Zimmerman's neighbors had nothing derogatory to say about him, and his co-workers were complimentary. During the trial, defense attorney Don West implied that the language Martin had allegedly used was evidence that Martin had introduced race into the confrontation. For not arresting Zimmerman, the Sanford police faced heavy criticism, protests, and allegations of racial bias. Attorney General Eric Holder expressing "no confidence that, absent federal oversight, the Sanford Police Department will devote the necessary degree of care to its investigation" and requesting that personnel be detailed to Sanford to review the case without bias.
Allegations were also made that the Sanford police were protecting Zimmerman. He's not under a legal obligation to do that, so that is not something we can charge him with. On March 21, , three out of the five members of the Sanford City Commission, including the mayor, passed a motion of no confidence in regards to the Police Chief Bill Lee, and his handling of the case; however, the vote was advisory only. Some commissioners had concerns about the fairness of Lee losing his job and the mayor stated he preferred to wait for the results of an investigation.
Lee was to remain on paid leave. In an interview with CNN, following his testimony at Zimmerman's trial, Bill Lee said that he felt pressure from city officials to arrest Zimmerman to placate the public rather than as a matter of justice. They didn't care if it got dismissed later. The Sanford police presented a " capias request" to the state's attorney, asking that they determine whether it was a "justifiable homicide".
The Zimmerman defense team initially planned to seek to dismiss the case against Zimmerman under the protection afforded by Florida's " stand your ground " self-defense law. Self-defense laws in the United States , particularly regarding justifiable homicide , vary by state. In many states, such laws exempt people in their own homes from the common-law requirement that one first attempt to retreat , if one can safely do so, before resorting to the use of deadly force the so-called " castle doctrine ", based on the notion that "a person's home is his castle".
Three weeks after the shooting, Florida Governor Rick Scott commissioned a member task force to review the Florida statute that deals with justifiable use of force, including the Stand Your Ground provision. Several months following Zimmerman's acquittal, in October bills to revise Florida's Stand Your Ground law provisions in accordance with several of the suggestions offered in by the governor's task force began advancing through the Florida legislature with bipartisan support. For the first 10 days after Martin's death, the story was covered by only by local media outlets in Florida.
The Project for Excellence in Journalism reported that media coverage of the Trayvon Martin case became the first story in to be featured more than the presidential race. According to the Project, the varying types of media have focused on the case in different ways. An article in the Tampa Bay Times wrote that, "on Twitter, people are outraged at Zimmerman and want justice, while on cable news and talk radio people are discussing the state's laws for self-defense and gun control and on blogs the focus has been on race. The contrast in the photos of Martin and of Zimmerman which were most widely used in early media reports of the shooting may have influenced initial public perceptions of the case.
The initial police report on the shooting described Zimmerman as white. Economist and commentator Thomas Sowell criticized the national media for implying that Zimmerman had continued to follow Martin after the police dispatcher said, "We don't need you to do that. After the audio of the call was released, reports by CNN [] and other news outlets alleged that Zimmerman had said "fucking coons" two minutes and twenty-one seconds 2: Two weeks later on April 4, , CNN claimed that enhanced audio revealed that Zimmerman had said "fucking cold" alluding to ongoing rain in February.
On one version of the recording played by NBC, Zimmerman was heard saying, "This guy looks like he's up to no good or he's on drugs or something He's got his hand in his waistband, and he's a black male. Or he's on drugs or something. It's raining and he's just walking around, looking about.
Zimmerman simply answered a question Nothing prejudicial at all in responding to such an inquiry To portray that exchange in a way that wrongs Zimmerman is high editorial malpractice NBC issued an apology for "an error made in the production process that we deeply regret," [] but never apologized on the air. On December 6, , Zimmerman filed a defamation lawsuit against NBC alleging that they intentionally edited the phone call so that Zimmerman would sound racist. The lawsuit said, "NBC saw the death of Trayvon Martin not as a tragedy but as an opportunity to increase ratings, and so set about to create the myth that George Zimmerman was a racist and predatory villain.
Zimmerman unfairly and we intend to vigorously defend our position in court. In the ruling, the judge wrote that there was "no clear and convincing evidence that defendants knew that the information published was false at the time it was published, or recklessly disregarded the truth or falsity of those statements". ABC News obtained a surveillance video of Zimmerman walking unassisted into the Sanford police station after the shooting. An officer is seen pausing to look at the back of Zimmerman's head, but ABC originally said that no abrasions or blood can be seen in the video.
