this morning on "early today," document drop. hundreds of pieces of newly released evidence sheds new light on the trayvon martin killing. once bitten, a north carolina man has a scary encounter with an alligator. and last dance, legendary disco queen donna summer loses her battle with cancer. captions paid for by nbc-universal television this is "early today" for friday, may 18th, 2012. hello, good morning i'm lynn berry. today we gip with the evidence. the state of florida released 200 pages of documents they will use in the trial of

george zimmerman for the shooting death of trayvon martin most unseen by the public until now. curt gregory has the story. >> reporter: more than 180 pages of documents, witness statements and photographs were released late thursday by special prosecutor's office. the evidence they say support their charges against george zimmerman. never before seen photos of injuries allegedly sustained by the 28-year-old zimmerman during his confrontation with trayvon martin. and images of the scene where the shooting took place, on february 26th. zimmerman is charged with second degree murder, but has pleaded not guilty under florida's stand your ground law. also within the documents are reports from investigators including one that describes an interview with martin's father, tracy martin, two days after his son's death. the investigator reported "i asked mr. martin if the voice calling for help was that of his

son. mr. martin clearly, emotionally impacted by the recording qui quietly responded no." martin's mother, sabrina fulton, insisted the screams audible on recorded 911 calls are that of her son. also among the documents, the medical examiner's report, which states the teenager was killed by a gunshot to the heart. toxicology tests performed found that martin had thc, the active ingredient of marijuana, in his bloodstream. >> whether or not he smoked a joint a week before it does not matter. this was an unarmed teenager in a place he had every right to be, who was confronted by a man with a nine millimeter gun. >> reporter: pages upon pages upon evidence in a case that has held the nation's attention for months. curt gregory, nooeb news. the fate of john edwards rests in the hands of a jury which begins deliberations today. in closing arguments prosecutors said he broke campaign financial laws to cover up an affair.

the defense argued that while edwards' actions may have been morally wrong, they weren't criminal. nbc's jay gray reports from greensboro, north carolina. >> reporter: the final round in the high-stakes high-profile case was an epic legal battle. >> this is like a title fight. it feld like ali versus frazier. >> reporter: the first punch thrown by prosecutors who said john edwards planted the seeds of destruction before he announced his bid for the white house in 2006 with his wife and mistress both in the crowd. the government's lawyers led by robert higdon painted a picture of an greedy politician who knew the law and decided to violate it to salvage the campaign. >> it didn't focus on the intent but higdon made clear he should have known, had to have known these type of moneys, hundreds of thousands of dollars would violate the $2300 limit. >> reporter: next the defense got their turn with the jury.

>> took it to the government head-on. said their entire case relied on andrew young and that the government had a legal standard they couldn't meet. they never were able to show that john edwards knew he was violating the law. >> reporter: attorney abby lowell called it the most important date in edwards life said "please let the sad chapter end and" stressed edwards may have been a bad husband and lied to his family as many or moral wrongs, he has not committed a legal one. after lengthy and strict zruxs from the judge, the focus shifts to the jury. jay gray nbc news, greensboro, north carolina. both wall street and main streetd will be watching when the world wide social network that got the start in harvard dorm room, becomes a publicly traded company. thanks to its pricing at the stock of $38 a share, before selling a share, facebook has already reached record status as the biggest initial public offering in history by an

internet company. the deal will raise the social networking giant around $16 billion in proceeds, and value the company at more than $100 billion. of course we'll have much more coming up in business. but first, now here is a look at other stories making news "early today" in america. in north carolina, an alligator attacked a man who was just trying to capture the reptile alongside the highway, harmless, right? the victim was bit in the arm but amazingly only suffered minor injuries. he works for an aquarium and was called to the scene after a driver spotted the gator, which was eventually caught. unreal. in rhode island, could be a breakthrough for those who are paralyzed. researchers at brown university released video showing a robotic armory sponding to basic commands given through only the person's thoughts. the robot was able to give the patient a bottle to sip from. a device attached to the woman's

