Several witnesses in George Zimmerman case change their accountsBy Rene Stutzman and Jeff Weiner, Orlando Sentinel
1:51 p.m. CDT, May 22, 2012
Evidence released last week in the second-degree murder case against George Zimmerman shows
four key witnesses made major changes in what they say they saw and heard the night he fatally shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford.
Three changed their stories in ways that may damage Zimmerman. A fourth abandoned her initial story, that she saw one person chasing another. Now, she says, she saw a single figure running.
Here are the key ways in which their stories changed.(Snipped... full details at link)
......more at link(Including a Video report of the story)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nati ... 5603.storyWitness 2A young woman who lives in the Retreat at Twin Lakes community where Trayvon was shot, was interviewed twice by Sanford police and once by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
"I saw two guys running. Couldn't tell you who was in front, who was behind."
"saw a fistfight. Just fists. I don't know who was hitting who."
A week later, she added a detail During the chase, the two figures had been 10 feet apart.
That all changed when she was re-interviewed March 20 by a Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent. That time, she recalled catching a glimpse of just one running figure.
Witness 12A young mother, who is also a neighbor in the townhome community, never gave a recorded interview to Sanford police, according to prosecution records released last week. She first sat down for an audio-recorded interview with an FDLE agent March 20, more than three weeks after the shooting.
she said she saw two people on the ground immediately after the shooting and was not sure who was on top, Zimmerman or Trayvon.
Six days later, however, she was sure: It was Zimmerman on top,
Witness 6This witness lived a few feet from where Trayvon and Zimmerman had their fight. On the night of the shooting, he told Serino he saw a black man on top of a lighter-skinned man "just throwing down blows on the guy, MMA-style," a reference to mixed martial arts.
He also said the one calling for help was "the one being beat up," a reference to Zimmerman.
But three weeks later, when he was interviewed by an FDLE agent, the man said he was no longer sure which one called for help.
Witness 13He is important because he talked to Zimmerman and watched the way he behaved immediately after the shooting, before police arrived.
After this neighbor heard gunfire, he went outside and spotted Zimmerman standing there "blood on the back of his head," he told Sanford police the night of the shooting.
Zimmerman told him that Trayvon "was beating up on me, so I had to shoot him," the witness told Serino. The Neighborhood Watch captain then asked the witness to call his wife, Shellie Zimmerman, and tell her what happened.
In two subsequent interviews about a month later — one with an FDLE investigator and one with de la Rionda — the witness described Zimmerman's demeanor in greater detail, adding that he spoke as if the shooting were no big deal.
Those witnesses are likely to be interviewed at least once more before Zimmerman's trial. Defense attorneys in Florida routinely question witnesses under oath as they prepare for trial.