sanford, florida, keeping his eye on the courthouse. dan, to you. >> thanks so much for joining us, everyone. jurors are now in their eighth hour inside the seminole county courthouse deliberating whether or not george zimmerman is guilty in the crime of the death of 17-year-old trayvon martin. in this hour, you're going to hear from one of the main voices in the case with a new candid perspective never before heard. martin savage sat down with lead defense attorney mark o'mara, and we tried to do the same with prosecutors and the martin family. however, they are choosing to speak after a verdict is reached. but o'mara offered to open up just after he finished his closing argument, knowing he has said and done all he can for his client. >> you were not the first attorney in this case? >> no, i wasn't. i was sort of second and third. >> so there's a period you were actually a spectator before you became involved. >> and a commentator. i was commenting on it a little

bit. >> what were you thinking about this case at that time? >> when i commented at first, i looked at it and said, you got to be careful with the stand your ground law, because it allows people to do things they can do sort of morally. don't take advantage of a statute in doing things you do. and there's a lot about this case we don't know yet, i also commented. i'm almost glad i said that, because when i got on this case, it became my mantra. >> was it going through your mind that, i hope i don't have to be a part of it. >> i knew he had a couple attorneys already, and i had done a lot on the casey anthony case commentating, so i thought, wel well, commentating could be fun. >> why did you take this case? >> this is what i do. i can't come up with a better

reason other than this is what i do. when the case came open to me, i looked at it and it just seemed to fit my skill set more than i ever could have planned or imagined. i say that not to be egoist about it, but i just had a lot of experience with the media, so i knew how to handle that part of it. i had done a lot of murder cases, including death penalty cases, so i knew how to handle tough cases. i also knew how to handle those cases where you have to deal with victims' families, and you have to have a sensitivity to what they're going through and sort of guide and navigate your client through a difficult system when you have a victim's family involved. so i have that. and it just seemed like it was perfect for me. and then you overlay that with the social questions about the case, the racism questions, the way this case is being viewed, even the stand your ground law itself, it just met on literally all eight cylinders. >> it wasn't like you stepped into this case and then it exploded. it had exploded by the time you

stepped in. so you knew exactly what you were getting into. >> april 11 was my first day in. i had a phone call with george at 4:30 or 5:00, pulled into my office, made the announcement, and by the time i walked to my front door, there was 75 or 80 people and 20 cameras and 14 or 15 trucks outside my office. >> what were the circumstances when you first met george? >> strangely enough, when i walked into the jail cell where george was waiting, i had a couple pictures in my mind. i had a picture of trayvon martin being a very young boy, maybe 13 or 14 years old. i had a picture of george zimmerman being about 250 pounds with an attitude, because that's the picture that i saw, a 2005 picture, when he was very heavy. and that's okay. those are the type of people that i represent, generally speaking. i walked into that jail cell, and one of the most amazing sights to me was this small, young, respectful, quiet, scared

individual literally half the size that i thought he would be. not physically but the presentation. and it really took me back. i spent a couple hours with him, and he was very respectful, very open, very concerned about his situation, but -- and from that day forward, i knew i would be representing him, and two, where this case would go. >> but as things developed, as you grew closer, as you heard more, did you believe the story he told? >> i withhold judgment as long as i can and need to. that judgment was withheld for a few weeks until i got the information that i could from the state, until i started getting some of the information. once i realized that trayvon martin was not 14 years old or 13 years old, the hollister shirt, and once i realized that george was significantly injured that night and that he had voluntarily complied with all law enforcement requests, from

interviews to voice stress analysis tests, to walk-throughs, i knew there was something here different than most cases. because most cases, my clients had done something wrong, and my job is to do damage control. this case became very different after the first couple of weeks, and i've never looked back as far as george's innocence. >> the reason i ask is that robert zimmerman, george's father, has said publicly that he thinks you're a great lawyer and he's very glad that you represented his son. but he has also said at times that he didn't feel you were adamant enough about george's innocence, and i mean declaring that publicly to the media. >> right. >> what would you say? >> i accept the criticism. this is the way i live my life and the way i practice law. and i think i know how to handle my cases better than anybody else in the world. certainly not to demean him, but including a client's father. i understand his loyalty and concern that his son was being assailed and attacked in the

