Trayvon Martin
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More than a year after Trayvon Martin was fatally shot, George Zimmerman's defense is relentlessly fighting for their client's innocence.

The defense revealed controversial photos and texts of Martin found on his cell phone Thursday. The images depicted Martin fighting, smoking marijuana and posing with what looks like a potted marijuana plant, the Associated Press reported.

Zimmerman is charged with fatally shooting Martin in a gated community where the 17-year-old lived in Florida in February 2012. He claims that Martin was behaving suspiciously and became violent when he approached him. Zimmerman was a security guard for the community.

His long-delayed trial starts next month. He is pleading not guilty to second-degree murder in the boy's death.

The defense also revealed a series of text messages from Martin where he tells friends that his mother wants him to move out and live with his father because she caught him ditching school. He is said to have texted others about "smoking weed."

Circuit Judge Debra Nelson has filed a motion asking the judge not allow the photos and texts to be presented in court. A hearing will take place regarding the matter next Tuesday.

The defense said the evidence is perfectly acceptable as it illustrates Martin's violent behavior.

"If they had suggested that Trayvon is nonviolent and that George is the aggressor, I think that makes evidence of the fighting he has been involved with in the past relevant," Mark O'Mara, Zimmerman's defense attorney, said.

O'Mara has submitted a motion of his own, asking the trial be delayed further in order to review the qualifications of a prosecution witness with an expertise in speech identification, the Huffington Post reported. The expert may be used to identify who was on the 911 phone call that allegedly captured Zimmerman and Martin fighting.

The prosecution said of the texts and photos that it was just another way to manipulate the jury.

"Is the defense trying to prove Trayvon deserved to be killed by George Zimmerman because (of) the way he looked?" attorneys said. "If so, this stereotypical and closed-minded thinking is the same mindset that caused George Zimmerman to get out of his car and pursue Trayvon, an unarmed kid who he didn't know."

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