(NEW YORK) MintPress — It was the shot that has been heard around the country.
On February 26, a neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford, Florida opened fire on 17-year-old Trayvon Martin after he left a convenience store, killing the African-American teen with a bullet to his chest.
28-year-old George Zimmerman told police he was acting in self-defense and was released. Martin was found to be carrying nothing but a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea.
Nearly a month later, Zimmerman remains free and the nation is up in arms. Marchers took to the streets in New York City and Miami Wednesday, demanding Zimmerman’s arrest. In Manhattan, hundreds demonstrated, seeking justice, they said, for Martin.
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Feds step in
The Justice Department (DOJ) announced on Monday that its Civil Rights Division, along with the FBI, would launch an investigation of the death. The following day, the Florida state attorney for the county in which Sanford is located announced that a grand jury will convene on April 10 to hear more evidence.
Leading civil rights figures such as the Rev. Al Sharpton have charged that local authorities are at fault.
“I am outraged by the way in which this case has been handled,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II (D-Mo.), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. “Those who are meant to protect us and our children have blatantly turned their backs on fairness and justice.”
They are also calling for Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee to resign. He has insisted he carried out a “fair and thorough” investigation of the killing and didn’t have enough evidence to disprove Zimmerman’s account of events.
The president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Ben Jealous, contends there is a “pattern and practice of discrimination in Lee’s department which precedes Martin’s case.
This is in fact the same police department that dragged its feet when a police lieutenant’s son beat up a homeless African American man in an unprovoked attack in January, 2011. The video showing the attack went viral, and it was only after intense pressure that the authorities issued an arrest warrant in the case.
Anatomy of a murder
Critics say officers failed not only to arrest Zimmerman but also to test him for drugs or alcohol, a common practice in homicide investigations, especially because they did test Martin after the killing.
More important, police didn’t seek out Martin’s girlfriend, who, according to cell phone records, was talking to him just minutes before his death. She has apparently said he sounded worried that he was being watched and then asked the man who was tailing him “What are you following me for?” She says she then heard a scuffle and the phone went dead.
On subsequent 911 calls from neighbors, there are the sounds of someone screaming for help and a single gunshot.
Tapes from the 911 calls Zimmerman made to the dispatcher also indicate he pursued Martin. “There’s this real suspicious guy,” he said. “This guy looks like he’s up to no good.” The dispatcher told Zimmerman not to follow and that an officer was on the way.
The police department later admitted investigators may also have missed a racial slur; on one of the tapes, Zimmerman is heard saying under his breath what sounds like “f***ing coons.” Seconds later, he confronted Martin.
In a statement, Zimmerman’s father said “George is a Spanish-speaking minority with many black family members and friends. He would be the last to discriminate for any reason whatsoever.”
Legal challenges
Regardless of what Zimmerman is alleged to have said, it could be difficult to prosecute him under current federal law. Civil rights law protects against “hate crimes” and actions by police officers, but experts have acknowledged that Martin’s shooting may not fall under either category.
“This may be somebody who is racially biased, but from the 911 calls it looks as though, however misguided this guy was, he thought that Trayvon was involved in some kind of suspicious activity,” said Stephen Saltzburg, a professor at George Washington University Law School. “Race may play a role, but I just think it will be hard to bring this as a federal hate crime.”
But the case has also drawn scrutiny to Florida’s 2005 “Stand Your Ground” law, which expanded the rights of citizens to claim self-defense in killings. Backed by the National Rifle Association, similar laws have been enacted in more than 20 states.
Trayvon Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, meanwhile, is praying for justice. “I truly believe they are going to arrest him,” she said. “Until they do, I cannot eat, I cannot sleep and I cannot relax.”
Source: MintPress