In his July 26, , column, Slate journalist William Saletan accused several major news organizations of editing interviews with "Juror B29" to make it appear that she maintained Zimmerman had gotten away with murder when, according to Saletan, she had not actually done so. As news of the case spread, thousands of protesters across the country called for Zimmerman's arrest and a full investigation. Opening statements took place on June 24, Jury deliberations began on July On July 13, , the jury found him not guilty.
On February 24, , the United States Department of Justice announced that "there was not enough evidence for a federal hate crime prosecution. Some legal scholars, including Charles Rose of Stetson University and Jonathan Turley of George Washington University, were not surprised by the verdict and said the prosecution had tactically erred by charging Zimmerman with second-degree murder, which, given Florida's laws on self-defense, made it almost impossible for the prosecution to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt with the evidence at their disposal.
George Zimmerman remained in hiding after the verdict, although it was reported that on July 17, four days after the verdict, Zimmerman helped rescue several people from an overturned vehicle in Sanford, Florida. Zimmerman's parents said that they too had received a large number of death threats and were still too afraid to return to their home after the verdict.
During a speech at to the NAACP, Attorney General Eric Holder stated that the Department of Justice was continuing to investigate Zimmerman for civil rights violations after the verdict, and also criticized existing "stand-your-ground" laws. Although there were scattered incidents of disturbances and vandalism following the not-guilty ruling, fears of widespread civil unrest as per the Rodney King verdict in were unrealized. The man said the three assailants yelled out "This is for Trayvon! Just days after the Zimmerman trial verdict had been announced, several dozen activists known as the Dream Defenders began to camp outside Governor Rick Scott's office in the Capitol, demanding that the governor call the legislature into special session to pass what the activists called The Trayvon Martin Civil Rights Act , which would repeal the Stand Your Ground law, outlaw racial profiling, and discourage the use of zero tolerance policies in schools.
Democratic leaders in the Florida legislature, Senate Minority Leader Chris Smith and House Minority Leader Perry Thurston , also called on the governor to convene a special session of the legislature, in order to overhaul or possibly repeal the Stand Your Ground provisions of Florida's self-defense laws. On July 19, six days after the verdict, President Barack Obama gave an impromptu minute speech in the White House Press Room , in which he spoke about the trial and about race relations in the United States.
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A week after the verdict, peaceful rallies and vigils were held in more than cities nationwide to protest racial profiling, demand the repeal of Stand Your Ground laws, and call for a federal trial of Zimmerman for violations of civil rights laws. A nationwide poll conducted for The Washington Post and ABC News found sharp divisions along racial and political lines over the shooting and over the jury's verdict. The acquittal of Zimmerman on the charge of murdering Martin, inspired a Facebook posting that included the phrase "black lives matter", which later became the name of the Black Lives Matter movement.
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Retrieved July 24, — via YouTube. He was our little brother, our nephew, our god-son, our cousin, and our son. What the President could not say was not only would his son have looked like Trayvon, his son would have also lived a similar upper-middle class life that would have made no difference to the idiot behind the trigger who thought to take his life mercilessly.
I know none of this will bring Trayvon back nor will it stop some idiot from pulling a trigger at will. However, what serving our community will do is give hope to a hopeless generation looking for guidance in all the wrong places. Here are a few places you, yes you, can give back to a black boy in your community:. Learn why giving circles are important for you no matter if you are involved in philanthropy, civic leadership or non-profit management.
This action of mentoring will begin the process of saving lives. Black woman we have the power to get our men to do whatever we want them to!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes Mom, you are right. We do have the power to get our men to do whatever we want. We need our Good Black Men to step up and like Tonya said, we as women need to encourage them!
I agree wholeheartedly with this post. But what he said next is what got me to thinking. We all need to step up and do something. I pray that people, especially men, will read your post and be inspired to take action and help put an end to this vicious cycle. Who are you telling! What is Diddy going to do next? My friend and I were just discussing this exact topic just the other day. Take note as to how protests were handled in the times of MLK.
There was no mailing of photos or candy bags… we spoke with our pockets and our votes! On the other hand, I think one of our biggest problems is that we have no real leadership for our generation. Al is all that bad in his older days. Al- just to be safe. To date, has skittles mentioned anything about this child? Who in our society prompts calls to action? Makes people move, speak, give, march, etc?
There is no one and I, personally, will not follow Al Sharpton to the corner store. He has definitely served a purpose but this is a new generation and I feel that more often than not…he embarrasses me.
We, as a culture, must do better [i really hate that I say that]!