What’s Happened In The Trayvon Martin Case Since You Stopped Paying Attention

It’s been nearly a year since George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old on his way back to his father’s townhouse. In the weeks following the shooting, the story captured the nation’s attention, culminating with Zimmerman being charged with second-degree murder last April.

But as the story has receded from the headlines, the legal case has plodded along and the trial is likely to be completed this summer. Here’s what you may have missed:

1. Zimmerman has spent over $300,000 in donations over the last year and is desperate for more funds to finance his defense. Zimmerman has “spent more than $125,000″ on living expenses — not including security — over the last year. His lawyer acknowledged that “Zimmerman’s personal spending may seem exorbitant.” Zimmerman is considering asking the court to declare him “indigent, meaning the public would have to pay for Zimmerman’s defense.” Zimmerman was also sued by a security company for unpaid bills.

[Orlando Sentinel, 1/20/2013; Miami Herald, 12/27/12]

2. The trial has been set for June 10. Zimmerman recently asked for a delay of the trial until November but a judge denied his request. Zimmerman’s lawyer says it is “physically impossible for us to be prepared” for trial at that time. A separate proceeding, essentially a mini-trial, to determine whether Zimmerman is immune from prosecution due to Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, is scheduled for April 22. [Orlando Sentinel, 2/5/13; Headline News, 2/13/13] 3. New forensic analysis “casts doubt on Zimmerman’s timeline on the night he shot and killed the unarmed teen.” The analysis was done by “Michael Knox, a retired Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office detective and crime scene investigator.” According to Knox, “based on the times and distances Zimmerman said he covered, Zimmerman would have still been on the phone with Sanford police when he claims he was attacked by Martin.” Knox says that other aspects of Zimmerman’s story, like the claim Martin was leaning over him at the time the shot was fired, are supported by forensic evidence. [News 4 Jacksonville, 2/10/13]

4. Zimmerman has gained 105 pounds. [Orlando Sentinel, 1/20/2013]

Zimmerman in February 2013. AP Images.

5. The defense team acquired Trayvon Martin’s school records. According to Zimmerman’s lawyers “some information in Trayvon Martin’s file could be relevant in the defense of George Zimmerman.” State prosecutors and the Martin family attorney opposed Zimmerman’s efforts to acquire the records arguing “because Zimmerman did not know Trayvon before the Feb. 26 shooting, the teen’s past was not a factor in the case.”

[Orlando Sentinel, 1/16/13]

6. Zimmerman is suing NBC News. In the suit, Zimmerman claims NBC unfairly portrayed him as a “racist and predatory villain.” [ABC News, 12/6/12]

7. The judged denied Zimmerman’s request to be removed from GPS tracking.

[Fox Orlando, 12/11/12]

8. Trayvon Martin would have turned 18 on February 5. [Huffington Post, 2/5/13]

IN MEMEORY OF TRAYVON MARTIN

Trayvon Martin: One Year Later, Justice Remains Elusive

A year later, and we’re still waiting for justice. Trayvon is dead. He would’ve turned 18 on Feb. 5, but instead, his heart hasn’t beat in a year. George Zimmerman, the man who shot Trayvon, will be on trial this summer. A trial is what protesters and activists were demanding, instead of another black death swept under the rug as if our lives were worth less. But a trial in this particular case is not entirely justice, because there are deeper societal problems at play that mean another black kid could become the next Trayvon any day.

I’m not pre-emptively convicting or judging Zimmerman, who is claiming self-defense in the face of a second-degree-murder charge. I’m just dealing with the known facts. Trayvon is dead after an interaction initiated by an armed man, a man who acted as a neighborhood vigilante and who, as we heard on a 911 call, saw Trayvon as a threat who was probably armed and on drugs. Early in that recording, he says, “This guy looks like he’s up to no good or he’s on drugs or something. It’s raining, and he’s just walking around looking about.” A little later, he adds, “Yeah, now he’s coming toward me. He’s got his hands in his waistband. And he’s a black male.” That perception of Trayvon as armed, drugged and criminal hits the stereotype trifecta for a young black man. If Zimmerman had not been hopped up on stereotypes and vigilantism then maybe he would’ve waited for the police. Or not followed Trayvon.