media. the two lawyers involved in the case before me took a much more agressive tact than i did, and i think they caused more harm than good in the way they handled the case. because while i could have gone to the top of the stairs and screamed his innocence at the top of my lungs, i would have only incensed those very people who i really wanted to do some reaching out to, who i really wanted to convince, let's talk. let's wait and let's chill down a little bit until we see what's going on. quite honestly, i think over the last 16 months we've worked this case, the sensitivities we brought to the martin family, to the issues that have been presented in the larger social questions have helped direct this case towards the situation it's in now. that situation is there are not a lot of protesters out there, there are not a lot of people screaming at the top of their lungs anymore that george is a racist, and they're not even saying he's a murderer. i think they get he's a

non-racist and that he acted in self-defense. >> up next, he gets even more candid. when he met george zimmerman, he was concerned he might be a racist. we'll be back live as we wait for the jury's decision here. td the adelante movement. teaching tools for success, and fostering creativity. these programs are empowering people to lead positive change, and helping them discover how great a little balance can feel. through initiatives like these, our goal is to inspire more than three million people to rediscover the joy of being active this summer. see the difference all of us can make, together.

peoi go to angie's listt for all kinds of reasons. to gauge whether or not the projects will be done in a timely fashion and within budget. angie's list members can tell you which provider is the best in town. you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare. now that we're expecting, i like the fact i can go onto angie's list and look for pediatricians. the service providers that i've found on angie's list actually have blown me away. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust.

i'm don lemon, live in

sanford, florida, cnn special coverage for the george zimmerman verdict watch. the jury deliberating for more than eight hours now. mark o'mara talked to cnn about the first concerns, taking on a client who could have been as hateful as some described him. >> was it a concern for you that he might have been a racist? >> when i saw the 12-year-old trayvon martin picture and the 270-pound george zimmerman picture, yes. no question. and strangely enough, i think that's why most of the people who believe george zimmerman is a racist today got their belief, when they saw those two pictures 16 months ago. and you can't not have that thought. you can't look at 12-year-old trayvon martin and the size of george zimmerman and say there's any reason why trayvon martin should have lost his life that night. when you look at the reality, it's completely different. >> whose fault is that, that

imagery dichotomy? because i think everyone knows what you're talking about. you had the first pictures of zimmerman in what looks like jail attire, and then you had a very, very young-looking trayvon martin. whose fault was that? >> it was a wonderfully created and crafted public relations campaign by the people who were assisting the martin family. that's ben crohn and other people. i don't discredit what he did, as long as he acknowledges that's what happened. >> he purposely, or that family, purposely chose those photos because of the youthful look it gave him. >> i don't have personal knowledge on that, but i do know this was handled where trayvon martin was 12 or 13 years old, and george zimmerman was a racist murderer. you didn't have to scratch very far below the surface to realize george zimmerman is an anti-racist. he's the opposite of a racist. this is a guy who mentored black

children during this very time that this happened, that he grew up with black children in his home being cared for by his grandmother. he brought a black woman or girl to his prom. he went and took the stand that he did for sherman ware, a homeless black man abandoned by his father. it didn't take much to see george zimmerman was not a racist. so if that's true, maintaining and futuring the fal acy that h was a racist was absolutely intentional. >> you mentioned ben crump. do you think george zimmerman would have even been charged had ben crump not been involved? >> no. if ben crump had not gotten involved in the case, if he believed there was something that was being swept under the

rug, then get into it. i'm very okay with that. >> but you didn't say it that way. you made it sound like if not for ben crump, george zimmerman would be free at this time and we would not be in a trial. >> that's correct. i think it was a made-up story that had nothing to do with george zimmerman. they complained about trayvon martin being victimized, george zimmerman was victimized by a campaign to smear him, to call him a racist when he wasn't, and a murderer when he wasn't. >> so all those people who had a hand in bringing about this prosecution, they were all manipulated by ben crump? >> i don't know if it was ben crump doing all that manipulation, but i'm very surprised the prosecution team decided not to take this case to a grand jury when one was sitting and impanelled and ready to take on the case of the state versus george zimmerman and determining whether there was enough information to charge him with any crime. rather than do that, which was

