Read More. February 26, - George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, Florida, calls to report "a suspicious person" in the neighborhood. He is instructed not to get out of his SUV or approach the person. Zimmerman disregards the instructions. Moments later, neighbors report hearing gunfire.
Zimmerman acknowledges that he shot Martin, claiming it was in self-defense. In a police report, Officer Timothy Smith writes that Zimmerman was bleeding from the nose and back of the head. February 27, - Martin's father, Tracy Martin, files a missing person's report, telling authorities that his son hasn't returned from going to the store the previous evening.
Police show Martin a picture taken from the crime scene, and he confirms the dead teenager is Trayvon. March 12, - Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee says that Zimmerman has not been charged because there are no grounds to disprove his version of the events.
March 13, - Sanford Police Department's homicide detective Christopher Serino recommends Zimmerman be charged with manslaughter. Zimmerman "failed to identify himself" as a concerned citizen or neighborhood watch member on two occasions that night.
Serino reports that he thought Zimmerman's head injuries were "marginally consistent with a life-threatening episode, as described by him, during which neither a deadly weapon nor deadly force were deployed by Trayvon Martin. March 15, - In a letter to the Orlando Sentinel, Robert Zimmerman, George Zimmerman's father, writes that his son has been unfairly portrayed as a racist, and that he is Hispanic and grew up in a multiracial family.
March 16, - Authorities release seven calls from the night of the shooting. In one of the recordings, Zimmerman, against the advice of the dispatcher, follows Martin. In one of the recordings, a voice screams "Help, help! March 20, - A lawyer for the Martin family, Benjamin Crump, holds a news conference, telling reporters that Trayvon was on the phone with his year-old girlfriend at the time of the shooting.
The girl, who wishes to remain anonymous, says she heard someone ask Martin what he was doing and heard Martin ask why the person was following him, according to Crump. The girl then got the impression that there was an altercation in which the earpiece fell out of Martin's ear and the connection went dead.
March 22, - A petition on Change. March 22, - Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee announces he is stepping down "temporarily" as head of the department, which has been criticized for its handling of the fatal shooting. March 22, - Florida Gov. Rick Scott announces he is appointing Angela Corey of the 4th Judicial Circuit as state attorney in the investigation, replacing Wolfinger, state attorney for Florida's 18th District, which includes Sanford, Florida.
March 23, - President Barack Obama speaks out publicly for the first time on the growing controversy over the shooting of Martin, saying that the incident requires national "soul-searching. March 26, - Exactly one month after Trayvon Martin's death, rallies take place in cities across the country, including Sanford, Florida, where the City Commission holds a town hall meeting on the incident and its aftermath.
Martin's parents speak at the meeting. March 28, - Zimmerman's father appears on television and says that Martin threatened to kill his son and then beat him so badly Zimmerman was forced to shoot. March 29, - Zimmerman's brother, Robert Zimmerman Jr. April 2, - FBI agents interview Martin's girlfriend who was on the phone with him shortly before the fatal confrontation. April 3, - Zimmerman's legal adviser, Craig Sonner, says that criminal defense lawyer Hal Uhrig will represent Zimmerman and that Sonner will serve as co-counsel if the case proceeds.
April , - Zimmerman launches a website warning supporters about groups falsely claiming to be raising funds for his defense. The site includes a link through which donations can be made to pay for Zimmerman's lawyers and living expenses. April 9, - Corey announces that she will not present the case to a grand jury. April 10, - Attorneys Uhrig and Sonner announce that they have lost contact with Zimmerman and no longer represent him. April 11, - Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder.
April 18, - Seminole Circuit Court Judge Jessica Recksiedler, who is assigned to Zimmerman's case, approves a motion to disqualify herself from the criminal case because her husband works as a CNN legal analyst. April 20, - Zimmerman's bond hearing is held. During the hearing, Zimmerman apologizes to the family of Martin for the loss of their son.
April 23, - Zimmerman is released on bail at a. Later in the day, Zimmerman enters a written not guilty plea and waives his right to appear at his arraignment. May 8, - Judge Lester accepts Zimmerman's written plea of not guilty. May 15, - A medical report by Zimmerman's family doctor, taken a day after the shooting, shows Zimmerman was diagnosed with a fractured nose, two black eyes and two lacerations on the back of his head.
June 1, - Judge Lester revokes Zimmerman's bond and orders him to surrender within 48 hours after the prosecution argues that Zimmerman and his wife, Shellie Zimmerman, misrepresented their finances when Zimmerman's bond was originally set in April. June 3, - Zimmerman surrenders to authorities and is taken into custody. June 12, - Zimmerman's wife is arrested and charged with perjury. June 20, - Sanford Police Chief Lee is officially fired.
June 25, - Zimmerman's attorney files a motion requesting a "reasonable bond" be set for Zimmerman's release from jail. July 13, - Zimmerman's legal team files a motion requesting Judge Lester step down from the case. The motion claims Zimmerman cannot get a fair trial because Lester used "gratuitous, disparaging" language in the previous week's bail order.
July 18, - Zimmerman, appearing on Fox News' "Hannity" show, does his first television interview since the shooting. Walking back from a 7-Eleven to the Sanford, Florida townhouse of his father's fiancee on a dark and rainy February evening in , Martin aroused the suspicions of neighborhood watch leader George Zimmerman, setting in motion a chain of events that led to Martin's death and one of the most intensely followed trials of the twenty-first century--a trial that provoked arguments about America's gun culture and racial profiling.
As the case progressed, in cities across the county rallies calling for "Justice for Trayvon" were held, and everyone from President Barrack Obama to Hollywood stars to cable news personalities jumped into the debate over whether Martin's death was murder or a justifiable use of force by a man fearing for his life. Shortly after P. He carried a bag of Skittles and an Arizona watermelon juice cooler as he headed along a sidewalk in the Retreat at Twin Lakes townhouse community in Sanford.
