George Zimmerman murder charge
For Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.), the Miami congresswoman who represents the district in which Martin lived, the announcement was one that made her feel as though a “weight has been lifted off of my shoulders and off my heart.”“I feel that justice has been served. I think we are heading towards justice. I just feel great,” Wilson said. “I feel so much relief for the mother, the father, the grandmother, … all of the cousins that live here in the district with me.”
Wilson told POLITICO that her sense of relief was especially acute for the younger residents of her district.
“The youngsters who attended high school with [Martin] are absolutely distraught,” she said. “This sort of gives them some hope that they can proceed with their senior year. … We had grief counselors in schools with them to help them get through this because they are afraid! Afraid to walk down the street and think that this could happen to them. Tremendous. Tremendous.”
Rep. Bobby Rush, who was removed from the House floor last month for wearing a hoodie — the clothing that Martin was wearing the night he was killed that has become a national symbol — offered his congratulations to supporters who had put on their hoods to symbolically call for Zimmerman’s arrest.
“The hoodie is nothing but a piece of clothing so any time you have a black man walking in a neighborhood with a hoodie on, you can’t racially profile that person and say that that person is a hoodlum,” Rush (D-Ill.) told POLITICO. “Every black man with a hoodie on is not a hoodlum.”
Asked whether he regretted breaking the dress code, the congressman said, “No regrets. Sometimes, men make rules that need to be challenged and sometimes, they need to be ignored because there are greater rules that should prevail.”
Zimmerman being charged was not only a victory for some members of Congress but one that was also welcomed by civil-rights activists — with a sense of hesitation.
“The whole world — [it took] two months to get an armed man charged with second degree. It shouldn’t take the whole world to do that,” the Rev. Jesse Jackson said. “My relief is measured because while he’s arrested, the law has not changed. … I won’t be satisfied until the ‘stand your ground’ law is repealed.”
Standing alongside Martin’s parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, the Rev. Al Sharpton took on a similarly somber tone as he emphasized unity and calm.
“Despite the fact that we are different political parties and different political persuasions, … tonight maybe America could come together and say that only the facts should matter when we’re dealing with a loss of life,” said Sharpton, who has led rallies and spoken out on behalf of Martin’s family in recent weeks. “They’ve lost their son. … This is not about gloating. This is about pursuing justice. We have not won anything.”
George Zimmerman, 28, could receive up to life in prison if convicted. His new lawyer said that Zimmerman would plead not guilty.
The shooting of Trayvon, 17, in Sanford, Florida, brought demands from civil rights leaders for Zimmerman's arrest and set off a furious debate over race and self-defence that reached all the way to the White House, where President Barack Obama observed: "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon."
Special prosecutor Angela Corey said Zimmerman turned himself in. She would not reveal where he was, saying it was for his safety, but she said he would appear in court within 24 hours.
Second-degree murder is typically brought in cases when there is a fight or other confrontation that results in death but involves no premeditation to kill. It carries a mandatory minimum of 25 years behind bars when a gun is used.
Zimmerman initially was not arrested in part because of Florida's "stand your ground" law, which gives people wide leeway to use deadly force without having to retreat in the face of danger. His new lawyer Mark O'Mara said he would invoke that law in Zimmerman's defence.
Trayvon's parents expressed relief over the decision to prosecute him. "The question I would really like to ask him is, if he could look into Trayvon's eyes and see how innocent he was, would he have then pulled the trigger? Or would he have just let him go on home?" said his father, Tracy Martin.
On Tuesday, Zimmerman's former lawyers withdrew from the case, saying they had lost contact with him and portrayed him as in a precarious mental condition. But Mr O'Mara said of Zimmerman's health: "I'm not concerned about his mental wellbeing."
Zimmerman, of Sanford, whose father is white and mother Hispanic, has said since the February 26 killing that he shot in self-defence after the teenager attacked him. But Trayvon's family argued Zimmerman was the aggressor, as he ignored an emergency dispatcher's advice and followed the teenager through a gated community, saying he looked suspicious.
Zimmerman's brother Robert told CNN: "Our brother literally had to save his life by taking a life. And that's a situation nobody wants to be in, ever."
From The Miami Herald:
Trayvon Martin shooter George Zimmerman charged with second-degree murder, turns himself in
By Frances Robles, Erika Bolstad and Michael Vasquez
mrvasquez@MiamiHerald.com
Florida special prosecutor Angela Corey has charged neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman with second-degree murder in the shooting of Trayvon Martin.
Zimmerman turned himself in and is in custody at an undetermined location, Corey confirmed in a 6 p.m. news conference.
“It is the search for justice for Trayvon Martin that has brought us to this moment,” Corey told reporters.
Corey added that the decision to charge Zimmerman was not taken lightly, and was based on the facts of the case.