the default position that could have happened, they decided have a press conference, pray with the victim's family and announce second-degree murder charges. >> george was railroaded. >> not guilty of second-degree murder. he's not guilty of anything but protecting himself from the attack by trayvon martin. >> i've seen them on line. did you truly believe that george zimmerman was in danger? >> i think those death threats came from a very extreme periphery. so was he in active fear? since we don't know where that periphery lives or when they're going to show nup in sanford or orlando, you have to take those threats for real. i don't know if it was his mother taking threats on an

internet chatroom, or if it was someone down the street finding out where he lives. so death threats you have to take seriously, and he does, because he's been in hiding for six months. >> what about you? you have a wife, you have other people working on your staff. were you afraid for them? >> i'm concerned. i think i've handled myself in this case in a way that evidences sensitivities that should be there for the martin family and the events that have happened. but again, there is that periphery out there who just may decide they don't like the fact that i helped george zimmerman get acquitted. i don't know how you live any other way than to just continue living your life with it, because i'm not going to go into hiding, i'm not going to stop being a criminal defense lawyer, i'm not going to stop taking on a case that i believe in. >> the way you said that, it almost sounded like present tense, you don't believe these threats have gone away or those feelings have vaporized. >> they haven't. there has been an upswell in them now that the trial is on. i think now that those people --

>> someone called the office? >> i'm talking mostly of e-mails and things like that. i think we got a couple of calls. but yes, a lot of people. i think now that the trial is progressing and they're realizing what isn't happening and it's not meeting their expectations, their anger is actually growing. i would hope their anger would subside, they would look at this and say, wait a minute, i have to rethink. maybe george is not a racist, maybe it was self-defense. rather, they're attacking the system. oh, it's all made up. oh, it's a racist system. we don't get justice from a conviction, then we'll get it our way. they need to trust the system, they need to get past their own prejudices and look at the facts of the case. >> you heard mark o'mara going after the lawyer representing trayvon martin's parents, benjamin crump. last night crump talked to piers morgan about whether he helped

make an unclear portrait of george zimmerman. >> they seem to forget that trayvon martin was a dead, unarmed kid on the ground who his client profiled, followed, pursued and shot in the heart. the only thing that brought us into the matter is when they told trayvon's father that they were not going to arrest the killer of his unarmed son who only had a bag of skittles and a can of iced tea walking home from the 7-eleven, doing everything he legally had the right to do. so what do you tell parents like tracy and sabrina whose child was only trying to walk home and was profiled for whatever reason? we don't know if george zimmerman was a racist or not, but we do know he profiled trayvon martin for some reason and got out of that car with a .9-millimeter gun and pursued

him. if we would not have gotten involved, as tracy martin told me when i first talked to him, they said they're not going to do anything about it. and i didn't believe that, piers. i did not believe that as a lawyer. i said, hold on, let me make sure i get these facts right. because i know that they would arrest certain people on a hypothesis. they had evidence of a kid, they had a confessed killer, and they weren't going to arrest him. there's something wrong with that. that's why so many people signed those petitions, over 2 million people. they said you can't kill an unarmed kid and not even be arrested. >> up next, mark o'mara talks about the jailhouse phone calls between zimmerman and his wife and why they spoke in code. we're back in a moment. matt's brakes didn't sound right... ...so i brought my car to mike at meineke...

