CATHERINE PUGH RESIGNS FROM BALTIMORE MAYOR’S POST (CORRUPTION SCANDAL)

CATHERINE PUGH RESIGNS FROM BALTIMORE MAYOR’S POST (CORRUPTION SCANDAL):

BALTIMORE & ATL - DRAIN THE SWAMP.

MOST BLACK POLITICIANS USE THEIR EDUCATION & POWER AS A WEAPON AGAINST BLACK VOTERS.

HOW DOES THIS ABUSE OF POWER HELP STRENGTHEN BLACK COMMUNITIES?

BLACK VOTERS DESERVE MUCH BETTER LEADERSHIP.

YES, WHITE POLITICIANS CAN EFFECTIVELY LEAD BLACK VOTERS WITHOUT RACISM.

2020 ELECTION


Post Sources: CBS News, Fox News, NY Times, Washington Post, Youtube


****** Baltimore’s Mayor, Catherine Pugh, Resigns Amid Children’s Book Scandal


After weeks of mounting pressure, Mayor Catherine Pugh of Baltimore resigned on Thursday amid a widening scandal involving hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of children’s books that she wrote and sold to the University of Maryland Medical System while serving on its board of directors.

Her resignation comes days after the Baltimore City Council proposed amending the city charter to make it possible to remove her, and after the F.B.I. raided her two homes and her office at City Hall.
Ms. Pugh stepped down from the hospital network’s board, but she had resisted calls to step down as mayor.

She has been home on medical leave for weeks. Her lawyer told reporters previously that she was too ill to make decisions.

Bernard Young, president of the Baltimore City Council, has been serving as acting mayor and will complete the rest of her term.

“I am sorry for the harm that I have caused to the image of Baltimore and the credibility of the office of the mayor,” Ms. Pugh said in a statement read aloud by her lawyer, Steve Silverman, at a brief news conference that she did not attend. “Baltimore deserves a mayor who can move our great city forward.”

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who appoints the board of the University of Maryland Medical System, applauded Ms. Pugh’s resignation in a post on Twitter.

“This was the right decision, as it was clear the mayor could no longer lead effectively,” he wrote. “The federal and state investigations must and will continue to uncover the facts.”

Ms. Pugh has been under intense scrutiny since March, when The Baltimore Sun reported that she was one of nine members of the board of the University of Maryland Medical System who had profited personally from contracts with the hospital system.

When the scandal broke, Ms. Pugh maintained that there was nothing illegal or unethical about her deal to sell her “Healthy Holly” children’s books, which promote nutritious food and exercise, to the hospital network, whose board she has served on since 2001.

The network, in turn, was supposed to donate the books to Baltimore schools and day cares.

She apologized for failing to report the deal on disclosure forms when she was a state senator and returned the most recent payment of $100,000.

But questions continued to swirl over who authorized the contract and how many of the books actually reached children, especially after thousands of books were discovered untouched in a school warehouse.

Ms. Pugh has received $500,000 since 2011 from the medical system for the books.

Other entities, including Kaiser Permanente, reportedly paid her an additional $190,000 for the books.

“This whole entire episode has been hurtful to the city,” said Jill Carter, a state senator representing Baltimore who has been pushing to limit self-dealing on the hospital network’s board. “Those of us who are holding elected office now, it is incumbent upon us to do everything in our power to restore the public trust.”

Ms. Carter said she began investigating the hospital network’s contracts after hearing complaints from minority-owned businesses that it was impossible for them to bid on contracts, while politically connected board members received lucrative deals that did not go through normal channels of procurement.

Ms. Carter noted that other board members reaped far more from the hospital network, including Francis X. Kelly, who advocated the privatization of the hospital network as a state senator, and went on to obtain $16 million in contracts through his insurance company, Kelly & Associates Insurance Group.

“It’s been very troubling to me that so much focus has been placed on the mayor that there has been too little scrutiny and too little desire to investigate the other members,” Ms. Carter said.

The hospital network’s website lists Mr. Kelly as being “on leave” from the board, along with three other members who had business contracts.

He did not return a call seeking comment Thursday.

A recent bill passed by Maryland’s General Assembly will replace the medical system’s entire board in July, and generally prohibits future board members from receiving no-bid contracts.

Michael Schwartzberg, a spokesman for the medical system’s management, said it would not be issuing a statement on the mayor’s resignation.

Ms. Pugh, who was elected mayor in 2016, has long been a fixture in the city’s politics.

She previously served as a state senator and majority leader in Maryland’s General Assembly.

