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I think George getting on the stand to express his sorrow for the parents’ (he didn’t really “apologize” nor should he have, as their son’s death was his own fault) turned out well for him, but it could have been disatrous.

When he opened up the door by taking the stand, the prosecutor worked hard to confuse him, to get him to incriminate himself, contradict his prior statements, or perjure himself, but GZ was an outstanding witness. I think 90% of witnesses in his place would have said something that would hurt their case, but GZ was very smart and cool and understood the importance of, and paid attention to, small details.

For example, when the prosecutor tried to pin him down on which police officer he expressed his sorrow for Martin’s family to, and what he said, he calmly stated that he couldn’t recall verbatim what he had said and that all the different officers had become blended to him, so he wasn’t sure which ones he said it to.

Whenver he was sure of a detail, he clearly expressed that certainty, but when he was less sure, spoke much more generally.

At one point the prosecutor said something like, “So you said it to the detectives?” and he replied that he didn’t know if they were detectives or not, and the prosecutor had to rephrase it to “officers”. He is very precise about words and details which makes him a great witness and very difficult to trip up.

The fact that he is 100% innocent probably helps, as well.