Trayvon Martin

Black History Month – February 26, 2012

Seven years ago, a 17 year old African American teenager’s death at the hands of a maniacal racist set off a black revolution that reverberates to this very day. His death will forever be seared in the annals of black history and untold future generations will say his name. Trayvon Martin.

Trayvon Benjamin Martin was the son of Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin. He was a junior at Dr. Michael M. Krop High School and lived with his mother and older brother in Miami Gardens, Florida. On the day he was fatally shot, he and his father were visiting his father’s fiancée and her son at her town home in Sanford, Florida. She lived in The Retreat at Twin Lakes, a multi-ethnic gated community where Martin had visited several times before.

On the night of the shooting … excuse me for a second, I’m trying to figure if I want to type that man’s name on my computer… Trayvon Martin was approached by George Zimmerman, a man so hated by some that they wouldn’t spit in his mouth if he was dying of thirst. He has been arrested at least five times since the murder. Anyway, that night Zimmerman observed Trayvon as he returned to the Twin Lakes housing community after having walked to a nearby convenience store. At the time, Zimmerman was driving through the neighborhood on a personal errand.

Shortly afterwards Zimmerman called the Sanford police non-emergency number to report a suspicious black person. Zimmerman said, “We’ve had some break-ins in my neighborhood, and there’s a real suspicious guy.” He described an unknown male “just walking around looking about” in the rain and said, “This guy looks like he is up to no good or he is on drugs or something.” Zimmerman reported that the person had his hand in his waistband and was walking around looking at homes. He also mentioned that Martin was wearing a “dark hoodie, like a grey hoodie.” On the recording, Zimmerman is heard saying, “these assholes, they always get away.”

About two minutes into the call, Zimmerman said, “he’s running”. The dispatcher asked, “He’s running? Which way is he running?” Noises on the tape at this point have been interpreted by some media outlets as the sound of a car door chime, possibly indicating Zimmerman opened his car door. Zimmerman followed Martin, eventually losing sight of him. The dispatcher asked Zimmerman if he was following him. When Zimmerman answered, “yeah”, the dispatcher said, “We don’t need you to do that.” Zimmerman responded, “Okay.” Zimmerman asked that police call him upon their arrival so he could provide his location. Zimmerman ended the call at 7:15 p.m. After Zimmerman ended his call with police, a violent encounter took place between him and Trayvon. It ended with Zimmerman fatally shooting Trayvon right in back of the townhouse where Martin was staying.

Sanford Police Officer Timothy Smith arrived at the scene at approximately 7:17 p.m., between 5 and 65 seconds after the fatal shot was fired. He reported finding Zimmerman standing near Martin, who was lying face down in the grass and unresponsive. At that time, Zimmerman stated to Smith that he had shot Martin and was still armed. Smith handcuffed Zimmerman and confiscated his black Kel-Tec PF-99mm semi-automatic pistol. Smith observed that Zimmerman’s back was wet and covered with grass, and he was bleeding from the nose and the back of his head.
On the night of the shooting, Zimmerman was taken in for questioning.
Crime Scene Tech D. Smith photographed his injuries and hands and collected gunshot residue. Zimmerman’s weapon was placed into evidence.[ His clothes were also taken as evidence after his wife arrived with a change of clothes.

Five hours later, Zimmerman was released. The police chief said that there was no evidence to refute Zimmerman’s claim of having acted in self-defense, and that under Florida’s Stand Your Ground statute, the police were prohibited by law from making an arrest. Some observers, such as University of Florida law professor and defense attorney Michelle Jacobs and Columbia University law professor Patricia Williams, said that the police failed to fully investigate the shooting when they did not test Zimmerman for drugs or alcohol intoxication. However, Miami, Florida police experts told the Miami Herald that homicide suspects are not typically tested for drugs or alcohol unless the suspect has been accused of having been driving while intoxicated.

Martin’s body was taken to the morgue, where he was tagged as a John Doe, as he was not carrying any identification. The mobile phone found at the shooting scene was malfunctioning to the point that the police Cellebrite data recovery device could not access it.[ Martin’s father, Tracy Martin, called to file a Missing Persons report early on February 28, and police officers arrived at his fiancée’s condo with photographs of his dead son about 9:20 a.m. The Martin family alleged that Seminole County Attorney Wolfinger met personally with Sanford Chief Lee on the night of the shooting and instructed Lee not to make an arrest. Based on their accusation, the Martin family requested that the Justice Department investigate the State prosecutor’s office. Wolfinger responded that the family’s accusations were “outright lies” and denied that any such meeting or communication took place. Wolfinger’s office reported that the Sanford police consulted with Kelly Jo Hines, the prosecutor on call the night of the shooting, but it has not been disclosed what was talked about.

In recordings of the 9-1-1 calls, yells for help are audible in the background. Zimmerman’s family says it was Zimmerman yelling for help, Martin’s family says it was Martin yelling for help, and independent audio analysts offer differing opinions as to who was yelling for help. During the trial, friends and family members of both Zimmerman and Martin testified as to who they thought the voice was, but expert testimony regarding voice identification was not allowed.[

In an interview with prosecutors on March 19, Zimmerman’s father identified the yells as George Zimmerman’s, stating, “There is no doubt who is yelling for help. It is absolutely my son.” Other relatives of Zimmerman, including his brother, concur and are equally adamant. During a bond hearing on June 29, the 9-1-1 recording was played in court, and Zimmerman’s father testified that “it was definitely George’s” voice heard yelling for help in the recorded 9-1-1 call.

According to police reports, after listening to audio recordings of the 9-1-1 calls, Martin’s father, Tracy Martin, told police investigators that it was not Trayvon Martin’s voice yelling for help. Martin has since told reporters he was uncertain at that time, but that when he heard an enhanced recording on March 16 he was convinced it was his son yelling for help. Investigators interviewed Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, who reviewed the 9-1-1 calls to police and identified the voice crying for help as her son.[ Investigators also interviewed Martin’s cousin who stated that without a doubt “on a stack of bibles” it was Martin yelling for help on the 9-1-1 tape.

On March 13, 2012, Chris Serino sent a capias request to the state’s attorney recommending charges of negligent manslaughter against Zimmerman, though Serino maintains he did not believe they had the evidence to support those charges and that manslaughter was only included in the capias in order for the prosecutor’s office to continue with their own investigation. Capias is an arrest warrant. On April 11, 2012, an affidavit of probable cause was filed in support of second-degree murder charges against Zimmerman. The affidavit described what investigators alleged took place between Zimmerman and Martin on the night of the shooting. Zimmerman’s trial began on June 10, 2013, in Sanford. Opening statements took place on June 24, 2013. Jury deliberations began on July 12. On July 13, 2013, the jury found him not guilty. On February 24, 2015, 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.[ Several attorneys commenting on the case, such as Paul Butler of Georgetown University, said that the prosecution had failed to adequately prepare their witnesses for trial and had been out-maneuvered by the defense attorneys. Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz remained extremely critical of State Attorney Angela Corey’s actions in the case, charging that “her conduct bordered on criminal conduct” and “in 50 years of litigating cases … rarely have I seen [a prosecutor] as bad as this prosecutor.”

Last year Gov. Rick Scott doubled down on the Stand Your Ground Laws in Florida and shifted the burden of proof in pretrial hearings to prosecutors, rather than defendants, to prove whether force was used lawfully. Previously, the law required defendants to prove that they were using force in self-defense. The 2013 acquittal of Zimmerman on the charge of murdering Trayvon 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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