Murder charged in Trayvon Martin death

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The neighborhood watch volunteer who shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was arrested and charged with second-degree murder Wednesday after weeks of mounting tensions and protests across the country.

George Zimmerman, 28, could get up to life in prison if convicted in the slaying of the unarmed black teenager.

In announcing the charge, Florida special prosecutor Angela Corey said Zimmerman turned himself in and is in custody. She said he will be in court within 24 hours, at which point he can request bail.

"It is the search for justice for Trayvon Martin that has brought us to this moment," Corey said.

Corey added that the decision to charge Zimmerman was not taken lightly, and was based on the facts of the case. "We do not prosecute by public pressure or by petition," she said.

The prosecutor's decision capped weeks of protests nationwide. The case of a hooded high school junior from Miami-Dade who went for a walk in the rain to get snacks became a national symbol of racial injustice. For others, it became an example of the media's rush to judgment and willingness to try a case in the newsroom instead of a courtroom.

Though Corey said the mounting public pressure did not influence her decision, the Rev. Al Sharpton -- appearing with Martin's parents after the charges were announced -- credited the protests and other public shows of support with persuading Florida Gov. Rick Scott to appoint a special prosecutor to take a second look at the case.

Sharpton recalled how Sanford police once announced, matter-of-factly, that there would be no arrests in the case.

"Had there not been pressure, there would not have been a second look," he said.

Martin's parents thanked supporters of all races who signed petitions demanding law enforcement take action.

"A heart has no color, it's not black, it's not white, it's red," Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, said. "And I want to say thank you, from my heart to your heart."

Zimmerman's new attorney, Mark O'Mara, said his client will plead not guilty and will invoke Florida's "stand your ground" law, which gives people wide leeway to use deadly force without having to retreat in the face of danger. The lawyer asked that people not jump to conclusions about his client's guilt and said he is "hoping that the community will calm down" now that charges have been filed.

Trayvon Martin died Feb. 26 after he returned from 7-Eleven, where he bought Skittles and iced tea. While walking back from the store to the town house he was visiting at the Retreat at Twin Lakes, Zimmerman, a married man who worked in the mortgage and insurance industries while studying criminal justice, spotted him and found him suspicious.

The watch captain's four-minute call that night to police would be played hundreds of times on national media and scrutinized to its finest detail on social networking sites. In it, Zimmerman was heard getting out of his truck to tail Martin and figure out where he went, because the teen took off running.

The police operator told him not to follow him, and Zimmerman muttered profanities lamenting how the bad guys "always get away." Zimmerman later told police that he headed back to his truck, and the teenager came up from behind him. The two exchanged words and Martin allegedly punched Zimmerman in the face, breaking his nose, Zimmerman's attorneys and family have said.

A scuffle ensued, and Zimmerman reached for his licensed Kel Tek 9-mm semiautomatic handgun from the holster on his waist and fired once, hitting Martin in the chest.

The Sanford Police Department came under fire for its handling of the investigation, as witnesses said detectives performed cursory interviews to support the set of facts they were accepting as true: that Zimmerman had committed a justifiable homicide.

The accounts from witnesses were mixed, although they largely agreed that they all assumed that a person they heard screaming for help was now dead. Zimmerman claimed those cries were his unanswered calls for help, and Sanford police believed him.

Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee said he did not make an arrest because there was no probable cause to refute Zimmerman's story -- and the controversial "stand your ground" law made him immune from arrest.