Her resignation comes after a series of other corruption scandals in the city have shaken faith in Baltimore’s government.

Last year, six Baltimore police officers pleaded guilty in a wide-ranging corruption trial that included robbing a motorist of $25,000 and dumping garbage bags full of stolen prescription drugs on the market.

The city, which endured riots and unrest in the wake of the 2015 death in police custody of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man, has seen four police commissioners cycle through since Mr. Gray’s death.

Last year, former police commissioner Darryl De Sousa pleaded guilty in federal court to failing to file income tax returns.

In 2010, another Baltimore mayor, Sheila Ann Dixon, resigned after being found guilty of misappropriating gift cards for the poor.

Joanne Antoine, executive director of Common Cause Maryland, a nonpartisan watchdog organization, said her group has received several calls from people expressing a loss of faith in Ms. Pugh.

But Ms. Antoine said she is heartened by recent proposals brought by Baltimore City Council members to tighten ethics disclosure rules and make it easier to remove the mayor.

“I think we’re on the verge of recovering from all of this,” she said. “We believe the City Council is taking steps to move forward.”

TRUMP vs SEKULOW: DEMS CREATE MORE DRAMA (FAKE INVESTIGATIONS)

TRUMP vs SEKULOW: DEMOCRATS CREATE MORE DRAMA (FAKE INVESTIGATIONS):

ARE DEMS USING FAKE SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS TO HELP ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS??

FAKE INVESTIGATION PROBES COULD DERAIL TRUMP'S "MAKE AMERICA GREAT" AGENDA.


Sources: CNN, Fox News, Meet the Press, Youtube


***** Trump lawyer Sekulow: President has no knowledge of being investigated


Jay Sekulow, a member of President Trump’s legal team, said Sunday he has no knowledge of the president being the target of a federal probe, following Trump's recent statement suggesting that he is being investigated.

“The president has not been notified by anyone that he is under investigation,” Sekulow told “Fox News Sunday,” in a heated exchange with host Chris Wallace about whether Trump could be under investigation without knowing.

“You don’t know that he's not under investigation,” Wallace said.

Sekulow responded: “I can’t read minds.”

Sekulow also said that Trump’s tweet that led people to believe he was under investigation was in response to a Washington Post story in which unnamed sources said the president was being investigated.

The FBI and two congressional panels are investigating whether the Trump campaign or presidential transition team colluded with Russia during or after the 2016 White House race.

Jay Sekulow, a member of President Trump’s legal team, said Sunday he has no knowledge of the president being the target of a federal probe, following Trump's recent statement suggesting that he is being investigated.

“The president has not been notified by anyone that he is under investigation,” Sekulow told “Fox News Sunday,” in a heated exchange with host Chris Wallace about whether Trump could be under investigation without knowing.

“You don’t know that he's not under investigation,” Wallace said.

Sekulow responded: “I can’t read minds.”

Sekulow also said that Trump’s tweet that led people to believe he was under investigation was in response to a Washington Post story in which unnamed sources said the president was being investigated.

The FBI and two congressional panels are investigating whether the Trump campaign or presidential transition team colluded with Russia during or after the 2016 White House race.

Before Trump fired James Comey as the FBI director, Comey told the president he was not a target in the agency investigation. The Post story suggests the FBI probe, now being led by special counsel Robert Mueller, includes whether Trump obstructed justice by firing Comey.

“Nothing has changed since Comey said the president is not a target,” Sekulow also said Sunday.

Sekulow said Trump has never accused Deputy Attorney General Rob Rosenstein of “doing anything wrong,” and has expressed no opinion about him.

Rosenstein wrote a letter that seemed to support Trump firing Comey.

He told Congress last week that he would not fire Mueller “without good cause,” amid speculation Trump wanted to get rid of Mueller.

He also said he couldn't say whether Trump has discussed Mueller, citing attorney-client privileges.

RUSSIAN CYBER ATTACKS - DEMS' NEW EXCUSE FOR HILLARY'S 2016 LOSS

RUSSIAN CYBER ATTACKS - DEMS' NEW EXCUSE FOR HILLARY'S 2016 LOSS:

IT WASN'T RUSSIA BUT THE NSA & DHS.

HILLARY LOST BECAUSE NOT EVEN THE FEDS TRUST HER.

HILLARY LOST DUE TO BLUE COLLAR WHITE VOTERS & MANY LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED BLACK VOTERS CASTING BALLOTS FOR TRUMP.


Sources: Fox News, Sean Hannity, Alex Jones, Gateway Pundit, Youtube


***** Judge Napolitano Says It Was The NSA, Not The Russians Who Hacked DNC


Back in August, Judge Napolitano made some comments regarding the DNC hack.

