per-lawyer: Trayvon Martin started confrontation, Zimmerman lawyer says

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Trayvon Martin started confrontation, Zimmerman lawyer says

View Photo Gallery — ?The fatal shooting of an unarmed black 17-year-old by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford, Fla., has led to a federal investigation, numerous protest rallies and a national spotlight.

Text SizePrintE-mailReprints By Sari Horwitz, The Washington Post

The attorney for George Zimmerman, the man who shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin last month, said Monday that Martin initiated the confrontation, beating his client so badly he suffered a broken nose and injuries to the back of his head.

Physical evidence, including a grass stain on the back of his shirt, showed there was a scuffle, lawyer Craig Sonner told ABC News. “When the evidence comes out, it will show that George Zimmerman was acting in self-defense in this case,” Sonner said. “It’s not a racial issue.”

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(HANDOUT/REUTERS) - George Zimmerman is the man who shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin last month. Zimmerman’s lawyer said Monday that Martin initiated the confrontation, beating his client so badly he suffered a broken nose and injuries to the back of his head.

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Martin’s parents and their attorney, preparing to fly to Washington for a congressional briefing Tuesday, disputed the account, which contradicted their long-standing assertions that Zimmerman had attacked their son without provocation. Martin was unarmed when he encountered Zimmerman while walking from a convenience store in Sanford, Fla., on Feb. 26.

“There is absolutely no evidence of anything like that except Zimmerman’s word,” Benjamin Crump, the attorney for Martin’s parents, said in an interview. “Trayvon isn’t here to give you his version because Zimmerman shot and killed him.”

Sonner’s account of Zimmerman’s injuries is consistent with the Sanford Police Department report, written by the officer at the crime scene who handcuffed Zimmerman. “I could observe his back appeared to be wet and was covered in grass, as if he had been laying on his back on the ground,” the officer wrote. “Zimmerman was also bleeding from the nose and back of his head.”

When Zimmerman was placed in the back of the squad car and given first aid, the officer heard him say, “I was yelling for someone to help me, but no one would help me,” according to the police report.

On at least one of the eight taped 911 calls made to police, screams can be heard in the background. Martin’s parents believe it is their son screaming for help. But a friend of Zimmerman’s said on television Monday he believed it was Zimmerman’s voice in the background.

A federal law enforcement official involved in the investigation said that Zimmerman told authorities he was returning to his sport-utility vehicle after calling police when Martin confronted him.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is in its early stages, said that Zimmerman recounted Martin challenging him by saying, “You got a problem with me?”

“Zimmerman said no,” the official said, citing Zimmerman’s account. “Martin said, ‘Now you do,’ and then punched him in the nose.” The exchange was first reported by the Orlando Sentinel, which also said Zimmerman had told police that Martin got on top of Zimmerman and began slamming his head into the sidewalk.

New information was also revealed Monday about the circumstances of Martin’s visit with his father in Sanford. Crump said that Martin was staying with his father’s fiancee, because he had been recently suspended for 10 days from his high school in Miami after an empty baggie that once held marijuana and still had some residue was found in Trayvon’s book bag.

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