Position of Trayvon Martin's Hands Key in Trial Opening

Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart says that former neighborhood-watch captain George Zimmerman lied about the positon of Trayvon Martin's hands after the scuffle that resulted in teen's death. Already skeptical of Zimmerman's claim of getting on top of the teen after shooting him to "push his arms apart," Capehart explains that that encounter never happened and Assistant State Attorney John Guy can prove it.

Guy’s confidence in saying “that didn’t happen” about Zimmerman moving Trayvon’s arms rests on two pieces of evidence. One we’ve all known about. Another we didn’t — or at least I didn’t.

“The first two officers to Trayvon Martin’s body found him exactly like the defendant left him — face down, his hands clutching his chest,” Guy told the jury. This is the evidence we’ve known from almost the very beginning. Sanford Police Officer Ricardo Ayala wrote in his report of the scene that he “noticed that there was, what appeared to be a black male … laying face down on the ground. The black male had his hands underneath his body.”

Yesterday, Guy revealed that a neighbor took a cellphone photo of Trayvon’s body before the police arrived that rainy Feb. 26, 2012, night. Trayvon’s arms were underneath his body, Guy told the court.

Read Jonathan Capehart's entire piece at the Washington Post.

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