He's killing me. So I grabbed it immediately and as he banged my head again, I just pulled my firearm and shot him. Hearing noise outside his residence, Bachelor opened a sliding door to hear cries of "Help, help, help" and see a person wearing a dark sweatshirt on top of a person wearing a "lighter colored"--perhaps "red or white," he guessed Zimmerman actually wore an orange zip-up sweatshirt --"shirt or sweatshirt or whatever.
When he looked outside again, Bachelor saw "two gentlemen with flashlights asking what was going on and the one guy that was on the bottom said I shot the other guy in self-defense. Officer Timothy Smith arrived at the scene less than two minutes after the shooting to find Zimmerman standing near Martin, who was face down in the grass and unresponsive.
Zimmerman told Smith he shot Martin in self-defense. Smith took Zimmerman's gun and handcuffed him, noting that he was bleeding from his nose and the back of the head and that the back of his jacket was wet and covered with grass. Zimmerman was taken to the Stanford police station where he was questioned for five hours, first by Officer Singleton and then by Detective Chris Serino. Martin's body was taken to the morgue, where it was tagged as "John Doe.
About A. In the first twenty-four hours after the shooting, in addition to subjecting Zimmerman to several hours of questioning, police photographed his injuries , collected gun residue from his hands, gave him a voice stress analysis to test the truthfulness of his assertions he passed , and took him back to the scene of the shooting where performed a videotaped re-enactment of the incident. On March 12, Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee said, "Until we can establish probable cause to dispute [Zimmerman's claim of self-defense], we don't have the grounds to arrest him.
I'm sure that if George Zimmerman had the chance to relive Sunday, February 26, he'd probably do things differently. I'm sure Trayvon would too. When Tracy Martin asked Crump for help in prompting prosecution of Zimmerman, Crump took the case to the media. He held press conferences with Trayvon's parents in which they told of the suffering caused by the loss of their son, brought pressure for release of the tapes which helped turn the case into a national story , organized a series of rallies calling for justice for Trayvon, and convinced African-American leaders such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to take up the cause.
By mid-March, the case was a fixture on cable news and a front page story around the country. It was a story--as reporters say of one with staying power--"with legs. A Change. Many celebrities and professional athletes, including Lebron James and the entire Miami Heat NBA team, donned hoodies to show their support for the Martin. On March 22, Sanford police chief Bill Lee was placed on paid leave. The following day, State attorney Angela Corey, appointed by Florida Governor Rick Scott as a special prosecutor, began an independent review of the evidence with the assignment of determining whether the case warranted prosecution.
The Justice Department also launched its own investigation into whether Martin's civil rights had been violated. Interviews conducted by the FBI failed to produce substantial evidence that Zimmerman's actions were racially motivated.
More likely, it seemed to Sanford lead police investigator Chris Serino, Zimmerman's initial decision to give chase was influenced by recent burglaries in the neighborhood, Martin's dress, and the circumstances of their encounter.
He maintained that Zimmerman's story had factual support and there was insufficient evidence to file charges. Nonetheless, on April 11, even without taking the expected step of convening a grand jury to consider the matter, Angela Corey directly filed second-degree murder charges against Zimmerman. Several legal analysts, including Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitiz, criticized Corey's action, suggested that she over-charged, and that the evidence could not support a murder charge.
Zimmerman turned him self in later that day to face charges in a trial that almost no one is law enforcement believed should happen. Weeks later, Zimmerman's bond was revoked and he was sent to jail after evidence surfaced that Zimmerman's wife had misrepresented the family's finances at the bond hearing.
Zimmerman's attorney entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. Zimmerman was not without his supporters, however. A website he launched brought in tens of thousands of dollars for his defense. He presented his side of the story to sympathetic interviewers, such as Shawn Hannity of Fox News. He told Hannity he would not do anything differently and what happened "was all God's plan. I'm truly sorry. The Trial Florida adopted a "Stand Your Ground" law that allowed a person who reasonably believed it necessary to use deadly force to prevent serious injury to himself to do so without retreating.
The law also provided that a defendant claiming to have acted in self-defense to seek a pretrial immunity hearing in which, if the defendant could show by "a preponderance of the evidence" that he or she acted lawfully, would result in an order from the court granting the defendant immunity from prosecution. No such hearing would ever take place, however.
On further consideration, Zimmerman waived his right to an immunity hearing. O'Mara later explained that he concluded the Stand Your Ground law didn't apply because his client had no option to retreat.
He also noted that the hearing would force him to reveal his case to the prosecution in advance of the trial, if the judge were to deny Zimmerman's immunity petition. Judge Debra Nelson issued several rulings on pretrial motions on May 28, She ruled against allowing evidence related to Martin's prior fights, marijuana use, and familiarity with guns.
She also denied a request by the defense to take the jury to the crime scene. Finally, noting the tense circumstances surrounding the trial, Judge Nelson ruled that the jury would remain anonymous and be referred to by numbers only.
On June 20, ten days after completing jury questionnaires , a six-person, all-female jury was selected for the trial.
Five of the selected jurors were white, while one was mixed race, but considered herself Hispanic. The defense struck a potential juror who failed to reveal that her pastor had advocated strongly for Martin.
The prosecution struck an African-American gun-owner who was a fan of Fox News. In a thirty-minute opening statement on June 24 , Prosecutor John Guy began, in a manner that startled and put off at least one juror, by quoting a remark made by George Zimmerman in his call to the Sanford police dispatcher: "Funking punks, these assholes always get away.
West said, "Knock knock!
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