Trayvon Martin case won't go to grand jury

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A grand jury will not look into the Trayvon Martin case, a special prosecutor said yesterday, leaving the decision of whether to charge the teen's shooter in her hands alone and eliminating the possibility of a first-degree murder charge.

Prosecutor Angela Corey said her decision had no bearing on whether she would file charges against George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who has said he shot the unarmed black teen in self-defense. Corey could still decide to charge him with a serious felony such as manslaughter.

A grand jury had been set to meet today in Sanford, about 20 miles northeast of Orlando.

Corey has long had a reputation for not using grand juries if it wasn't necessary. In Florida, only first-degree murder cases require the use of grand juries.

Her decision means she doesn't have to rely on potentially unpredictable jurors, said David Hill, an Orlando criminal defense attorney.

"Let's give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she knows there isn't enough for first-degree murder but she wants to maintain control and charge him with something else," Hill said. "What does she need a grand jury for? She cuts out the unpredictability of the grand jury. She goes where she feels she has more evidence."

Corey took over the case last month after the prosecutor who normally handles cases out of Sanford recused himself. That prosecutor, Norm Wolfinger, had originally called for the case to be presented before a grand jury.

Prosecutors sometimes use grand juries to avoid the political fallout from controversial cases. But Corey was elected more than 100 miles away in the Jacksonville area, so political problems are less of an issue for her, Hill said.

Martin was killed Feb. 26 during a confrontation with Zimmerman in a gated community in Sanford. Florida's self-defense law gives wide leeway to use deadly force and eliminates a person's duty to retreat in the face of danger.

Zimmerman's attorney, Craig Sonner, said he didn't want to comment on Corey's decision.

An attorney for Martin's parents, Benjamin Crump, said he is not surprised by the choice to avoid the grand jury and hopes a decision about charges is reached soon.

In Sanford yesterday, a demonstration led to the temporary closing of the police department offices to the public for most of the day as about a half dozen student activists blocked the building entrance. Police officers took no action to remove the protesters, who were part of a group of students who marched from Daytona Beach to Sanford over the weekend.