Latest Updates on the
Trayvon Martin Case
By ROBERT MACKEY
Video of Wednesday’s news conference in Jacksonville, Fla. from MSNBC.The Lede followed developments in the Trayvon Martin case on Wednesday in Florida, where Angela B. Corey, a special prosecutor, announced that George Zimmerman, who shot the unarmed teen in February, has been charged with second-degree murder and taken into custody.
8:14 P.M. |Zimmerman’s New Lawyer Commented on Case Tuesday
Mark O’Mara, the criminal defense lawyer from Orlando, Fla., who is now representing Mr. Zimmerman, is also a legal analyst for the local CBS News affiliate WKMG. Hal Boedeker of The Orlando Sentinel reports that Mr. O’Mara provided legal analysis on the Trayvon Martin case just one day before he became directly involved in it.
On WKMG Tuesday night, O’Mara weighed in on attorneys Uhrig and Craig Sonner, who announced they couldn’t represent Zimmerman anymore.
O’Mara said he was “surprised that two attorneys who were no longer counsel talked for an hour about a case that they’re no longer involved in. I think that was a little problematic. You’re not supposed to talk about a client’s case, for the most part at all, and yet they answered dozens of questions.”
Anchor Lauren Rowe asked: “What if another attorney comes along and starts to represent him? Would this news conference actually be detrimental to their case?”
O’Mara replied: “Very potentially. If George Zimmerman came to me tomorrow and said, ‘I want you to represent me,’ I would look at the press conference and say, ‘Mr. Uhrig identified a potential defense. He outlined the facts of what happened, and he cemented what George Zimmerman can now say.’ And that’s problematic if other evidence comes out that conflicts with it.”
Here is video of Mr. O’Mara discussing the Stand Your Ground law on television recently:
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday evening, Mr. O’Mara said that Mr. Zimmerman would plead not guilty. He asked that people not jump to conclusions about the case.
He described Mr. Zimmerman as “frightened” and said that he expected that law enforcement officials would place him in protective custody. He said that he has advised Mr. Zimmerman to “stay calm” and “listen to my advice.” “He seems very willing to listen and do what we have to do to move forward,” Mr. O’Mara said.
Given the emotions surrounding this case, Mr. O’Mara said that he would expect that Mr. Zimmerman would be in protective custody. “He is a client who has had a lot of hatred focused on him right now,” Mr. O’Mara said. “ I am hoping that the hatred settles down.”
Here is a promotional video for Mr. O’Mara’s services:
The Lede is signing off for the evening, but we will continue to follow the Trayvon Martin case in the days and weeks ahead. Thanks for your comments.
7:58 P.M. |Response From Zimmerman Family Friend
My colleague Serge Kovaleski reports:
Tommy, a close friend of the Zimmerman family who lives across the street from where Mr. Zimmerman’s parents resided before going into hiding, said in an interview, “Ms. Corey’s findings are sad for us, but my wife and I agree that we now have to let the system do its job.”
Tommy, who asked that his last name not be used because of the highly charged atmosphere surrounding the case, added, “I really didn’t think George would get charged based on the information that has been out in the public so far. We drew our conclusions based on that, but whatever ever information remains behind the closed doors of the justice system will hopefully shed more light on the truth.”
Referring to the death threats against Mr. Zimmerman, he said, “This must be incredibly stressful for George because he has been a prisoner of this whole situation and could not even go out, like you and I, and buy a soda or a candy bar. And now he is in jail, a prisoner again in a different way.”
Tommy noted, “We stand behind George and trust George as an honest person, but we have to trust the judicial system, as well, and let it do what it is supposed to do. That is what this country is based on.”
7:54 P.M. |Complete Text of Prosecutor’s Prepared Statement
The office of the special prosecutor, Angela B. Corey, has released the complete text of her prepared remarks at Wednesday’s news conference.
7:50 P.M. |Warrant for Zimmerman’s Arrest
Here, from the Florida state attorney’s office, is the warrant for George Zimmerman’s arrest on the charge of second-degree murder.
George Zimmerman Information Document
7:38 P.M. |Video of Prosecutor and Trayvon Martin’s Parents
MSNBC has now made available recorded video of both the prosecutor’s news conference and comments by Trayvon Martin’s parents. The entire news conference can be viewed in the player at the top of this post (refresh the page to see it). Here is video of the brief, emotional remarks by the victim’s parents:
7:24 P.M. |What the Charge Means
My colleague John Schwartz explains what the charge against George Zimmerman means:
By choosing to charge George Zimmerman with second-degree murder in the killing of Trayvon Martin, Florida Special Prosecutor Angela B. Corey selected the toughest possible charge involving a killing, short of first-degree murder, which requires a finding of premeditation and carries the death penalty as a possible punishment.
