Trayvon Martin Case: Prosecutor Has Decided Whether to Charge George Zimmerman
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ABC News; Orange County JailUPDATE: A Florida special prosecutor has decided to charge neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman in the shooting death of unarmed teen Trayvon Martin, sources told ABC News.
(SANFORD, Fla.) — A decision on whether to charge Florida neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman with the shooting death of unarmed teen Trayvon Martin has been made, sources told ABC News.
The decision by Florida special prosecutor Angela Corey is expected to be announced at a 6 p.m. news conference in Jacksonville, Fla.
The prosecutor’s ruling is certain to provoke controversy in Sanford, Fla., where shooting took place and across the country.
Zimmerman, 28, a white Hispanic neighborhood watch captain, shot and killed Martin, who was 17 and black, on Feb. 26 after following the teenager for several minutes.
The special prosecutor’s ruling came one day after Zimmerman’s legal team quit because they had lost contact with him, and suggested that the pressure of the case had “pushed him over the edge.”
His lawyers said that Zimmerman was no longer in Florida and ABC News has learned that prosecutors do not know his exact location.
The case gained national prominence with rallies across the country demanding that Zimmerman be arrested and charged with murder. Zimmerman and his supporters say that the shooting had nothing to do with race and that he shot Martin in self-defense.
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