Police Chief Bill Lee reports that Zimmerman is not arrested because there is no evidence to disprove his self-defense claim. Florida State Attorney Norm Wolfinger takes the case. March 16, 2012, 911 calls from the night of the event are released that prove that Zimmerman pursued Trayvon the night of the shooting.
Net Worth: | $180 Million USD |
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Monthly Income: | $2 Million USD |
Date of Birth: | October 10, 1968 |
Gender: | Male |
Height: | 1.90m |
Daryl D. Parks, the Martin family attorney, said federal officials and local officials met with the teen's family Thursday and gave them "a strong sense that (the Department of) Justice was very committed" to investigating the case.
The answer is no, absolutely not. He's not a racist," attorney Craig Sonner said about his client. "The incident that transpired is not racially motivated or a hate crime in any way. It was self-defense.". Sonner said he's spoken with several of Zimmerman's friends, including some who are African-American.
Martin's parents, upset that an arrest had not been made in their son's death, contacted Martin's sister-in-law, an attorney who put them in touch with Benjamin Crump, a civil rights attorney from Tallahassee, Florida. Crump took their case pro bono and retained Natalie Jackson, an attorney familiar with Sanford and Seminole County who specialized in women's and children's cases, to help with the Martin case. On March 5, Jackson asked Ryan Julison to help as well. A publicist, Julison initially approached several national media contacts about covering the shooting. Over the next few days and weeks, the national media started reporting on the shooting, including: Reuters, CBS This Morning, ABC World News and CNN. The Miami Herald reported that in the 30 days following the shooting, the name Trayvon was tweeted more than two million times.
Trayvon Benjamin Martin (February 5, 1995 – February 26, 2012) was a 17-year-old African-American from Miami Gardens, Florida, who was fatally shot in Sanford, Florida by George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old Hispanic American. Martin had gone with his father on a visit to his father's fiancée at her townhouse at The Retreat at Twin Lakes in Sanford.
Zimmerman, a member of the community watch, saw Martin and reported him to the Sanford Police as suspicious. Several minutes later, there was an altercation and Zimmerman fatally shot Martin in the chest. Zimmerman was injured during the altercation with Martin.
He was buried in Dade-Memorial Park (North), in Miami.
Martin's older maternal half-brother, Jahavaris Fulton, was a college student at the time (who would later testify in the Zimmerman trial). After being divorced, Martin's father married Alicia Stanley, who had two daughters from a previous marriage. They met when Martin was about three years old.
Martin's former football coach said he was a shy child and always walked with his hoodie and headphones on listening to music. Martin's cousin Stephen Martin, who had been in a park telling jokes with Trayvon the night before his death, said that he and Trayvon had been like brothers growing up.
After national media focused on the incident, Zimmerman was eventually charged and tried, but a jury acquitted him of second-degree murder and manslaughter in July 2013. Martin was born in Miami, Florida, and attended both Norland Middle School and Highland Oaks Middle School, in north Miami-Dade County, Florida.
Trayvon Martin had no criminal record when he was shot and killed by neighborhood watch member George Zimmerman on February 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida. Zimmerman's initial release and later arrest sparked a national debate over racial profiling and the role of armed neighborhood watch members in law enforcement.
The Trayvon Martin Foundation was established in March 2012, with the goal of increasing awareness about the effect of violence on families while scrutinizing racial and gender crime profiling. In July 2018, the first of a six-part documentary series, Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story, aired on TV.
Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder on April 11, 2012, with additional information coming to the media's attention that made the case even more highly charged.
The following month, on July 13, 2013, the six-member jury acquitted Zimmerman of murder, triggering mostly peaceful protests in several American cities. Later in the year, Zimmerman was charged with domestic aggravated assault, among other charges, after having allegedly choked and aimed a gun at his girlfriend.
When 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot to death in Sanford, Fla., on Feb. 26, 2012, the case was initially ignored by the national media. But when this photo, believed to have been taken a few years before his death, began to circulate in newspapers and on television, the story made headlines. Unarmed at the time of his death, Martin was carrying ...
Sharpton and Martin's parents, Tracy Martin, left, and Sybrina Fulton, flew to Washington for an April 11 news conference at the Washington Convention Center, where they called for Zimmerman to be prosecuted. Sybrina Fulton conferred with family attorney Benjamin Crump during the news conference in Washington.