Under second-degree murder, the jury must find that a death was caused by a criminal act “demonstrating a depraved mind without regard for human life,” said Eric Abrahamsen, a Tallahassee criminal defense lawyer, reading from the state’s standard jury instructions.
The jury would be able to reject the murder charge, however, and opt for a lesser offense, including charges like manslaughter. The maximum sentence for second-degree murder is life in prison.
7:20 P.M. |Zimmerman’s New Lawyer Speaks
Mark O’Mara, George Zimmerman’s new lawyer, was just asked about his client’s state of mind at a news conference. He replied: “He is troubled by everything that has happened, and I cannot imagine living in George Zimmerman’s shoes for the last few weeks.” He said he would appeal to the local community in Sanford, Fla. to “let the process work.”
“Give us our chance to do this right,” he added.
Anthony De Rosa of Reuters reports that Mr. O’Mara also said, of Florida’s Stand Your Ground law: “It’s gonna be a facet of this defense I am sure. That statue has some troublesome portions of it.”
7:12 P.M. |Remarks by Zimmerman’s Former Lawyers
Mark O’Mara, a criminal defense lawyer from Orlando, announced that he would now be representing Mr. Zimmerman. My colleague Serge Kovaleski has more on the lawyers who stopped representing Mr. Zimmerman on Tuesday:
After not returning calls or responding to e-mails for nearly a week, Hal Uhrig, now one of Mr. Zimmerman’s former lawyers, said in an e-mail statement this afternoon that he and Craig A. Sonner “have exhausted our point of view to the media.”
Mr. Uhrig added, “We wish the best” to both the Martin and Zimmerman families. “We can no longer be a media resource and hope everyone understands that you now need to look to the real participants for information and others for analysis.”
In an interview earlier in the day, Mr. Sonner said that “I’d be surprised if they are going to charge him” because, in his view, it was a clear case of self-defense under the Stand Your Ground statute.
And after Ms. Corey’s announcement Wednesday evening, Mr. Sonner said in an interview that if he were still representing Mr. Zimmerman, “I would file a Stand Your Ground motion, and I believe that George Zimmerman would prevail and that the case would not go forward.”
Mr. Sonner said that although he has not seen any of the evidence in the case firsthand, “Everything that I have read goes along the same line that I am thinking. That when all the evidence arrives in its totality, and all the circumstances are viewed in their totality, everything will show, I believe, that George Zimmerman was acting in self defense.”
In an interview on Tuesday evening, Mr. Sonner said of Mr. Zimmerman that his behavior had become “erratic.”
‘We had a good working relationship up until Sunday. Something happened. This is not the way I have seen him. It was not the George Zimmerman I have dealt with.” He said that the rumor was that Mr. Zimmerman’s lawyers were not returning his phone calls, which he stressed was completely false.
Mr. Sonner added that there seemed to be a correlation between Mr. Zimmerman’s setting up his Web site to collect money for legal fees and other living expenses, and his deciding to no longer talk to his lawyers. Mr. Sonner said that he had recently met with Mr. Zimmerman’s father, Robert, and opened a bank account for money that would have been collected through a Web site they had planned to set up for the younger Mr. Zimmerman. But George had beaten them to it, for unknown reasons, and set up a Web site of his own, Mr. Sonner said.
“When you have a client who is not returning calls but making calls to the special prosecutor’s office and making statements to the media and setting up Web sites, it is time for me to withdraw from the case,” Mr. Sonner said. “From an ethical point of view, I felt that the only thing I could do was step out.”
He said that Mr. Zimmerman called the special prosecutors before 11 a.m. on Tuesday because he wanted to give investigators a statement. But the prosecutor’s office, Mr. Sonner said, would not talk with him because he was not in the company of a lawyer. Mr. Sonner said he “would have expected no less from the special prosecutor’s office.”
“I don’t know who is counseling him to do what he is doing, but he is not acting in his best interest right now,” Mr. Sonner said.
Earlier in the case, Mr. Sonner said, Mr. Zimmerman told him he wanted to give prosecutors a statement. “I said ‘O.K., that’s fine. Let me set up a meeting,’” Mr. Sonner recalled, adding that they had not gotten around to doing it because “of the progress of the case,” meaning that it had, among other things, changed hands and was given to Ms. Corey.
Mr. Sonner — who noted that he was the lead counsel for Mr. Zimmerman and was the lawyer who had been communicating with him — added that the last time he was able to talk with his client was on Saturday in what he described as “a very businesslike conversation.”
