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As we all know, George Zimmerman was recently acquitted of second-degree murder charges after killing 17-year-old Trayvon Martin last year. Since then, George's attorneys have been seen celebrating at one of the most expensive restaurants in New York, his parents have thanked God he was found not guilty, and Juror B37 had an onslaught of devastating comments to share. Hurt Americans currently seeking out a better day for young African American males in this country. To add fuel to the fire, Robert Zimmerman Jr. is speaking out against attempts to file a civil lawsuit against his brother George. In what...

After Ted Nugent made comments about the Trayvon Martin case that were seen as racist, a gun control group is demanding his removal from the National Rifle Association's board of directors. The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence has launched a petition to "publicly repudiate Ted Nugent's racist rhetoric" and have him kicked off of the NRA's board of directors. The "Cat Scratch Fever" rocker called Martin a "17-year-old dope smoking, racist gangsta wannabe" in a column for conservative media website Rare. Nugent continued to say, "The only racism on that night was perpetrated by Trayvon Martin, and everybody knows it."...

I started this article over a year ago, when the wounds of Trayvon Martin’s death were still fresh. I never finished it, in part, because the emotions were still so raw. There hadn’t been enough time to process what had happened to that young man who only wanted to get back home with his Skittles & tea and watch basketball, only rage and disgust. Then there was the feeling that nagged me, a sense that Trayvon Martin’s killer might get off. The rage and disgust are gone–not gone, never gone–subsided; but I still can’t shake that feeling. Keeping up with...

The attorneys monitoring the George Zimmerman trial differ on the final outcome. One believes there could be ‘a powder keg going off’ if the jury delivers a not guilty verdict.One of the attorneys for the parents of Trayvon Martin told the Florida Courier this week that he believes George Zimmerman will be found guilty. Daryl Parks, who shares a law firm in Tallahassee with Benjamin Crump, also has been at the Zimmerman trial in Sanford since jury selection began two weeks ago. “He (Zimmerman) was following Trayvon. Was the amount of force justified? Prosecutors are proving it wasn’t justified,” Parks...

In an emotional interview with Anderson Cooper, Trayvon Martin‘s stepmother, Alicia Stanley, opened up about her inconsolable grief at the loss of a boy she helped to raise for 14 years, Zimmerman’s guilt, Trayvon’s character and being ignored by Trayvon’s father, Tracy Martin. Her voice shaking with pain and tears in her eyes, Stanley explained that she had helped raise Trayvon since he was 3-years-old, and that he was at her home with his father and her daughters “90 percent” of the time. “Trayvon was a kind person, a loving person,” Stanley told Cooper. “He loved children, babies. You know...

Everything about the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin trial is awful. Everything. First and foremost we saw the horrific pictures of a dead Trayvon Martin. The news media cameras turned to Trayvon’s parents as they showed them, hoping to catch their grief. I see Trayvon’s mother look away, and my heart breaks into a million pieces for her. I have a 16 year old son. I imagine for a moment it’s him, and I close my eyes with all the anguish I feel in just imagining it. Even if you feel Zimmerman should be acquitted, don’t forget the grief of these parents....

Over the last several months, much has been heard from Tracy Martin, the father of Trayvon Martin. In February of last year, Trayvon Martin was fatally shot by neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman, who claims that this was done in self-defense. At the time, Martin was unarmed and seventeen years old. Since then, his history of truancy, firearms-related issues, and handling marijuana — among other things — has come to light. Nonetheless, Zimmerman was eventually charged with second-degree murder and is now standing trial. Evidence suggests that Zimmerman suffered head injuries the night Martin died, though exactly how and why...

Hey folks, We’re trying something different for today’s mid-day update. Rather than write a bunch of text, I’ve imbedded below some of the more key tweets I’ve made over the course of the morning. (This has the benefit of giving me a few minutes to each some lunch.) Hopefully, the tweets below will give you a sense for how West’s cross-examination of Rachel Jeantel has gone so far this morning. We’ll have a detailed analysis, of course, in this evening’s end-of-day wrap-up post. Enjoy, and be sure to check back in to our live coverage page at 1:14PM (EST), here:...

On the third day of testimony in the George Zimmerman murder trial, the prosecution called what could be the most pivotal witness of all: Rachel Jeantel, the friend who was on the phone with 17 year-old Trayvon Martin until moments before Zimmerman shot and killed him. In the early part of her testimony, Jeantel described her conversation with Trayvon, in which he notices a man looking at him, a man Jeantel says Martin described as a “creepy, white, kill-my-neighbors cracker,” and a “creepy-ass cracker,” to which she joked that he “might be a rapist.” The credibility of Jeantel’s testimony is...

Trayvon Martin’s father Tracy has reportedly “attacked” a supporter of George Zimmerman, mouthing an expletive (“motherf***er”) during pre-trial proceedings outside the courtroom during an alleged incident relayed by Zimmerman’s defense attorney Mark O’Mara as he argued that Martin and Trayvon’s mother should be barred from the courtroom if Zimmerman’s parents were. As George Zimmerman’s trial wears on, the incident in which Tracy Martin allegedly attacked a Zimmerman reporter seems, like many, to skip over what feels to be the actual lurking headline within the story — something more like: “Trayvon Martin’s Dad Tracy Somehow Miraculously Not Punching Everyone In The...

