Trayvon martin case one year later
Family raises money for foundation
Feb. 26 will mark one year since then-17-year-old Travyon Martin was gunned down by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch coordinator in a gated community of Sanford, Fla.
Martin was visiting family in the area and was walking back from the store when, despite requests by local police not to do so, Zimmerman began following Martin because he appeared “suspicious.”
The two ended up in a physical confrontation, and the unarmed Martin was shot in the chest and killed.
Recently, Martin’s family and activists such as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, along with celebrities Jamie Foxx and Cedric the Entertainer, held a rally and remembrance dinner in Miami on what would have been the teen’s 18th birthday.
“We just want to let people know,” said Martin’s mother Sybrina Fulton, “the community, the children, to know that they have a right to walk in peace. They have a right to walk without anybody following them. They have a right to walk without anybody causing any harm to them or killing them.”
Zimmerman says he shot Martin in self-defense and is attempting to use Florida’s “Stand Your Ground Law” to justify his actions.
Initially, Sanford police refused to arrest Zimmerman, but after nationwide protests, that changed, and now the neighborhood watch coordinator is set for trial in June. Additionally, he must undergo “Stand Your Ground” hearing by April 26.
Martin’s family has set up the Trayvon Martin Foundation, which seeks to address the Stand Your Ground laws.
“We want to make sure that we keep Stand Your Ground revisions or repeals,” said Fulton. “We want to keep that on the forefront so that they know that you can’t pursue anyone and then claim you were standing your ground.”
Locally, a candlelight vigil tribute will be held Feb. 26 at 6 p.m. in Leimert Park to mark the one year anniversary of Martn’s death.
The parents of Trayvon Martin have settled a wrongful death claim against the homeowners association of the Florida neighborhood where the teenager was fatally shot, the Orlando Sentinel reported Friday.
The report of the settlement comes more than 13 months after neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman shot Martin in Zimmerman’s neighborhood in Sanford, Florida.
The state’s chief witness in the Trayvon Martin murder case lied under oath, prosecutors say.
The young woman who says she was on the phone with Martin when he encountered George Zimmerman lied about her whereabouts at another time, the prosecution told a judge Tuesday.
The woman, whose name has not been released, had told prosecutors that she was in the hospital on the day of Martin’s funeral. The defense then sought her medical records.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Robert Zimmerman, whose brother, George, is awaiting trial on a charge of second-degree murder in the shooting death of African American teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida, told a Southland television station today that his family is not racist.
“I’m trying to re-introduce our family in the right light,” Zimmerman said in an interview on Fox 11.
George Zimmerman, 28, is free on bail and awaiting trial in the Feb. 26 shooting death. He has acknowledged shooting Martin but maintains he acted in self defense.
Trayvon Martin’s family marked the anniversary of his death with a candlelight vigil in Manhattan.
Martin’s parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, were joined by actor Jamie Foxx and a crowd of about 200 people on Tuesday evening in Manhattan’s Union Square Park. They lit candles and held a moment of silence at 7:17 p.m., the time Martin was fatally shot on Feb. 26, 2012.
ORLANDO, Fla.—"Murderer," one e-mail's subject line said.
"Please shoot yourself, you racist piece of sh-t," read the body of another e-mail. "You killed an unarmed teen that you stalked."
And several dictated the same, succinct line: "Hope you die in prison."
These venom-drenched words are just a smattering of at least 400 e-mails and letters, all sent to George Zimmerman over the past 10 months.