On his show “Judge Napolitano’s Chambers”, Judge Nap shared his own thoughts on the leaked DNC emails:

The DNC and Clinton campaign decided to blame of all people, the Russians! They accused Vlademir Putin of being in cahoots with Donald Trump and having his intelligence services hack the DNC to expose e-mails to make Mrs. Clinton look bad and thereby benefit Donald Trump. But the Russians had nothing to do with it.

….a former high ranking NSA official who developed a software that the NSA now uses said the NSA hacked the DNC…the members of the intelligence community simply do not want Hillary Clinton to be President of the United States because she doesn’t know how to handle State secrets.

The left has been beating this ‘Russian drum’ for several months now. Russian hacking is one of the many false narratives that the left has been pushing in order to deny President Elect Trump his fully earned legitimacy.

In order to keep the Marxist agenda alive, the left must continue to foment civil unrest and division. The leftists need to get used to the new Republican party because the days of capitulating are over.

-----------------------------------------------


****** REPORT: FBI Director Comey Tells Trump That Russians Didn't Influence the Election

FBI Director James Comey has informed President-elect Donald Trump that there is "no credible evidence that Russia influenced the outcome of the recent U.S. presidential election by hacking the Democratic National Committee and the e-mails of John Podesta, the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign" according to a report from author and journalist Ed Klein.

Citing sources who were briefed on Comey’s conversations with Trump, Klein reports that Comey said that the only member of the U.S. intelligence community who was ready to assert that the Russians sanctioned the hacking was Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John Brennan, who "takes his marching orders from President Obama."

"In Comey’s view, the leaks to the New York Times and The Washington Post alleging that the Russians tried—and perhaps even succeeded—in tilting the election to Trump were a Democratic Party effort to delegitimize Trump’s victory," Klein writes.

If Klein's reporting is accurate, this would be a powerful blow to the current left-wing narrative that the Russian government intervened on behalf of the President-elect during the 2016 presidential election

James Eagan Holmes Used Prescription Drugs (Vicodin); Had Sex Site Profile

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Trayvon Martin's Name Mentioned More Than 600,000 Times On Social Media Sites!

Trayvon Martin Shooting Death Sparks Outrage on Social Media

Social media has put the spotlight on the story Trayvon Martin, an unarmed African-American teenager who was shot to death last month by a neighborhood watch captain in Florida.

Martin was killed when he was returning to a gated community in Sanford, Fla., from buying candy at a convenience store. He did not have a weapon, the Associated Press reports.

The neighborhood watch captain, George Zimmerman, hasn’t been charged in the shooting of Martin, and has said he shot the teen in self-defense.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, civil-rights activists and some lawmakers say race played a role in the killing and that the Sanford Police Department mishandled its investigation of the incident. They are also furious that Mr. Zimmerman hasn’t been arrested or even charged with anything.

Late Monday, the Justice Department’s civil rights division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced that they were looking into the matter.

The story has ignited fury on social media. A Facebook page for Trayvon Martin was started on March 15, which has more than 31,000 fans. It has been used to share information about Trayvon Martin, the details surrounding his death and the ongoing controversy.

Trayvon Martin has been mentioned more than 596,000 times on Twitter since Feb. 26, the day Trayvon Martin died, according to social media monitoring firm PeopleBrowsr.


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Sources: CNN, Facebook, Twitter, Wall Street Journal, Youtube, Google Maps

Trayvon Martin's Attorney Benjamin Crump: "Skittles Candy vs A Gun & Florida's Stand Your Ground Law = MURDER" (Video)

A Bag of Skittles Candy vs a Hand Gun + Florida's "Stand Your Ground" Law = Cold-Blooded MURDER! Arrest George Zimmerman NOW!

There is Nothing "Curious" about Trayvon Martin's Death, nor the Death of Troy Davis. America's BLACK Leaders just lack the Political Will to Protect BLACK U.S. Citizens, especially Young BLACK Males & Fully Enforce Civil Rights Laws.


The Curious Case of Trayvon Martin


“He said that Tray was gone.”

That’s how Sybrina Fulton, her voice full of ache, told me she found out that her 17-year-old son, Trayvon Martin, had died. In a wrenching telephone call, the boy’s father, who had taken him to visit a friend, told her that Trayvon had been gunned down in a gated townhouse community in Sanford, Fla., outside Orlando.

