Lawmakers pay respect to Trayvon Martin

WASHINGTON -- Democratic lawmakers paid respects to a slain black Florida teenager as a senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus offered his "heartfelt condolences" to his parents for "the shock, the tragedy" of their loss.

In a packed Capitol Hill hearing room yesterday, Rep. John Conyers recognized Trayvon Martin's parents in the front row of a session called to bring attention to a U.S. Justice Department probe of the 17-year-old's Feb. 26 shooting death in Sanford, Fla. Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, asked Martin's parents to stand, while attendees bowed their heads in a moment of silence to honor their son.

"He's sadly missed, and we'll continue to fight for justice for him," Trayvon's father, Tracy Martin, told the group of Judiciary Committee and Congressional Black Caucus Democrats who organized the informal hearing.

George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford, a town of about 54,000 about 20 miles north of Orlando, told police he shot the teenager in self-defense after being punched in the nose and having his head slammed into the sidewalk, said City Manager Nolan Bonaparte Jr.

Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) said her state's investigation into Martin's death was "laced with racial profiling, lies and murder," and that she was drafting legislation to establish a federal commission on the social status of black men and boys.

"Trayvon was our son, but Trayvon is your son," Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, clad in a black dress, told the lawmakers. "A lot of people can relate to our situation and it breaks their heart, just like it breaks mine."

The congressional session included calls to repeal Florida's "stand your ground" law, which local officials said prevented them from arresting Zimmerman because it is designed to protect those who "reasonably" believe they are in danger. Zimmerman, 28, hasn't spoken publicly and is in hiding because of death threats.

About 150 people held signs that read "Justice for Trayvon" and chanted "Justice Now" outside the Justice Department's headquarters Tuesday in a demonstration organized by the Mount Ennon Baptist Church in Clinton, Md.

According to the Orlando Sentinel Tuesday, Zimmerman told police he had lost Martin in the neighborhood he regularly patrolled and was walking back to his vehicle last month when the youth approached him from behind.

The two exchanged words, Zimmerman said, and Martin then punched him, jumped on top of him and began banging his head on a sidewalk. Zimmerman said he began crying for help; Martin's family believes it was their son who was crying out. Witness accounts differ.