MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell cross-examined a chair on national television Monday night after his guest, the lawyer representing Trayvon Martin shooter George Zimmerman, beat a hasty retreat from the hot seat, said the network. 

Craig Sonner reportedly took off in a car (strangely enough, one that seems to have been officially provided by MSNBC, according to the Huffington Post) soon after arriving at the studio's Orlanda headquarters Monday night, said The Hollywood Reporter. 

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An outraged O'Donnell, who had accused the media of treating Sonner with kid gloves, proceeded to hammer the lawyer's emtpy chair with questions like "Who is paying you?," "Does George Zimmerman have a job?," and "Did you represent him when he was arrested for assault on a police officer in 2005? Did you represent him in a domestic violence case in 2007 when his girlfriend accused him of assault?"

Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watchman believed to have shot and killed 17-year-old African-American Trayvon Martin in Florida in February, has been the focus of an increasingly racially-charged debate in the United States.

Some 1,000 people rallied on behalf of Martin in a "Million Hoodie March" held in New York on Thursday, and US President Barack Obama told Martin's parents, "If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon."

Sonner says his client acted out of self-defense instead of racial profiling. He has however neglected to answer key questions raised by Zimmerman's defense, reported The Atlantic. 

See our complete Trayvon Martin case coverage.