if you'd please tell the members of the jury your name. >> chad joseph. >> mr. joseph, how old are you? >> 15. >> are you in school? >> yes. >> what grade were you in this past school year? >> eighth. >> in february of last year, 2012, did you live here in sanfo sanford? >> yes. >> what neighborhood did you live in? >> retreat at twin lakes. >> what was your street address? >> 2631. >> who did you live with in february 2012? >> my mom. >> and what is your mother's name? >> is brandy green. >> did anyone else live with you and your mother back in february of 2012? >> no. >> were you in school -- >> reporter: okay. this is chad joseph. this is the 15-year-old son of tracy martin's girlfriend. he was the 15-year-old who was staying at the house where trayvon martin was also staying when trayvon martin went to the 7-eleven. this was the young man who was at home. this is the first witness being called by the state. i'll send it back to you. >> thank, craig. let's bring in former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney and msnbc legal analyst. george zimmerman is cha

they were visiting tracy martin's girlfriend brandy green and her 12-year-old son chad joseph. they lived together in a town home in a gated complex known as the retreat at twin lakes. and on that day, trayvon martin spent the day with 12-year-old chad joseph doing what kids do. they watched tv. they played video games. they just hung out. but in the afternoon hours, in the early evening, trayvon martin decided to go to the store to get something to drink and he asked chad joseph, do you want anything? skittles was the reply. so trayvon martin set out on foot by himself. and walked just less than a mile to a nearby seven eleven. you'll see his purchase of those two items. 23 ounce can of arizona brand fruit juice and skittles on a 7 eleven surveillance video. at 6:24 p.m., he walked out the to door. and he started walking home in the rain. and although he was by himself, he wasn't entirely alone. because he spent that walk home on the phone. with a young friend from miami. rachel. and as teenagers are want to do, he talked to that girl the entire way home. but at that same time

the first was chad joseph, the teenager who was the son of trayvon martin's father's girlfriend.n martin to see him alive. they had played playstation together and then trayvon went off to the 7-eleven to get the arizona soft drink and skittles and chad joseph never saw him again. the second one was and drew goff, the employee who sold those items to trayvon martin and we saw on the videotape, there was trayvon martin buying the items with his hoodie up. the third one was the significant one that i just talked about, a man named shaun nofke. he took the call where among other things he asks george zimmerman, are you following him? zimmerman says yeah. and he says we don't need you to do that. and you know, martin i'm puzzled over that language myself. why didn't he just come out and say don't do it. today we got the answer to that. liability. he said he's not allowed to give direct orders or instructs to people who call in. >> with so many potential witnesses, you might think this would be a long trial. we're being told it could be as short as two to four weeks. is this because t

this is chad joseph, and he is a -- i'm are sorry -- who is th- girlfriend's son of tracy martin. the young man who trayvon martin has been spending all of that sunday with back in february 20612 prior to trayvon walking by himself to go to the 7-eleven >> shepard: alerts get cop text from from -- context from the lawyers. arthur, a former prosecutor, and heather is with us as well. let's start with the prosecution. they went first. 40 minutes or so, and, man, came out guns blazing. >> that is a style thing and that is totally my style. if you look, when gentlemen just played the clip of the opening thing, there were people with their heads done when he started and they pop right up. you want to get a jury, grab them, pull them in, and you just want them to pay attention. the average attention span of a human is 12 minutes. so even up there 35 minutes you're pushing the envelope you. want them to feel your argument and your passion, half of them were wearing business suits and -- obviously these are women so not the typical suits-that's great. that means these are jurors taking th

. >> on that day, trayvon martin spent the day with 12-year-old chad joseph doing what kids do. they watched tv. they played video games. they just hung out. >> obviously, the strategy, john, it seems here is to let the jurors get to know trayvon martin. >> absolutely. and that he was really a young man, frankly a young teenager who in fact was doing the kind of things that teenagers would do. that is go to the store, buy skit skittles, talk to his girlfriend on the telephone. basically, be nondescript. he has a situation where he's unarmed. this case is about one kid who was unarmed and a grown man who is armed with all the other circumstances surrounding it. so obviously, the objective is to humanize and play down that he is a grown man, that he was just a kid, a regular kid who went to the store and winds up dead. >> lisa, let me bring you back before i talk to jonathan on this. is this a usual strategy in something you have such high emotions and people in some cases feel they know one or the other involved in this case just by what they've read and as they watch from home.

joseph's op-ed piece. >> good evening, this is chad huntly reporting. >> tonight. >> it seemed only natural he should goll him why. the president did not limit himself to discrimination problems in the south. he hit broadside the discrimination everywhere in the country and spoke of it as a moral issue. >> professor joseph, who is the author of "dark days, black nights" from black power to barack obama calls that speech on this day 50 years ago, kennedy's finest moment. i remembered that speech when i watched it again today. and i remembered that the president was telling us in boston to not start to feel superior to white men in the doorways in the south because the plague of racism was everywhere. and as clear as that is now, nothing had been said like that to the american people, to all the american people by their president. the president was echoing dr. martin luther king jr. in a way that would have seemed radical just a short time earlier and surely did seem radical to many americans on june 11th, 1963, possibly even most americans. here is some of that speech that made many white americans stop