“I believe in George Zimmerman,” Mr. Sonner said. “He is a good guy, and I would like to see him exonerated in the eyes of the public.” Mr. Sonner said that he had never met Mr. Zimmerman in person because of security and other concerns, “but that was supposed to have changed pretty soon.”
He said that he had been representing Mr. Zimmerman on a pro bono basis, as had Mr. Uhrig, and that they would have worked out legal fees that the Zimmermans would have paid following any charges.
7:07 P.M. |An Interview With Charles J. Ogletree Jr.
My colleague Serge Kovaleski reports:
Charles J. Ogletree Jr., a Harvard Law School professor and civil rights lawyer who has been an adviser to the Martin family legal team, said in an interview, “This is the fair, equitable outcome that everyone was waiting for. This seems to be a determination made by hard evidence and the applicable laws in the state of Florida.” But Mr. Ogletree added, “This is just the beginning of this case. This will be a marathon and not a sprint. I hope this will settle some of the uncertainty that has happened in this case. What I mean by that, for instance, is who was yelling ‘Help?’ At some point, you are going to have a ruling on whether that. was Trayvon Martin or George Zimmerman.”
Mr. Ogletree described today’s determination as “the step in the right direction so that a jury of disinterested individuals can make sure or not whether this was a proper charge.”
Asked about the fact that Mr. Zimmerman was not charged by the Sanford police, he said, “I think the reality is that it is better to get it right over time, rather than do something hastily that is fatally flawed.”
Mr. Ogletree further pointed out, “There are still two very, very important steps: whether there will be a conviction and what type of sentence is imposed.” He added, “It is a relief for the Martin family because all they wanted was to see the person who killed their son tried through the court system.”
7:00 P.M. |Martin Family Reacts to the Charge
At the end of the news conference in Washington, Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin’s mother, was asked if she was happy with the charge of second-degree murder against George Zimmerman. She said, “we just have faith and hope in Ms. Corey’s office… we’re not the experts, they’re the experts, we’re putting our faith in them.”
Tracy Martin, the victim’s father, added: “it feels good to know that he’s off the street.”
6:51 P.M. |‘A Heart Has No Color, It’s Not Black, It’s Not White’
Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin’s mother, thanked God for the arrest of George Zimmerman. Addressing supporters of her family, she added: “a heart has no color, it’s not black, it’s not white, it’s red and I want to say thank you from my heart to your heart.”
Tracy Martin, her former husband, took up the theme of cooperation by people of all races and backgrounds in this case, saying: “I want to thank everyone for being compassionate about this.” He also said, “We will continue to hold hands on this journey, white, black, Hispanic, Latino, we will continue the march until the right thing is done.”
6:41 P.M. |Family’s Lawyer Thanks Supporters
Benjamin Crump, a lawyer for the Martin family, salutes “the young people who believed, they believed completely in justice; the idea, the concept, the dream of justice.” He adds that the protesters who marched and wore hooded sweatshirts to demand justice for Trayvon Martin showed that they, too, could stand their ground.
6:35 P.M. |Sharpton Responds to Charges
At a news conference in Washington, Trayvon Martin’s parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, are standing behind Al Sharpton as he responds to the prosecutor’s announcement. “We will not be gloating around here, we are still mourning with this family,” he said. “This is not a night for celebration, it is a night that never should’ve happened in the first place.”
6:31 P.M. |Zimmerman’s Trial Is Likely to Be Televised
Jeffrey Toobin, a legal analyst for CNN, points out that Florida’s so-called Sunshine Law means that the trial of George Zimmerman is likely to be televised.
6:29 P.M. |Florida’s Murder Statute
Here, from the Web site of Florida’s state government, is the statute defining second-degree murder:
The unlawful killing of a human being, when perpetrated by any act imminently dangerous to another and evincing a depraved mind regardless of human life, although without any premeditated design to effect the death of any particular individual, is murder in the second degree and constitutes a felony of the first degree, punishable by imprisonment for a term of years not exceeding life
6:27 P.M. |Prosecutor Prayed With Trayvon Martin’s Parents
In her final answer before the news conference ended, Ms. Corey said that her team had prayed with Trayvon Martin’s parents when they met at the beginning of the investigation. She said that she made no promise that charges would be brought at that time, but did express concern for how the dead teen’s parents would be able to move on from the tragedy.
6:20 P.M. |Prosecutor Says ‘We Will Fight’ Stand Your Ground
Ms. Corey said that her office routinely fights Stand Your Ground motions. “If Stand Your Ground becomes an issue, we will fight it,” she said.
6:16 P.M. |Prosecutor Rejects Idea That Race Hampered Inquiry
Ms. Corey, asked if she thinks race played a role in the investigation, said, “those of us in law enforcement are committed to justice for every race, every gender.” She added: “We only know one category, it’s a V… for victim.”
