By Rene Stutzman and Jeff Weiner, The Orlando Sentinel –
SANFORD, Fla. — As many eagerly awaited the release of never-before-seen evidence in the case against George Zimmerman, members of special prosecutor Angela Corey’s office provided a preview Monday in the form of an eight-page document.
The paperwork, filed with the Seminole County clerk as closing time approached, included a list of witnesses the state plans to call and identified several pieces of the evidence prosecutors expect to use to support a second-degree murder charge in the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
Late Monday, Zimmerman attorney Mark O’Mara confirmed he had received the evidence at his office. It consists of dozens of CDs and “numerous” paper documents.
“It’s 67 CDs. That’s about all I know,” O’Mara said.
Most names were redacted from witness and evidence documents obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, but six civilian witnesses were named: Martin’s parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin; his brother, Jahvarius Fulton; and Zimmerman’s neighbor, Frank Taaffe, friend Joe Oliver and father, Robert Zimmerman.
The document listed 18 Sanford police officers as primary witnesses, including lead Investigator Chris Serino. Corey’s office also turned over five reports prepared by him, as well as written reports prepared by four other Sanford officers.
The list includes new video evidence from the night of the shooting — both from the 7-Eleven store where Martin reportedly purchased Skittles and Arizona iced tea and from a clubhouse in Retreat at Twin Lakes, the townhouse complex where the teen was killed.
Other video, showing Zimmerman being taken into the Sanford Police Department after the shooting, has already been made public. Crime scene photos of both Zimmerman and the teen are also listed in the documents filed Monday, as is Martin’s autopsy report.
Also included in the evidence are phone records — Zimmerman’s from Feb. 20 to Feb. 26 and from March 7 to March 22, Martin’s from Jan. 1 through March 1, and those of an unnamed witness labeled “W8” from Feb. 26 through April 2.
The list includes 40 audio-recorded statements. One of the 911 callers, identified as “W6,” gave four statements to authorities about the shooting, two to Sanford police, one to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and one to the prosecution’s lead trial attorney, Bernie de la Rionda.
W8 gave two statements — one to prosecutors and one to Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump, which suggests W8 may be the girl described by Crump as Martin’s girlfriend.
Other primary witnesses include four FDLE investigators, three investigators from the office of state attorney Norm Wolfinger and two from Corey’s office, including Dale Gilbreath, who hand-delivered the list to Seminole County clerks about 20 minutes before their doors closed for the day Monday.
Five fire-rescue personnel are listed as witnesses. So are a fingerprints expert with Sanford police, and FDLE experts in the fields of firearms, DNA, trace evidence and fingerprints.
Also listed as witnesses are a New Jersey forensics expert, two employees with the Volusia County medical examiner’s office and a pair of FBI audio experts. The list also includes Tom Owen and Ed Primeau, two audio analysts who told the Sentinel they believe the screams heard in one 911 call were those of Martin, not Zimmerman.
On Monday, Corey’s office filed a motion under seal, asking that certain information in the case be protected from public disclosure. It’s not clear whether she wants more than witness names kept secret.
O’Mara said he was not sure whether he would file a similar motion.
What’s at stake is all the evidence police and prosecutors have compiled against Zimmerman, the 28-year-old Sanford man charged with killing the unarmed 17-year-old in what has become one of the most racially charged criminal cases in the country.
Media outlets are expected to challenge any attempt to seal evidence in the case.
They earlier jumped into the case and persuaded Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester Jr. to unseal the court file, a different and much more limited set of information.
Zimmerman shot Martin on Feb. 26. He later told police he fired in self-defense after the teen pinned him to the ground and beat him. Martin’s father, family lawyers and critics say Zimmerman is guilty of racial profiling and murder.