The jurors are now selected in State of Florida v. George Zimmerman and opening statements are scheduled for Monday. Today was a ‘wrap up’ day, to resolve as any lingering issues that Judge Nelson hadn’t yet decided, and do general housekeeping in preparation for the trial. Since first examining the evidence of this case I’ve been highly skeptical of both the State’s ability to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, murder in the second degree, as well as the State’s ability to disprove, beyond a reasonable doubt, self-defense. What I’ve seen over the course of the Frye hearing and jury selection...

The family of slain Florida teen Trayvon Martin has "every confidence" that a jury will convict George Zimmerman, the former neighborhood watch captain accused in his shooting death, a family attorney said. Martin's family, including his mother Sybrina Fulton and father Tracy Martin, have attended jury selection proceedings in the Seminole County criminal courthouse since they launched more than a week ago. Attorneys in the case have been whittling down a pool of potential jurors, questioning them on their exposure to news reports in the high-profile case. ---snip--- Answers from potential jurors have varied widely, from candidates who said they...

<p>LOS ANGELES, CA – APRIL 26: mother of Trayvon Martin, Sybrina Fulton speaks during a rally at West Los Angeles Church in Christ to mark the two-month anniversary of her son’s death as his father Tracy Martin looks on April 26, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. The rally by civil rights groups was expected to draw prominent civil rights leaders and celebrities to address racial profiling.</p>

Tomorrow begins the second week of jury selection in Florida v. Zimmerman, and we here at Legal Insurrection will once again be following the process on an all-day, live coverage basis. We’ll host a live stream of the courtroom and a rolling Twitter feed of selected tweeters throughout the day, post about the more important breaking events as they occur, and provide an end-of-day wrap-up each evening, in the same manner as last week. In preparation for the the Court’s return to session tomorrow morning, I though it might be useful to provide a brief recap of the more notable...

In order to try George Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martin, prosecution and defence lawyers only need to find 10 citizens there who have not already made up their minds about the case. But it is proving to be difficult. Is Zimmerman a racist vigilante who stalked an unarmed teenager, then shot him dead? Or was Martin an aspiring thug who confronted a man on neighbourhood watch, smashed his head against the pavement and reached for his gun? These competing narratives have been debated so intensely by the American media that this has become one of the most closely-watched...

SANFORD, Fla. - A previously dismissed potential juror in the George Zimmerman second-degree murder trial was escorted off courthouse property by the Seminole County Sheriff's Office on Friday and warned he could be arrested for trespassing if he returns. SCSO tells Local 6 they "trespassed one of the dismissed jurors" from courthouse property. The potential juror, 55-year-old unemployed painter and guitar player Jerry Counelis, was eliminated from the jury pool on Wednesday after defense attorneys found a posting from him on a Facebook page from 2012. Counelis was at the courthouse on Friday during the lunch hour complaining about his...

The case that shocked the nation, the Trayvon Martin murder case, has finally come to trial. The case has everything that intrigues, or is, America: xenophobia, race (or racism), guns, liberties debate and media hysteria. It also has many of the conflictions that Americana brings about: self-defense, rights, free speech, public opinion, protest, fair trial, innocence before guilt, guilt before conviction, right-winged rhetoric, left-winged rhetoric, intelligent analysis, anti-intelligent debate, coherent prosecution, incoherent defense … all making for what will be a highly watched trial. Will Trayvon’s death be vindicated? Or will the gun culture rationalize social fear as an acceptable...

Attorneys quickened the pace in jury selection Wednesday in the George Zimmerman trial, as a lawyer for the family of Trayvon Martin stressed the teenager Zimmerman is accused of murdering was not the one on trial. ---snip--- Juror B-35, a middle-aged black man who owns vending machines, described protests last year over Martin's shooting as "saber-rattling." He wondered why there weren't protests over the fatal shootings of other African-American men in Sanford, the Orlando suburb where Martin was killed in February 2012. He also said he believed Zimmerman deserved his day in court. "I think they politicized it and made...

Trayvon Martin's parents to appear in Little Rock A news release says the National Association of Black Law Enforcement Executives, meeting in Little Rock next week, will hear from the parents of Trayvon Martin at a civil rights breakfast at 8 a.m. Tuesday. Martin is the 17-year-old black youth shot in Sanford, Fla., in a case that has drawn worldwide attention for the police's initial decision not to charge the shooter, George Zimmerman, though Martin was unarmed. Also speaking will be former Little Rock Mayor Lottie Shackelford. Awards also are planned, including to the Little Rock Nine; to Keith Jackson...

(CNN) -- George Zimmerman's wife was arrested Tuesday afternoon for allegedly lying at his bond hearing about the couple's finances. Shellie N. Zimmerman, 25, faces a perjury charge, according to Jackie Barnard, spokeswoman for the State Attorney's office for the Fourth Judicial District of Florida. Shellie Zimmernan will be arraigned July 31, according to the Seminole County Sheriff's Office. She met conditions for a $1,000 bond and was released Tuesday afternoon.