“He said, ‘Somebody shot Trayvon and killed him.’ And I was like, ‘Are you sure?’ ” Fulton continued in disbelief. “I said ‘How do you know that’s Trayvon?’ And he said because they showed him a picture.”

That was Feb. 27, one day after Trayvon was shot. The father thought that he was missing, according to the family’s lawyer, Benjamin Crump, but the boy’s body had actually been taken to the medical examiner’s office and listed as a John Doe.

The father called the Missing Persons Unit. No luck. Then he called 911. The police asked the father to describe the boy, after which they sent officers to the house where the father was staying. There they showed him a picture of the boy with blood coming out of his mouth.

This is a nightmare scenario for any parent, and the events leading to Trayvon’s death offer little comfort — and pose many questions.

Trayvon had left the house he and his father were visiting to walk to the local 7-Eleven. On his way back, he caught the attention of George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old neighborhood watch captain, who was in a sport-utility vehicle. Zimmerman called the police because the boy looked “real suspicious,” according to a 911 call released late Friday. The operator told Zimmerman that officers were being dispatched and not to pursue the boy.

Zimmerman apparently pursued him anyway, at some point getting out of his car and confronting the boy. Trayvon had a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea. Zimmerman had a 9 millimeter handgun.

The two allegedly engaged in a physical altercation. There was yelling, and then a gunshot.

When police arrived, Trayvon was face down in the grass with a fatal bullet wound to the chest. Zimmerman was standing with blood on his face and the back of his head and grass stains on his back, according to The Orlando Sentinel.

Trayvon’s lifeless body was taken away, tagged and held. Zimmerman was taken into custody, questioned and released. Zimmerman said he was the one yelling for help. He said that he acted in self-defense. The police say that they have found no evidence to dispute Zimmerman’s claim.

One other point: Trayvon is black. Zimmerman is not.

Trayvon was buried on March 3. Zimmerman is still free and has not been arrested or charged with a crime.

Yet the questions remain: Why did Zimmerman find Trayvon suspicious? Why did he pursue the boy when the 911 operator instructed him not to? Why did he get out of the car, and why did he take his gun when he did? How is it self-defense when you are the one in pursuit? Who initiated the altercation? Who cried for help? Did Trayvon’s body show evidence of a struggle? What moved Zimmerman to use lethal force?

This case has reignited a furor about vigilante justice, racial-profiling and equitable treatment under the law, and it has stirred the pot of racial strife.

As the father of two black teenage boys, this case hits close to home. This is the fear that seizes me whenever my boys are out in the world: that a man with a gun and an itchy finger will find them “suspicious.” That passions may run hot and blood run cold. That it might all end with a hole in their chest and hole in my heart. That the law might prove insufficient to salve my loss.

That is the burden of black boys in America and the people that love them: running the risk of being descended upon in the dark and caught in the cross-hairs of someone who crosses the line.

The racial sensitivity of this case is heavy. Trayvon’s parents have said their son was murdered. Crump, the family’s lawyer, told me, “You know, if Trayvon would have been the triggerman, it’s nothing Trayvon Martin could have said to keep police from arresting him Day 1, Hour 1.” Even the police chief recognizes this reality, even while disputing claims of racial bias in the investigation: “Our investigation is color blind and based on the facts and circumstances, not color. I know I can say that until I am blue in the face, but, as a white man in a uniform, I know it doesn’t mean anything to anybody.”

Zimmerman has not released a statement, but his father delivered a one-page letter to The Orlando Sentinel on Thursday. According to the newspaper, the statement said that Zimmerman is “Hispanic and grew up in a multiracial family.” The paper quotes the letter as reading, “He would be the last to discriminate for any reason whatsoever” and continues, “The media portrayal of George as a racist could not be further from the truth.” And disclosures made since the shooting complicate people’s perception of fairness in the case.

According to Crump, the father was told that one of the reasons Zimmerman wasn’t arrested was because he had a “squeaky clean” record. It wasn’t. According to the local news station WFTV, Zimmerman was arrested in 2005 for “battery on a law enforcement officer.”

Furthermore, ABC News reported on Tuesday that one of the responding officers “corrected a witness after she told him that she heard the teen cry for help.” And The Miami Herald published an article on Thursday that said three witnesses had heard the “desperate wail of a child, a gunshot, and then silence.”

WFTV also reported this week that the officer in charge of the scene when Trayvon was shot was also in charge of another controversial case. In 2010, a lieutenant’s son was videotaped attacking a black homeless man. The officer’s son also was not initially arrested in that case. He was later arrested when the television station broke the news.