(MORE: The Triumph of the Gun Fetishists)

Since the killing, there has been a concerted effort by Zimmerman’s supporters to define him as Hispanic — as if this would change the case by removing the potential of racial profiling. This is a clever way of combining the “people of color can’t be racist” meme (an idea most whites usually reject) and the “one-drop rule”: a holdover from slavery that said having one drop of black blood meant you were a slave so that new slaves could be created even if they had a white parent. This rule has not historically been applied to other races, and extending it to Zimmerman because his mother is Peruvian and his father German-American seems a strange stretch. Besides, race is a social construct, not a biological reality, so to evaluate whether he was racially profiling, we’d have to know what race Zimmerman considers himself. But even that question is moot once you realize that biases against people of color quite often reside inside people of color. Even if Zimmerman sees himself as Hispanic, that doesn’t mean he couldn’t view a strange black body in the distance through a racist lens.

If Zimmerman assumed criminal intent where there was none, assumed the presence of drugs and guns where there were none, assumed he was seeing a thug when we now know Trayvon was not, then he would have been applying racist assumptions to a kind of black Rorschach in the distance. He may be Hispanic; he may have had blacks in his family, as has been asserted; and he may have mentored black kids, as some have said. He may even have had black friends. But he may still have seen Trayvon in the distance and made a trio of racist assumptions about him. The test is not how he behaves toward every black person he encounters or whether he is racist all the time. The test is how he behaved toward Trayvon and whether he viewed this black stranger as an armed, drugged criminal, as the 911 tape suggests, and treated him as such even though he was not.

(MORE: Touré: Why I Speak Out About Trayvon Martin)

After he died, Trayvon became a political football. On one side, liberals were outraged by the delays in arresting Zimmerman for the killing, while conservatives seemed to almost reflexively defend Zimmerman. They either attempted to paint him as Hispanic — as a way to somehow remove the stain of racism — or attempted to racialize Trayvon in a way that somehow proved he was a thug, to somehow back up Zimmerman’s perspective. In this effort, Trayvon’s school records were drudged up, exposing him not as a thug so much as an imperfect teenager, a charge most of us have been guilty of.

What also surfaced were a slew of fake photos that were seized upon as images of the real Trayvon but were anything but. One of them, sent to the Washington Post writer Jonathan Capehart, was actually of the famous Compton rapper the Game. That many believed it was Trayvon, thus confirming their worst suspicions, is yet another example of the way some think blacks are all criminals or we all look alike. It’s also indicative of the way the modern right often dispenses with facts in the course of making a point, whether it be birtherism, climate-change denial or the trutherism that inflamed skeptics of the 2012 election polling that showed President Obama in the lead. We are in a political world marked by intellectual gerrymandering, where we pay attention to different sources of news and base our opinions on facts we choose to buy into, even though some are not facts at all.

(MORE: Trayvon Martin, One Year Later: Where Are We Now?)

Justice in this situation is not merely a fair trial. Justice is a world that minimizes the sort of interaction that is made deadly by an insidious combination of stereotypes and guns. Even though the Trayvon Martin situation is a clear example of why the vigilante mind-set that the NRA carefully fosters is so dangerous, there has been no significant discussion about the problems brought about by that way of thinking and the ease with which civilians make mistakes with guns. There was no sustained conversation about the various Stand Your Ground laws, now enacted or proposed in 29 states, which encourage vigilantism and lead people to shoot first and ask questions later. This, in a society where violent crime is dropping. The gun-rights community would have us believe that 2.5 million crimes a year are prevented by citizens with guns, but this number is routinely unpacked as far from true. The FBI says the number of justified homicides (incidences of killing criminals during a crime) is about 250 a year.

We are simply not a nation of people policing ourselves with our 300 million guns. We are endangering ourselves and our children and suffering preventable tragedies like Trayvon’s death. We will be waiting for justice until people stop assuming criminality in young black men and America’s vigilante gun culture is under control.

Multiple suspensions paint complicated portrait of Trayvon Martin

By FRANCES ROBLES Miami Herald

SANFORD — Miami Gardens teenager Trayvon Martin was suspended from school, because he was caught with an empty baggie with traces of marijuana in it, the boy’s family attorney has confirmed. Trayvon was killed while serving out the suspension in Sanford Florida, where his father’s girlfriend lives. A community watch volunteer who thought he looked drugged out and suspicious called police and later wound up in a fight with him.

