Editorial: Martin case where it should be

The tragic Trayvon Martin case has finally landed in a court of law, which is where it belonged from the start. That's the only way to find out if the man who shot and killed the teenager committed a crime or acted in self-defense.

George Zimmerman was charged yesterday with second degree murder and taken into police custody. The long delay in bringing any charge allowed too much time for information about the incident to trickle out and opinions to harden.

But nobody knows all the critical details of what happened the rainy night Martin died. What is known is that Zimmerman, a crime-watch volunteer, spotted Martin walking in a gated community where the teen was visiting his father, decided he was suspicious, followed him and shot him during some sort of confrontation.

Police initially decided not to charge Zimmerman. But a public outcry led Florida's governor to appoint special prosecutor Angela Corey, who said yesterday she found probable cause to believe a crime had been committed and reason to believe a conviction is possible.

Martin's death has become a racial Rorschach. Many people are convinced he was deemed suspicious simply because he was a young black man. Others are just as convinced the shooting was justified. The case is complicated even more by a "stand your ground" law, which allows the use of deadly force when in danger.

What is clear is that an unarmed teenager is dead. And now the legal system begins the process to determine if he was murdered.