...and we inspected his brakes for free. -free is good. -free is very good. [ male announcer ] now get 50% off brake pads and shoes at meineke.

back now live in sanford, florida. i'm don lemon, everyone, and just over my shoulder in the courthouse, the jury now deliberating more than eight hours. george zimmerman is not the only one in legal trouble in his family. his wife shellie has pleaded not guilty to lying about family finances in civil court. mark o'mara talks about that and

just how much money this case has cost so far. >> why did george lie about the money that he had available at the bond hearing that was before the trial? >> it always sounds like i'm defending him when i shouldn't. of course, he didn't say a word at the bond hearing. shellie zimmerman said a couple words to the judge that were interpreted as being less than truthful. the only explanation i could give, and it sounds like i'm making an excuse, is if it were anyone who had put upon him what george had put upon him, where he had to leave his home, literally, that night. he never went back to his home after the night of the 26th. he was in hiding out of the state, couldn't go back to work, they had to let him go. his wife was released from going to classes as a nursing student. he had absolutely nothing. his mother and father had to leave their home. he got a bunch of money from his website, and maybe he tried to

hold onto some of it. he didn't hide it. when i found out about it three days after the bond hearing, the first opportunity i had to ask him about anything, and it came up coincidentally, he told me about that and was forward with it. that doesn't sound like a man trying to take the money and run. >> phone calls and speaking to his wife. there is a very obvious code. >> the nature of the code suggests something as well. he knew the phone calls were being recorded, everybody does, and i told him they were as i tell every client. so instead of using the code 10,000, he uses the code 10 or 15 instead of 15,000. i think that more evidences his lack of sophistication than some doo devious mind. >> a lot of money was made to raise funds. how much money did you think was

needed? >> i think i said at one point 500,000 and then i said a million for a defense. that turned out to be a little shy of what we need. >> how often were you sort of right there at almost a zero bank account? >> oh, we were at the zero bank account numerous times, and we were -- i have funded this case, a lot of money i have put into this case, because you can't stop, and people still need to be paid or depositions need to be ordered or depositions need to be taken. >> you fill the gaps? >> yeah. i had to. i mean, you don't just stop. and at that point, my commitment was such that we're going to see this case through trial. >> who gave? who were the people that gave? >> it's funny, because we got a lot of $5 contributions, a lot of $100 contributions, a few $1,000 contributions. but if you looked at the range, i would say it was 10 to $100 was most people all over america. a lot of people who are on fixed

in connection with. i was -- incomes. i was amazed that people would write letters and say, i'm on social security. i wish i could do more. i'll try to do more next month, but we really feel george deserves a fair trial. i don't know if it was for george as much as it was they thought he was put upon and not getting a fair trial, and it was, this is for a fair trial. get him to a courtroom and get him there the right way. i think that's what they were doing. >> did you get money from white supremacists? and if you did, did that bother you? >> if they identified themselves in any form or fashion as being racist, we would not accept the money. >> did anybody? >> yes. we sent back -- it might be a dozen or thereabouts of money that came with what i perceived to be inappropriate statements. george doesn't want that money, i don't want that money, we're not going to sully our presence and our position with taking

money from somebody who only gives it to us because they think we may be as racist as they are. >> up next, mark o'mara reveals the lowest point of the case for him. it involves trayvon martin's cell phone. stay right here.

welcome back, everyone. bottom of the hour. i'm don lemon live in sanford for cnn coverage of the george zimmerman trial. jurors are about to enter their ninth hour of deliberations over george's future. the 29-year-old could be convicted of second-degree murder or manslaughter or he could be acquitted. his attorney says confidently the last will happen. and mark o'mara says he's had to deal with some pretty dirty tactics and unfair practices in an effort to achieve it. here again, his martin savage interview. >> lowest point in the case? >> buildup, during. what for you was when you really began to wonder about, is this the right commitment? >> i was frustrated on several occasions about the discovery -- i was very upset with the way that i thought discovery wasn't being followed up, because that just wasn't the way this was supposed to happen. we're supposed to have two good litigants and two good

advocates, and you're supposed to try hard and you're supposed to try fair. i was very frustrated with some of the discovery concerns. those were low points. i guess the low points were exacerbated when i thought i wasn't getting the relief i wanted from the judge in response to those concerns. that was a low point for me. >> is it that you think the prosecution was being underhanded, or were they being ethically wrong? >> when it takes me six months to get a color picture of my client, when the first one i get is a black and white, when i look at it and go, this is off a cell phone. cell phones don't take black and white pictures, and i asked for a color copy, that takes two months. then i get a pastel colored copy of it. it takes me to file a motion and have a hearing set before i get the actual jpeg, no, that shouldn't happen. i've done this too long to know in my own mind