The two scuffled and volunteer George Zimmerman shot Trayvon, killing him. He has not been charged. Tens of thousands of people are expected to converge on Sanford on Monday for an afternoon rally to protest the killing, which occurred one month ago today.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, the Rev. Al Sharpton and comedian Sinbad are expected to speak at a 5 p.m. special city commission meeting.

Several busloads of protesters left Miami early Monday to participate. The city closed off several city blocks to allow participants a pathway to walk from a local park to the city’s civic center.

The rally comes a day after an attorney in the case, Craig Sonner, took to the television networks to argue George Zimmerman’s side of the story. Joe Oliver, a former CNN anchor and a friend of Zimmerman’s appeared on television Sunday to give his friend’s side and speak of the now notorious 911 tapes. “That sounded like someone in dire need heof help,” Oliver said. “That sounded like George.” Family spokesman Ryan Julison said the family has always maintained that Trayvon’s suspension had nothing to do with anything violent.

“The fact of the matter is that an empty baggie does not change what occurred,” he said. “The reason he was suspended does not change the fact that if George Zimmerman had stayed in his car, none of this would have happened.” On Sunday, Trayvon’s mother said she hoped the momentum in the case leads to changes in the law.

“I think people are really sick and tired of the same situation. I also think they can relate to our situation because they have young men in their households and it breaks their heart just like it breaks our heart,” Trayvon’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, told The Herald. “It’s just good to know that we have that type of support, and that we have a community, we have a movement of people that want to see justice for Trayvon Martin.”

She is expected to testify Tuesday before Congress in a quest to have Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” law examined. She also hopes to address certification for neighborhood watch volunteers, attorney Benjamin Crump said. “I didn’t expect this. But seeing that the nation is supporting us is very, very warmful, cheerful,” said Trayvon’s father, Tracy Martin.

“It’s a real good feeling to know that people still care. This movement and watching the people of this movement keeps me going.”

Trayvon Martin vs. George Zimmerman: What really happened?

T

he Florida shooting case that has roiled the nation for weeks took an unexpected turn Monday, when police released the shocking account of neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman, who shot and killed unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26. As protesters in Sanford, Fla. — where the 17-year-old was killed — marked the one-month anniversary of the killing by demanding Zimmerman's arrest, police revealed that Zimmerman claims it was Trayvon who attacked first, punching Zimmerman in the face, jumping on him, and repeatedly banging the 28-year-old's head on the ground. Here, a guide to the latest allegations:

How did Zimmerman and Trayvon confront each other?
Trayvon's supporters have long maintained that Zimmerman aggressively approached Trayvon out of unwarranted racial bias. They say that Zimmerman was driving in his SUV when he saw Trayvon, who was black, walking with a pack of Skittles, a can of iced tea, and his cellphone. According to 911 tapes reluctantly released by Sanford police, Zimmerman told police dispatchers he was concerned about a "real suspicious guy," a "black male" walking around the neighborhood. "These assholes always get away," he added, before chasing after Martin, despite the dispatcher telling him not to. A scuffle ensued — the details of which have been somewhat hazy until now.

What does Zimmerman's camp say?
Zimmerman's attorney, Craig Sonner, has spoken out for the first time, saying his client shot in self-defense after Trayvon attacked him. Zimmerman himself has not spoken out, but the Orlando Sentinel reports that Zimmerman told police he was walking back to his SUV when Trayvon approached him from behind, punched Zimmerman in the nose, then climbed on top of Zimmerman and "slammed his head into the sidewalk, leaving him bloody and battered."

Is there evidence that Trayvon was the aggressor?
Zimmerman's family and friends — including former news anchor Joe Oliver, who has defended his longtime friend — claim newly released audio from a 911 call placed by an eyewitness provides evidence that Zimmerman, not Trayvon, was screaming for help. But it's hardly definitive: Some witnesses say it's Trayvon screaming. Others say they never heard any commotion or struggle before the gun went off.

Anything else?
A 13-year-old witness says he saw a man fitting Zimmerman's description bloodied and on the ground before he heard the gunshot.

Is there evidence that Zimmerman attacked first?
Trayvon's girlfriend, who spoke with the teen moments before the incident, has attested to Trayvon being targeted, and said she believes Zimmerman followed Trayvon, pushed him, knocked him down, and shot him without cause.

