George Zimmerman's Fox News interview represents his defense team's effort to bolster public opinion of Zimmerman before he stands trial for the Feb. 26 killing of unarmed 17 year-old Trayvon Martin, Associate Dean Dan Filler told theChristian Science Monitor on July 19. 

The Zimmerman interview was a defensive tactic designed to humanize Zimmerman before trial without exposing him to potentially detrimental cross-examination.   The tactic just might work, Filler claimed, because,  "[i]t’s entirely possible that his lawyers will never put him on to testify so these public statements may be the only testimony jurors will ever hear from him.”

Filler is a former public defender who studies the effects of social anxiety on the development of criminal law.