Attorneys for George Zimmerman stunned court observers on Tuesday by deciding to skip a "Stand Your Ground" hearing slated for April that might have led to a dismissal of the charges of the shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin.
Under Florida's Stand Your Ground law, Zimmerman would be entitled to immunity and prove that he shot and killed Martin on Feb. 26. If self defense was determined, all criminal proceedings against him would have immediately stopped, and he would have walked free, according to the Associated Press.
Zimmerman's legal team also risked the possibility that the judge would reject the motion and the hearing would give prosecutors an opportunity to pick apart his testimony.
The defense left open the likelihood that they could ask for a Stand Your Ground hearing before the June trial, but by waiting until the later date his legal team would have more time to prepare their case.
During Tuesday's hearing, the two sides wrangled over a couple of other pretrial issues.
Zimmerman's defense appeared to question the credibility of a teenage girl, identified only "as Witness 8, who claims she was on the phone with Martin just moments before he was shot. Witness 8 is arguably the key witness in the upcoming trial," ABC News reported.
The defense wanted Judge Debra Nelson to question prosecutors about how they learned the claim was not true, but Nelson refused. Defense attorney Donald West also asked the court for more information about the account she gave attorneys.
According to records obtained by ABC News, she was on the phone with Martin as his confrontation with Zimmerman began. Zimmerman's defense also sought any criminal history police may have on Martin as well as his social media history.
In an earlier hearing the judge ruled that Zimmerman's defense could subpoena Martin's social media history but the undertaking is time consuming and expensive. Authorities agreed to hand over the documents to the judge so that she could review them and determine if the defense should have them.
"It's time and money to get some of the information here and we are running out of both," said West.
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