What should we make of all this?
We still don't know exactly what happened that night, says Doug Mataconis at Outside the Beltway, and we should be careful before rushing to judgment. "There is a disturbing tendency in high profile criminal cases for the public, egged on by the constant media coverage and the incessant drone of the talking heads, to rush to judgment long before it's warranted." Let's all just take a deep breath and "back off on judging the guilt or innocence of George Zimmerman based on incomplete evidence and let the system do its job."

TRAYVON'S Martin incriminating cellphone?

George Zimmerman lawyers release data from Trayvon Martin's cellphone

Photos and texts appear to be defence team attempt to discredit killed 17-year-old ahead of Zimmerman's murder trial next month

Lawyers for the accused murderer George Zimmerman released a series of texts and photographs from Trayvon Martin's cellphone on Thursday, showing the Florida teenager discussing guns, fighting and smoking marijuana.

The move appears to be at attempt to discredit the 17-year-old's character ahead of Zimmerman's trial for second-degree murder next month, at which the neighbourhood watch leader's defence team will claim Martin was the aggressor in their fatal confrontation in a Sanford gated community in February 2012.

Mark O'Mara, Zimmerman's lead attorney, still has to convince circuit court judge Debra S Nelson to allow the evidence to be shown to jurors, against the objections of prosecutors who insist the teenager's history is irrelevant to the case.

But the release of more than 20 pages of records from the phone, together with the photographs and several videos, are a clear indication of the defence strategy for the trial scheduled to begin on 10 June, with Zimmerman, 29, denying murder on the grounds of self-defence and facing at least 25 years in jail if he is convicted.

In the text messages released on Thursday, Martin tells a friend that his mother had kicked him out of her house because he had been suspended for skipping school, and told him that he needed to move in with his father. In others, he talks about using marijuana. "Oh, u smoke?" a friend asked him. Martin replied: "Yea do u??"

A third topic of conversation is organised fighting. One message to a friend refers to an apparent contest with another youth late in 2011, with Martin writing: "he got mo hits cause in da 1st round he had me on da ground an I couldn't do ntn."

O'Mara has insisted it was Martin who attacked Zimmerman, breaking his nose and smashing his head on a concrete pavement during a fight before his client managed to free his gun and fire off a single, fatal shot to the teenager's torso.

The transcripts of the text messages released on Thursday are blacked out in many places, making it unclear who Martin was talking to in his various discussions. But several are to the so-called Witness 8, a girlfriend who has also claimed she was on the phone to him as he walked through the Retreat at Twin Lakes community and encountered Zimmerman on February 26 last year. "U gotta gun?" he asked her.

Two other messages appear to confirm his interest in weapons. Eight days before his death, a friend texted him: "You want a .22 revolver". No reply is shown.

Days later, he asks another unidentified friend: "U wanna share a .380". Among the photographs recovered from the phone are several that have already been circulated online but which are appearing in formal court submissions for the first time.

One is a close-up of a handgun, believed to be a .40 calibre Smith & Wesson. Others show Martin blowing smoke from his mouth, and there are two pictures of what appear to be cannabis plants.

State attorney Bernie de la Rionda has already asked Judge Nelson to ban evidence of Martin's marijuana use at the trial but defence lawyer Don West said it was relevant because Zimmerman said in his 911 call to police before the incident that he was following a suspect who "looks like he is up to no good or he is on drugs or something."

West has argued that the autopsy report should be presented to jurors. Judge Nelson is expected to rule on that and several other pre-trial issues at a one-day hearing in Sanford on Tuesday. The trial could last up to six weeks

Trayvon Martin argued with friend,

Zimmerman's lawyers say Trayvon Martin argued with friend, was 'angry' on night of shooting

By James Novogrod and Tom Winter, NBC News Attorneys for George Zimmerman say that unreleased text messages drawn from Trayvon Martin’s cell phone show the 17-year-old was arguing with a friend and was “angry” on the day he was shot and killed in Sanford, Fla. “This is relevant to Mr. Martin’s overall demeanor that day and relevant to his emotional state,” a new court filing by the defense team reads. The filing goes on to say the messages “may assist the jury in understanding why Trayvon Martin chose to hide and then confront George Zimmerman rather than simply going home.” The document, filed with the court in Sanford and made public Friday, is the latest in a back-and-forth over the admissibility of character evidence related to Martin, whose death on Feb. 26, 2012 spurred a national conversation about race, guns, and Florida’s expansive self-defense laws. Advertise | AdChoices