Although we must wait to get the results from all the investigations into Trayvon’s killing, it is clear that it is a tragedy. If no wrongdoing of any sort is ascribed to the incident, it will be an even greater tragedy.

One of the witnesses was a 13-year-old black boy who recorded a video for The Orlando Sentinel recounting what he saw. The boy is wearing a striped polo shirt, holding a microphone, speaking low and deliberately and has the heavy look of worry and sadness in his eyes. He describes hearing screaming, seeing someone on the ground and hearing gunshots. The video ends with the boy saying, “I just think that sometimes people get stereotyped, and I fit into the stereotype as the person who got shot.”

And that is the burden of black boys, and this case can either ease or exacerbate it.


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Sources: CNN, Guardian.co.uk, NY Times, Wrigley Jr Co., Google Maps

Florida's "Stand Your Law" Enacted Under Jeb Bush; A Legal Excuse To Commit Cold-Blooded MURDER

Florida's Controversial "Stand Your Ground" Law was enacted under former Florida GOP Governor Jeb Bush.
The Law is a Legal excuse to Commit Cold-Blooded MURDER!










Florida Shooting Focuses Attention on ‘Stand Your Ground’ Law


Trevor Dooley stood his ground, brandished his gun and killed a man after an argument over local skateboarding rules in a Florida town.

He argued in court last month that he had a right to do so under the state’s Stand Your Ground law.

Outrage over the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, killed by a crime watch volunteer, has focused new attention on the law, which permits those in Florida “to meet force with force, including deadly force” when attacked. As my colleague Lizette Alvarez reports, the Justice Department is pursuing an investigation into Trayvon’s case.

As that investigation goes forward, the law is currently being invoked as a key defense by Mr. Dooley.

The man he killed, David James, had been playing basketball with his 8-year-old daughter in September 2010 when he and Mr. Dooley began arguing over whether a boy on a skateboard had a right to ride on the court, according to an account in The St. Petersburg Times. There was a “physical confrontation,” the police said, during which Mr. Dooley fired the weapon he was carrying, killing Mr. James in front of his daughter.

“You agree you do not want to go to prison for killing David James?” he was asked at the trial, according to televised footage from the courtroom.

“I don’t think I should,” responded Mr. Dooley, who has been charged with manslaughter but says he feared for his life during the altercation with Mr. James.

His lawyers are seeking to have the case dismissed by a judge on the grounds that the Stand Your Ground law permitted him to defend himself with deadly force.

The law extends what has been called the Castle Doctrine — that a person has the right to defend his or her home with force — to apply to people outside of the home, removing the so-called “duty to retreat.” The Florida law explicitly states that no such duty exists in the state. The provision appears as part of the Florida law on the justifiable use of force by citizens.

A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.
The National Rifle Association lobbied strongly for the change to state law, which was adopted in 2005 and signed by Gov. Jeb Bush. Mr. Bush said at the time that he supported the measure because, faced with a serious threat one’s life, “to have to retreat and put yourself in a very precarious position defies common sense.”

In the years since the law was amended in 2005, there has been a surge in the number of cases like Mr. Dooley’s and that of Trayvon Martin, killed by the neighborhood volunteer, George Zimmerman, last month. A 2010 review by The St. Petersburg Times found that rates of justifiable homicide tripled since the law was passed and that “twice a week, on average, someone’s killing was considered warranted.”

The paper reviewed press accounts of 93 cases involving 65 deaths in confrontations in which the new law could be applied and found that 57 of them resulted in no criminal charge or trial. In seven others that went to trial, the defendants were then acquitted.

In these cases, the Florida Supreme Court recognizes something called “true immunity.” That means, according to Emily Bazelon in Slate, that the assertion of the Stand Your Ground law can be enough for a judge to dismiss a case before trial even starts.

A columnist writing in The Orlando Sentinel said the law made Florida feel “more and more like the Wild West.” But it is far from unique; more than a dozen states have similar Stand Your Ground provisions.

The Orlando Sentinel published a primer on the law last weekend, answering some frequently asked questions including:

Q: How did law enforcement respond to the law?

A: Prosecutors across the state opposed the law before it was enacted Oct. 1, 2005. In the following five months, there were at least 13 shootings in Central Florida where self-defense was claimed. Out of six men killed and four more wounded in the cases, only one was armed. Some Orlando-area police agencies simply stopped investigating shootings involving self-defense claims and referred them directly to state prosecutors to decide.

Q: Can an unarmed person legally pose a deadly threat?

