Zimmerman's lawyers release bloody nose photo
By: CBS News
Updated: December 4, 2012
The defense team for George Zimmerman, charged with killing unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin in February, released a color photo of Zimmerman with a bloody nose.
Zimmerman's lawyers say the photo was taken by a police officer on February 26, the night 17-year-old Martin was shot and killed nearby his father's home in Sanford, Fla. The 29-year-old has pleaded not guilty to the second-degree murder charges and was released from Seminole County Jail on $1 million bond in July.
The photo was published on GZlegalcase.com, a website created by Zimmerman and his defense attorneys. Although the same picture was made public earlier this year as black-and-white photocopy, this high-resolution version comes shortly after the same website announced a "thank you" card defense fund to raise money for Zimmerman.
Lawyers on both sides of the case disagree on the picture's significance.
"It's not a game changer," Zimmerman lawyer Mark O'Mara told Reuters, adding its only importance was how it vividly showed the injuries Zimmrman sustained during his confrontation with Martin.
"Does it really show what happened that night to George? Yes," O'Mara said.
An attorney who represents Martin's family, Ben Crump, told Reuters the photo adds nothing new to the case.
"Trayvon Martin was defending himself. He had every right to stand his ground to defend himself," Crump said.