Unarmed at the time of his death, Martin was carrying a bag of Skittles and a bottle of iced tea when he was shot in the chest by George Zimmerman. AP/MartinFamily.
Zimmerman called 911 as he followed Martin. "We don't need you to do that," the operator can be heard telling Zimmerman on the tape. At some point, Zimmerman and Martin confronted each other and the teen was killed. Police responded to the scene, but Zimmerman, whose gun was registered, was not charged. AP.
National Rifle Association Chief Executive Officer Wayne LaPierre told NRA members at the organization's annual meeting in St. Louis that the media sensationalized the case while ignoring other crimes that happen across the country every day.
Neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, who was acquitted of the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin, is suing the teen’s parents, family attorney, the attorney’s book publisher and prosecutors who tried his case. Associated Press. Published 4 December 2019.
Zimmerman’s lawyer in the lawsuit, Larry Klayman, was planning a news conference in South Florida on Thursday to discuss the complaint. The lawsuit, filed in a central Florida county where Zimmerman is now living, seeks $100 million for allegations of malicious prosecution and conspiracy.
Zimmerman’s trial raised questions about race and Florida’s “stand your ground” self-defense law which allows people to use force without retreating if they feel threatened. In a statement, Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump called the allegations “unfounded and reckless.”.
On the night of February 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida, United States, George Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African-American high school student. Zimmerman, a 28-year-old man of mixed race, was the neighborhood watch coordinator for his gated community where Martin was visiting his relatives at the time of the shooting.
An undated personal photo of Trayvon Martin wearing a hoodie was displayed by protesters and sold by merchants on hoodies, T-shirts, and keychains, prompting the family to trademark slogans using his name.
Zimmerman shot Martin, who was unarmed, during a physical altercation between the two. Zimmerman, injured during the encounter, claimed self-defense in the confrontation. In a widely reported trial, Zimmerman was charged with murder for Martin's death, but acquitted at trial after claiming self-defense.
Bill Lee had been chief of the Sanford Police Department for ten months when the shooting of Martin occurred. Prior to Lee becoming chief, the department had been accused of protecting relatives of police officers involved in violent incidents with black people. Trayvon Martin's case resulted in increased distrust between the police and Sanford's black community.
On the evening of February 26, 2012, Zimmerman observed Martin 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.
The Volusia County medical examiner found that Martin was killed by an injury resulting from a single gunshot to the chest, fired at "intermediate range" between 1 and 18 inches (3–46 cm), according to a forensic expert. An FDLE analysis of Martin's body and clothes described the distance as "a contact shot". The autopsy also found that Martin had one small abrasion on his left ring finger below the knuckle. No other injuries were found on Martin's body at the time of his death. Physicians who reviewed the official autopsy report for the Orlando Sentinel stated in their opinion that Martin lived from 20 seconds to several minutes after he was shot, and that Martin likely remained conscious "for a little time, anyway".
In order to bring more attention to the case, Martin family attorney Natalie Jackson sought the assistance of publicist Ryan Julison on March 5.
Trayvon Benjamin Martin (February 5, 1995 – February 26, 2012) was a 17-year-old African-American boy from Miami Gardens, Florida, who was fatally shot in Sanford, Florida by George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old Hispanic American. Martin had accompanied his father to visit his father's fiancée at her townhouse at The Retreat at Twin Lakesin Sanford. On the evening of February 26, Martin was walking back to the fiancée's house from a nearby convenience store. Z…
Tracy Martin said he took his son to Sanford "to disconnect and get his priorities straight". Martin had been to Twin Lakes several times before with his father, and sometimes played football with the kids in the neighborhood. On the night of the shooting, Tracy was out to dinner with his fiancée, Brandy Green, while Tracy's and Green's sons stayed at home, watching TV and playing video games. Trayvon went out, walking to a local 7-11store where he bought Skittles candy and …
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• Justice for Trayvon website maintained by GlobalGrind.com
• "Trayvon Martin collected news and commentary". The New York Times.
• Trayvon Martin collected news and commentary at Orlando Sentinel
• Trayvon Martin collected news and commentary at ABC News