brain allowing a computer to decode messages from her mind and send it to the robot. a florida couple had a different kind of self-serve at a gas station. a mom to be was in labor, and dad couldn't make it to the hospital in time, so he pulled right in the pumps, ran to the passenger side and delivered his own son! the fire department did show up moments later, to cut the umbilical cord, everyone is doing fine. way to go, dad. for a look at national and region aweather here is bill karins. good morning. >> slurpees for everyone. beautiful weather continues across the nation, not much drama out there today. we didn't have much yesterday, either. severe thunderstorms were very widespread, we did have some thunderstorm action with locally flooding conditions in south carolina and georgia and along the orlando, to daytona beach

corridor. no tornados yesterday. typically in the month of may we get 257 tornadoes on average, this year we have had 71. most of those in the beginning of the month, too. i don't expect many this upcoming weekend thankfully, remember last year with all the fatalities and horrible storms, this year, so far, so good. as we go throughout the weekend we will see the storm in the rockies heading in the plains with showers and storms, also less than ideal in the carolinas, especially along the immediate coast, little breezy, you will have cloudy conditions on and off showers, that's it. everybody else from the midwest to the plains, rockierockies, al day. that is the national forecast here is a look at the weather outside your window. how nice in chicago today, low humidity, 82 degrees, beautiful weather there. philadelphia, you're right up there another gorgeous day. cleveland, ohio, no complaints, partly cloudy and 74. memphis, a little warmer, near 90.

i don't think it's too far fetched to say this would be the nicest spring weekend of the year. >> love it bill, thank you so much. coming up the big ipo sharpening the ax at hp. the shocking price paid for a manhattan penthouse that hasn't been built yet. the early morning business headlines are straight ahead. will the stars and special effects of "battle ship" or "the dictator" knock the avengers out of the top spot of the box office. the kings one win away from the stanley cup finals, frustration boils over for the miami heat. you're watching "early today."

good morning welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are top headlines this morning. newly released video from syrian activists shows the aftermath of a roadside bomb attack on a convoy of united nations cease fire monitors in syria.

for their safety the team was forced to spend the night with rebel forces. the observers were unhurt, and later safely evacuated. singer donna summer whose hit included "last dance" has died at the age of 63 of cancer. in the 1970s, rather of glitter and platform shoes, summer was known as the queen of disco. queen sophia of spain will not be attending a lunch to celebrate the diamond jubilee of england's queen elizabeth. the snub was ordered by the spanish government in response to a recent trip by prince edward to gibraltar territory which has been disputed by the two countries for many years. in canada, officials say a suspected thief now in prison stole a $20,000 diamond from a jewelry store, and then swallowed it. now prison guards are waiting patiently for nature to take its course. now here is an early look how wall street will kick off

the day. dow opens at 12,442 after plunging 156 points yesterday. the s&p sank 19 points, nasdaq tumbled 60. overseas trading, in tokyo the nikkei lost 265 points. in hong kong the hang seng skidded 249. the big question oin investors morning will it you life up to the hype? facebook begins trading around 11:00 under fb. after becoming the world's largest internet ipo there is no doubt facebook stock will pop, but the question is how much? and for how long? will it be able to buck the recent downward trend? broader markets will be under pressure after asian stocks plunged to the lowest level in six months this morning. a downgrade to greece's credit banking and banking crisis in spain are adding to concerns of a eurozone break-up.

in addition to europe's debt worries, weak earnings from caterpillar and gamestop were the biggest drags on the dow and s&p. the nasdaq was weighed down from losses from apple. walmart impressed investors with the best results in three years. improving sales at gap helped the struggling retailer overcome rising costs. tough times at he with it packard have the company planning to go cut between 25,000 and 30,000 jobs from the workforce to fund more than a billion dollars in savings. verizon wireless customers are in an up roar over the decision to force customers who were grandfathered in unlimited data plans to switch to more expensive data sharing plans. and finally, a new record for real estate in manhattan, just when you thought it couldn't get worse, an anonymous buyer shelled out more than $90 million for a penthouse. it's not even built yet, still

under construction. unreal. the heat go stone cold, the spurs clobber the clippers, unbelievable juggling act by a pittsburgh pirate. the surprising los angeles kings find themselves on the brink of playing for the cup. the early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. i have the weekend forecast and i think you're going to like it that is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning, if you're just waking up this is "early today." in sports, last night in indianapolis, it became clear a big under dog story may be brewing in the nba playoffs. here is nba's fred roggin with a look at the sports headlines. good morning, the miami heat already playing without chris bosh and dwyane wade disappeared. game three between the pacers and heat, forgettable for wade, finished with five points. frustration boiltd over in the third. miami losing their cool, indy was winning the game. roy hibbert, 19 points, 18 boards, do you think the heat are missing chris bosh? i would say so. indy leads the series two games to one. now to san antonio, game two spurs and clippers looked like game one.