In case after case during the past six years, Floridians who shot and killed unarmed opponents have not been prosecuted. Former National Rifle Association President Marion Hammer, a major force behind the law’s passage, cited her own size and age in 2006 interview with the Sentinel about what she would do if confronted by a younger and larger aggressor.

“I’m 4-foot-11. I’m 67 years old,” she said. “If you came at me, and I felt that my life was in danger or that I was going to be injured, I wouldn’t hesitate to shoot you.”
The law may explain why local police did not charge Mr. Zimmerman for killing Trayvon. But further details may cast doubt on the circumstances of their encounter and whether it would fall under the law’s provisions.

A female friend of Trayvon talked to him by cellphone moments before he died. “He said this man was watching him, so he put his hoodie on. He said he lost the man,” the girl told ABC News. “I asked Trayvon to run, and he said he was going to walk fast. I told him to run but he said he was not going to run.” A call to 911 by Mr. Zimmerman also appeared to indicate that he followed Trayvon.

Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote on his blog for The Atlantic magazine that “the more I see of this, the less I think ‘Stand Your Ground’ will save Zimmerman.”


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Sources: ABC News, CNN, NY Times, PBS, Youtube, Google Maps

George Zimmerman Called Sheriff Dept. 46 Times! Frequently Described BLACK Male Youth (Racial Profiling Evidence)

Man who shot and killed teen has history calling 911: MyFoxORLANDO.com

Sheriff's Office releases more 911 calls made by George Zimmerman

The neighborhood crime watch volunteer who shot and killed Trayvon Martin last month, called 911 dozens of times in the months that led to the fatal shooting.

This afternoon six of the calls made by George Zimmerman were released by theSeminole County Sheriff's Office.

In four of the recordings Zimmerman called police to report "suspicious" persons — all of whom were black — in or near the Retreat at Twin Lakes neighborhood.

He called once to report his neighbor's open garage door. And in the sixth call, Zimmerman reports children are "habitually" playing in the street at dusk and running in front of cars. He asked dispatchers to take his complaint anonymously, but provided his name and phone number.

None of the newly released calls are related to the Feb. 26 shooting inside the gated neighborhood.

Many of the calls start the same way — Zimmerman mentions the recent rash of burglaries in the area and identifies himself as a member of the neighborhood watch.

"We've had a lot of break-ins in our neighborhood recently and I'm on the neighborhood watch," Zimmerman said during one call.

"There's two suspicious characters at the gate of my neighborhood, I've never seen them before. I don't know what they are doing. They are hanging out…loitering."

That day, the "characters" are two black men in a white sedan, Zimmerman tells the dispatchers. An officer is sent to check out the call, but it's unclear if anything suspicious was uncovered.

Another time he calls two report two black teens who match the description of suspects in recent break-in, who his wife saw and identified for police.

Zimmerman and his wife, who can be heard in the background, believed the suspects were back in the neighborhood and walking near the neighborhood's back gate. Zimmerman said he'd be waiting at the back gate to let an officer in.

On Feb. 26, Zimmerman called the non-emergency line to report a suspicious person — Trayvon Martin.

Zimmerman mentioned the break-ins, reported a young black male in his neighborhood who he didn't recognize and thought was acting suspiciously.

Minutes after that call, while officers were in route, Trayvon was shot and killed. Zimmerman said he acted in self defense. Officers have not arrested or charged him.

Records show Zimmerman, 28, called the cops 46 times between January 2011 and Feb. 26.

Many of the calls appear related to his crime-watch volunteer role. The most frequent reason for his calls — nine times — was to report a suspicious person, according to Sanford Police Department records released last week.

The calls released this afternoon were made to the non-emergency line. The Sheriff's Office handles dispatching for Sanford Police.

The Sheriff's Office received more calls, but the audio information is retained for six-months before it is destroyed due to space issues, said spokeswoman Heather Smith. The record and the call log are not destroyed.


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Sources: CNN, Fox News, Orlando Sentinel, Google Maps

Trayvon Martin's Innocence Proven By George Zimmerman's 9-1-1 Calls & Pursuit On Foot

911 calls paint picture of chaos after Florida teen is shot


The death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed teen who was shot while walking in his neighborhood in Sanford, Florida, has sparked allegations of racial profiling and calls for the gunman to be charged.

Federal prosecutors and the FBI will investigate the incident.

George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who has acknowledged shooting Martin, has not been charged and says it was self-defense.

Martin, 17, was killed while walking to his father's fiancee's house in Sanford from a nearby convenience store.

Zimmerman first called police at 7:09 p.m. ET with concerns about a suspicious teen in the area, according to 911 tapes released by the Seminole County Sheriff's Department.

