping his brow on the witness stand. But you know what, he should be sweaty because what he is saying is just horrible for his friend. And I'm sure they're friends. He didn't set out to do this. But let's remember, and there's an important legal ruling in all of this, that generally what people say out of court, what Zimmerman told to his friend, generally that's considered to be hearsay, and it's generally unreliable and doesn't come into evidence. But there's an exception to that hearsay rule called an admission. And that's a word or an act by a party to a case that's offered against them. That's how the prosecution is able to get these statements that Zimmerman gave to his friend into evidence. And it's conflicting, it looks bad for Zimmerman, it affects his credibility and so it's quite understandable why he would be sweating.</s>BALDWIN: Why he's wiping the brow. Darren, thank you. Let me just bring you back -- everyone up to speed as far as what's happening right now inside this Sanford courtroom. Right now, again, this hearing is under way. Those jurors, they're out of the room because this judge right now is talking specifically about the stand-your-ground law in Florida and whether or not what is admissible here in the court as far as evidence goes as far as George Zimmerman's knowledge of this law, and what is not. We're going to talk about that, and why that's clearly significant in this trial, after this.