everybody in the white jersey contributed. five players scored in double digits. tony parker led the way with 22. celebrated his 30th birthday with a victory. spurs dominated 105-88 they lead the series two games to none. hockey, phoenix up one in the second. a move straight out of the break away handbook, faked out the goalie, put the puck between his legs. the fifth of the playoffs tied it at one. stayed that way until the third. dwight king has been on a tear lately, kept it going last night, fourth goal in the last three games, kings won it 2-1, they can sweep the coyotes on sunday, game four is on nbc. pirates andrewm cut chun did it against the nationals, gave pittsburgh the lead. in the fifth came up big with the glove. adam laroche, mccutchen made a leaping grab. bobbled the ball, crashed in the

wall and made the grab. the sixth, andrew again, another solo shot. two home runs and catch of the night, doesn't get much better than that. pirates won it 5-3. that is the early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. the lowdown on the new films trying to knock the avengers off this weekend's box office list. your entertainment headlines are straight ahead. a special bond in an age when parents and their kids seem to spend less and less time together. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today" on this friday morning. the only troublesome weather over the weekend, afternoon storms will be typical down in florida, also in the central plains. not today, really not much on saturday. as we go to saturday, minneapolis and denver, slight chance of storm or two, so much of the country is literally perfect this weekend. sunday, i think the cold front will be lined up near illinois, iowa, back down through oklahoma a few thunderstorms, 99% of us will have smiles on our face. if you're watching us on wyff 4 in greenville, south carolina, discover how many animals at the zoo are endangered. find out how to help at endangered species day at the greenville zoo. that is the "early today" event of the day. bill, thanks so much. an early look at the headlines in entertainment, look for more records to fall this weekend at the box office as the

avengers rings up yet another number one finish. after earning $50 to $55 million by sunday, the 17th day of release, the avengers should reach $450 million total, a record. batt battleship stars lian neeson and rihanna, for all the hype it is about a $200 million overseas earning for battleship, probably not going to challenge the avengers. most experts see it taking in a robust but second place, 35 to 45 million. most other weekends, "what to expect when you're expecting" might have finished on top. it will attract women not interested in comic book heros or special effects, earning $15 to $20 million. finally, sacha baron cohen is expected to do respectable

business but not blockbuster business, should take in 15 to 20 million. this comes to us from wptv news, channel 5 in west palm beach where in nearby delray beach, a tradition between a father and daughter has walked off in the sunset. get this, every day for the last ten years, frank has walked his now 13-year-old daughter, laura to school. they took that journey together more than 1600 times. but now, laura is off to high school. so they have made their final daily track. they still plan on walking it once a year to remember the bond they formed along all those miles. neat story there. i'm lynn berry, this is "early today" your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station.

at 4:28. 58 degrees. a cool start for a lot of us. we'll have the full details on the day and weekend ahead. first, good morning, i'm aaron gilchrist. >> i'm eun yang. welcome to "news4 today" for this friday, may 18, 2012. leaders of the world's largest economies begin arriving in washington this morning. they are here for the g-8 summit being held this weekend at camp david. the economic crisis in greece expected to dominate this weekend's meeting. its government is divided on whether to implement drastic spending cuts and is on the brink of leaving the eurozone. many economists fear that could trigger a financial crisis

throughout europe that would threaten the economic recovery in the u.s., as well. the summit will bring protesters to nearby frederick, maryland. occupy frederick is organizing demonstrations and rallies. messages like this one will be painted on the roads leading to camp david. you see it here. the advocacy group called the one campaign did this in the district this week. the messages are actually tweets for g-8 leaders. the tweets include things like "tell the g-8 to feed the hungry." today the world's largest social network will may its debut on the stock market. facebook's initial public offering will place the company's value at $104 billion. facebook is pricing its stock at $38 per share. 241 million shares are up for sale, making it the second largest ipo ever. >> this is hedge funds, mutual fund managers, and this is the pros trying to get in early at the offering price. >> because we want to keep facebook free everyone. >> the