6:07 P.M. |Prosecutor Confirms Zimmerman Is in Custody
Angela B. Corey, the prosecutor, said that George Zimmerman turned himself in and was arrested. She confirms that he is now in custody, but refused to say where he now is.
6:04 P.M. |Zimmerman Charged With Murder
Angela B. Corey, the special prosecutor, said that her team filed the charge of murder in the second degree against George Zimmerman today.
6:02 P.M. |News Conference Begins
Angela B. Corey, the prosecutor, began by saying that she had spoken to Trayvon Martin’s parents. “It was less than three weeks ago that we told those sweet parents that we would get answers,” she said. Ms. Corey added her investigation was driven by “the search for justice for Trayvon.”
5:55 P.M. |Interview With the Martin Family
In a video interview with The Associated Press earlier on Wednesday, Trayvon Martin’s parents said that they hoped the man who shot and killed their son would be arrested and convicted.
5:52 P.M. |Zimmerman in Custody, The Associated Press Reports
The Associated Press reports that a Florida law enforcement official “says that the killer in the Trayvon Martin case will be charged with second-degree murder and is in custody.” The news agency adds:
The official with knowledge of the case says that the charge against George Zimmerman will be announced at a news conference at 6 p.m. Wednesday. The official says he’s in custody in Florida but wouldn’t say where. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to disclose the information.
An arrest had been delayed because of Florida’s so-called Stand Your Ground law, which gives people wide latitude to claim self-defense in a killing and other altercations.
The lack of an arrest had sparked outrage and rallies for justice in the Orlando suburb and across the country.
5:49 P.M. |Florida Governor’s Statement
As we wait for the news conference to begin, here is a brief statement from Gov. Rick Scott of Florida: “We are fortunate in our state that most Floridians and local civic leaders are law-abiding, responsible citizens who all want justice to prevail. No matter what State Attorney Corey determines following her investigation of the Trayvon Martin tragedy, I trust in the goodness of all Florida citizens to allow our justice system to reach an appropriate conclusion in this case.”
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Public reactions to the
Trayvon Martin shooting
The circumstances of the teenager’s death as well as the Florida law at the heart of the controversy elicit different reactions from African Americans and whites. There is also a more basic divide on perceived equity in the criminal justice system. Read related article.
APRIL 11, 2012
George Zimmerman’s Lawyer’s
Dadaist Press Conference
Kendall Coffey, a former U.S. Attorney in Miami, said it is unusual for attorneys to hold a news conference to explain why they no longer are representing a client.
“The lawyers have every right to withdraw, but it’s highly unusual, and it will be controversial, for counsel to describe their client’s erratic behavior,” said Coffey, who is now in private practice. “In the court of public opinion, the press conference was not helpful for George Zimmerman.” — Zimmerman’s lawyers withdraw from Trayvon Martin shooting case (Detroit Free Press)
These photos make a good case for why Washington, and other big cities, are filled with communications and PR consultants. With George Zimmerman’s legal status in limbo, and nobody running the show, this press conference/photo op with Zimmerman’s limbo lawyers offers one of the stranger collections of otherwise standard press conference images I’ve seen in a while.
In this day and age, the way scenes like this are so carefully optimized, we’re conditioned to expect every person and element in the background has his/her/its place and meaning. Here instead, it’s like the event on the lawn in Sanford served as some kind of cosmic magnet pulling in elements — the power fist; the young Black gentleman with the shirt “singing out”; the maybe-injured, maybe not-injured white guy (maybe random bystander? maybe there for tech support?) on the rolly cart; presenting a Dadaist mashup of symbols sort-of resonant with the case.
It goes without saying (though, curiously, we hardly ever state it here) that top-flight wire photographers are highly trained to look for and capture anything novel that takes the physical action and scenery of a story informed by the political and cultural facts and personalities involved to deliver the stickiest visual fodder for both eye and brain. In this case, these lawyers basically winging it, this is what came out in the blender.
Is there really nothing here to take away, though? With the State’s self-defense law at the heart of the ambiguity surrounding Mr. Zimmerman, maybe it’s fair to say this collection of elements actually well captures Florida as a political oddity.
(photos: Joe Raedle/Getty Images. caption 3: Hal Uhrig, right, and Craig Sonner, former attorneys for George Zimmerman, speak to reporters during a news conference to announce that both attorneys had quit as Zimmerman’s legal representatives in Sanford, Fla. , Tuesday, April 10, 2012. Zimmerman is a neighborhood watch volunteer who authorities say fatally shot an unarmed teenager. The men said have withdrawn as his counsel because they haven’t heard from him in days and he is taking actions related to the case without consulting them.)