Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Animation of fatal fight weighed at Zimmerman hearing

LIVE VIDEO ? George Zimmerman faces charges of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. Editor's note: This is a live feed of a criminal trial and may contain graphic imagery and language that could offend some viewers.

By Tom Winter, James Novogrod and Elizabeth Chuck, NBC News

An animation that illustrates what may have happened in the fatal confrontation between neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman and teenager Trayvon Martin could be key to jurors? understanding of what led Zimmerman to shoot Martin and should be admissible, Zimmerman?s defense team argued Tuesday.

The animation, which according to defense attorney Mark O?Mara has been reduced to ?more like a series of stills,? originally included punches being thrown by Martin, 17, at Zimmerman. The punches have now been excluded.

Judge considers allowing defense's animation of Trayvon Martin's shooting into evidence. NBC's Sarah Dallof reports.

On Tuesday, in a continued push to get the animation presented to the jury ? which prosecutors argue would be misleading to the jury ? the defense brought in the crime scene and accident recreation animation graphic artist who was hired to reconstruct his version of the Martin-Zimmerman confrontation. Jurors were not in the courtroom during the hearing.

Daniel Schumaker of California-based Contrast Forensics said he uses a variety of pieces of software, equipment, robotic lasers that measure three-dimensional space, and ?motion-capture? suits to recreate crime scenes and accidents.

O?Mara asked Schumaker why crime scene and accident reconstruction technologies are beneficial.

?It?s perfect for court because then you can ? it gives you a running log of all the movements. Say, for example, somebody hits something and causes a certain amount of damage. With this suit, I can do that same action and from the accelerometers, you could see how much force it took to cause that amount of damage,? Schumaker said.

?The engineers that have developed it, they not only use it for motion-capture like this, but it?s used in biometrics, for physical rehabilitation and physical therapy,? he said.

Zimmerman, 29, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Martin, 17. He has pleaded not guilty and says he shot Martin after being attacked on Feb. 26, 2012, after the two encountered each other in a gated community in Sanford, Fla.

Schumaker was hired in April 2012 by the defense to do a recreation of their confrontation. He said he used coroner photos, police reports, audio from 911 calls, and witness statements for his recreation. He also flew from California to the crime scene to use a motion-capture suit on-site.

?There?s a couple volunteers from your law office that put the suits on. Then as far as the timing, for the second part of the scenario where they were on the ground, I used the audio from the 911 call for the timing of it to time it with the shot of the gun,? he said, referring to the moments before the gun went off when the two were on the ground fighting each other, according to witness accounts and Zimmerman?s statement to police.

Prosecutors filed a motion last Friday to block the animation, arguing, among other objections, that it ?artificially depicts lighting conditions? on the rainy night Zimmerman and Martin tussled and ?relies in part upon statements in police reports, some of which were in fact contrary to testimony repeated by the same witness in court.? They also object to the animation because it wasn?t presented at any pretrial hearings.

Editor's note: George Zimmerman has sued NBC Universal for defamation. The company strongly denies the allegation.

Past coverage:

Trayvon Martin's father: Screaming on 911 call is my son

Mothers' testimony opens, closes day at Zimmerman trail

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Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663306/s/2e6c894d/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A70C0A90C193752770Eanimation0Eof0Efatal0Efight0Eweighed0Eat0Ezimmerman0Ehearing0Dlite/story01.htm

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