Zimmerman, 29, is accused of second degree murder in Martin’s death and will face trial June 10. He has plead not guilty, telling police he resorted to self-defense after Martin punched him and beat his head to the ground after the two crossed paths inside a gated community that night. Prosecutors have asked the court to prohibit text messages and other materials related to Martin’s life, arguing the materials are irrelevant to the circumstances surrounding the teen’s death. At a key hearing next week, Judge Debra S. Nelson will hear arguments over what evidence should be admissible at trial. Thursday, Zimmerman’s lawyers released a slew of evidence culled from Martin’s cell phone, including two pictures of a handgun, and text messages that appear to refer to an organized fight and smoking marijuana. "He got mo hits cause in da 1st round," Martin says in a November 2011 message, apparently referring to a fight. "He had me on da ground nd I couldn’t do ntn."

In the filing made public Friday, Zimmerman's lawyers say the messages show Martin was an experienced fighter, and that marijuana use "can affect one's judgment and demeanor and is known to cause paranoia and aggression in some." Text messages between Martin and the friend referred to as Witness 8 from the night of the shooting are redacted in the defense's Thursday release.

Legal experts, citing strict standards for evidence under the law, say it’s not likely the materials will be admitted. In a release Thursday, a lawyer for Martin’s family, Benjamin Crump, called the release of the materials from Martin’s phone a “desperate and pathetic attempt by the defense to pollute and sway the jury pool.” But in an interview, Mark O’Mara, Zimmerman’s lead attorney, said he doesn't presume all of the evidence will be admitted. Gathering and sharing materials is part of the normal course of discovery in Florida, O’Mara said, where prosecution and defense are required to swap evidence before trial. "I'm not sure that any of the stuff about Trayvon Martin's background or my client's background will be relevant," O'Mara told NBC News. "If they were to not go into George's background, and not suggest that Trayvon Martin was an angel, we won't go there either.”

In July, the State released an FBI report that included an interview with an ex-fiancee who filed an injunction order against Zimmerman after an altercation.

Prosecutors also released a photocopy of a MySpace page from 2005, on which Zimmerman appears to disparage Mexicans. Zimmerman’s attorneys say their client, whose mother is Peruvian, harbors no prejudice. The FBI report also concluded there was no evidence Zimmerman ever demonstrated any racial bias.

Also Friday, the court released a second document by the defense, pushing for a hearing to examine State studies of a 911 tape that captured screaming on the night of the shooting. Lawyers for Zimmerman are seeking to prevent voice analysts hired by the prosecution from testifying at trial.

Trayvon Martin was angry

Trayvon Martin was angry about losing a fight in the hours before he was shot dead by George Zimmerman, claim defence attorneys

Zimmerman's attorneys hope to show jurors photos of Trayvon Martin smoking what appears to be marijuana, and several photos of a handgun found on Martin's cell phone Zimmerman's lawyers want to explain to jurors that Martin was an experienced fighter who used drugs A judge will rule next month on what evidence will be allowed at trial

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER PUBLISHED: 22:55 EST, 25 May 2013 | UPDATED: 23:11 EST, 25 May 2013

Attorneys for alleged murderer George Zimmerman are now arguing that text messages sent by 17-year-old victim Trayvon Martin - in which he describes being 'angry' following a fight with another teen - the night he was fatally shot by Zimmerman should be heard by a potential jury because it's 'relevant to [Martin's] emotional state,' and would strengthen the defense's claim that Martin was the aggressor in the struggle that ultimately took his life. 'He got mo hits cause in da 1st round,' Martin says in a November 2011 text message, apparently in reference to a fight he'd been in prior to his run-in with Zimmerman. 'He had me on da ground nd I couldn’t do ntn.' According to Zimmerman's attorneys, 'this is relevant to Mr. Martin’s overall demeanor that day and relevant to his emotional state,' according to a new court filing by Zimmerman's attorneys. It goes on to say that the text messages 'may assist the jury in understanding why Trayvon Martin chose to hide and then confront George Zimmerman rather than simply going home.'