The prosecution kicked off the George Zimmerman trial with an explosive opening statement Monday morning.
"F---ing punks. These a--holes, they always get away," said Prosecutor John Guy, quoting George Zimmerman the night he shot and killed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin.
"Trayvon Martin, 22 days removed from his 16th year, was face down in wet grass, laboring through his final breath on this earth," Guy said. "And that defendant was walking around upright [deciding how to tell law enforcement] why he profiled … this teenager."
After Guy unexpectedly started the opening statements with profanity, MSNBC announced that it would be showing the trial on a seven-second delay. The statements are being aired live online and on some TV channels.
MSNBC's Chuck Todd comes back and says "Well, we've decided to institute a 7-second delay..." because of language in trial.
— Eddie Scarry (@eScarry) June 24, 2013
In its opening statements, the prosecution depicts Zimmerman as a vigilante who wished he was a cop and took matters into his own hands to prevent crime in his neighborhood as head of his Neighborhood Watch group.
"A 28-year-old grown man, somebody who wanted to be a police officer, somebody who called the police numerous times about crime in his neighborhood … and somebody who believed it was his right to rid his neighborhood of anybody he believed didn't belong."
Guy seems to be setting this up as a case of wrongful profiling (Martin was black and he was wearing a hoodie on the night he was walking around Zimmerman's neighborhood). Florida Judge Debra Nelson ruled just last week that prosecutors would be allowed to use the word "profiled" in opening statements.
"[Zimmerman] saw someone that was real suspicious," Guy said. "Someone who looked like he was up to no good."
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