It wouldn’t shock me if the prosecution (and judge) knew this was a political trial and that they would be left out to dry if things went south. As a consequence they did their best to throw the trial without looking like it so no one could some after them for prosecutorial misconduct but if Zimmerman were found guilty he would have lots of ground for appeal.
I thought that too, many times.
That possibility formed in my mind well before the Prosecution rested.