A 16-year-old girl who was on the phone with Martin most of the day last spoke to him around the time the incident allegedly began and lasted until 7:16 p.m. ET, when the call dropped. Almost immediately, 911 calls began coming in. Police arrived on the scene at 7:17 p.m.

Several witnesses called 911 at 7:16, 7:17, 7:18 and 7:19 p.m. ET.

Below are the transcripts of the calls as Zimmerman and witnesses describe what they saw and heard that night:

7:09 p.m. ET

Dispatcher: "Do you need police, fire or medical?"

Zimmerman: "We had some break-ins in our neighborhood ... and there is a real suspicious guy. ... This guy looks like he's up to no good, he's on drugs or something. It's raining, and he's walking around looking about. "

Dispatcher: "Is this guy white, black, Hispanic?"

Zimmerman: "He looks black."

Dispatcher: "Did you see what he's wearing?"

Zimmerman: "A dark hoodie, grey hoodie, jeans or sweatpants or white shoes. He's walking around staring at the houses. Now he's just staring at me."

Dispatcher: "Location?"

Zimmerman: "He's near the clubhouse right now. Now he's coming towards me. He has his hands in his waistband. He is a black male. Something's wrong with him. Yep. He's coming to check me out. He's got something in his hands. I don't know what his deal is. Send officers over here."

Dispatcher: "Let me know if he does anything else."

Zimmerman: "These a**holes, they always get away. When you come in go straight to the left ... when you pass the clubhouse ..."

Dispatcher: "Clubhouse?"

Zimmerman: "Go straight in. Oh, s***. He's running ... down towards the other entrance of neighborhood."

Dispatcher: "He's running? Which way is he running?"

Zimmerman: "Down towards the other entrance to the neighborhood."

Dispatcher: "Which entrance is that, that he is running towards?

Zimmerman: "The back entrance."

[inaudible]

Dispatcher: "Are you following him?"

Zimmerman: "Yeah."

Dispatcher: "OK. We don't need you to do that. What's your name?"

Zimmerman: "George. Zimmerman."

Dispatcher: "Do you want to meet with the officer ..."

Zimmerman: "Tell them to come past the clubhouse and make a left then past mailboxes and they will see my truck ..."

Dispatcher: "What's your apartment number?"

Zimmerman: "It's a home. ... I don't want to give that out. I don't know who this kid is."

Dispatcher: "I will let them know where to meet you."

Zimmerman: "Have them call me, and I will let you know where I'm at."

------

During part of this time, Martin is on the phone with a 16-year-old girl. Below is an account of the phone call as relayed to In Session's Sunny Hostin by a lawyer for the Martin family:

Martin told the girl someone was following him, and she advised him to run. Martin said he isn't going to run but will walk quickly. Zimmerman caught up with him, and Martin asked Zimmerman why he was following him. Zimmerman then asked Martin his name and why he was there. The girl on the phone says she heard Zimmerman push Martin, and then the call drops. She tried to call Martin back, but he didn't respond.

------

7:16 p.m. ET

Dispatcher: "Do you need police, fire or medical?"

Caller: "Maybe both. I'm not sure. There's just someone screaming outside."

Dispatcher: "Is it a male or female?"

Caller: "It sounds like a male."

Dispatcher: "You don't know why?"

Caller: "I don't know why. I think they are yelling 'help,' but I don't know. Just end someone quick, please."

Dispatcher: "Does he look hurt to you?"

Caller: "I can't see him. I don't want to go out there. I don't know what's going on."

Dispatcher: "So you think he's yelling help?"

Caller: "Yes. There's gunshots."

Dispatcher: "How many?"

Caller: "Just one."

[inaudible]

Dispatcher: "Is he right outside?"

Caller: "Yes. Pretty much out the back, yes."

Dispatcher: "Is he in front of it or behind it?"

Caller: "He's behind my house."

Dispatcher: "I don't hear him yelling anymore. Do you hear anything?"

Caller: "No, I don't because I'm hiding upstairs. The gunshot was outside our house. You sent somebody, right?"

Dispatcher: "Do you hear any vehicles leaving or anything else?

Caller: "There's people yelling down there, but I don't want to go down there."

Dispatcher: "People are yelling now?"

Caller: "Yeah."

Dispatcher: "We do have officers on the way. Call us back if you see any vehicles leaving or anything."

------

7:16 p.m. ET

Dispatcher: "Police, fire or medical?"

Caller: "There's someone screaming outside."

Dispatcher: "Is that at where you are at?"

Caller: "Oh, my God, there is a gunshot, hurry up."

[inaudible]

Dispatcher: "Do you see anybody? I don't need you to go outside."

Caller: "There is someone screaming. I just heard a gunshot."

Dispatcher: "Do you see anything? I don't need you to go outside. Do you hear screaming or anything?"

Caller: "Hurry up, they are right outside my house."

Dispatcher: "OK, we [have] police and emergency, OK. Are you in Sanford?"

Caller: "I see police now."

Dispatcher: "You see the officer?"

Caller: "Yeah, but like it's behind the house. There is a dead body there. It's not the front entrance. Oh, my God."

Dispatcher: "Please tell me so I can tell them."

Caller: "If you are looking at my house, it's behind by my back porch."

Dispatcher: "Coming from behind your house?"

Caller: "Yes, the back porch."

Dispatcher: "Stay on the line and update me."

Caller: "I just heard screaming and a gunshot."

Dispatcher: "We have an officer there. Did you hear any more gunshots?"

Caller: "No, I don't hear. Hurry up, hurry up."

Dispatcher: "OK, we have officers out there, OK? If anything changes, give us a call back, but we do have officers there. One officer is there."

Caller: "OK, did he see anything?"

Dispatcher: "I'm not sure, ma'am, I just know he is there, and two other officers are on their way, OK? If anything changes or anything more, call us back. As far as you know, it's coming from behind your house near your back-porch area? When you hear screaming, was it screaming of female or male?"

Caller: "Male."

Dispatcher: "So, when you heard screaming, it was a male screaming?"

Caller: "Yes. And the guy on top had a white t-shirt."

Dispatcher: "What do you mean guy on top? Did you see a fight?"

Caller: "I don't know, I just looked out my window, and there was a guy on top wearing a white t-shirt."

Dispatcher: "A white t-shirt. Did you see what kind of pants? He was on top of what?"

Caller: "I couldn't see the person he was on."

Dispatcher: "But he was on top of a person?"

Caller: "Yes."

Dispatcher: "The guy with the white t-shirt, did he get up and run?"

Caller: "I don't know. Went to the phone to call you

Dispatcher: "White, black or Hispanic?"

Caller: "I couldn't tell, it was completely dark."

Dispatcher: "We have several units en route."

Caller: "Thank you."

7:17 p.m. ET

Dispatcher: "Do you need police, fire or medical?"

Caller: "I’m looking out my deck, and someone is screaming 'help,' and I don’t know. … I heard a bang. I’m looking out my window, out my backyard, and someone is yelling and screaming 'help.' "

Dispatcher: "You are not the only person calling. We have more than one officer on the scene and another on the way."

Caller: "Oh, my God. I see the person now. I see him walking. There’s a man coming out and people coming out with flashlights. Oh, my God. I don’t know what he did to this person. I can see there is a man walking out with a flashlight right now."

Dispatcher: "Was it a male or female voice?"

Caller: "The man is up right now. Someone is coming over. I’m glad other people called."

Dispatcher: "We should be out there right now."

Caller: "I can open my window and hear it."

Dispatcher: "You can still hear it?"

Caller: "I don’t know what is happening. Someone is laying on the ground."

Dispatcher: "What’s happening? Someone is on the ground? Someone has been shot? Calm down, stay on the line with me. Like I said, we have an officer on the scene, and we have other officers on the line."

Caller: "Oh, my God. They better hurry up. Someone is on the ground. Oh, my God! I see out my back window, sidewalk, grass, something is really bad. There is a man out here with a flashlight."

Dispatcher: "Is this person laying down in the street?"

Caller: "No, it's from my back window."

Dispatcher: "So is the person laying down in the street or in the grass?"

Caller: "The grass. Oh, my God! I think there is another gentleman with a flashlight. ... I think police. Oh, my God! He shot, he shot the person.He says he shot the person. He said he shot the person."

Dispatcher: "Who saying they shot who?"

Caller: "The people out there, a guy is raising his hands up, he's saying he shot a person. I think it's a police officer that's with him right now. arrest - uh - oh, my God, why - why (inaudible)"

Dispatcher: "Our officer is there, he has somebody at gunpoint. They're going to handle the situation from here."

Caller: "Oh! Oh, my God, somebody would be shot!"

Dispatcher: "It's probably going to be best if you stay inside your home for the time being, OK?"

Caller:" I know. I can't believe somebody's killed. He was saying help. Why didn't someone come out and help him?"

Dispatcher: "Listen, we don't know if they been killed ..."

Caller: "Yes, the person is dead, laying on the ground."

Dispatcher: "Just because he's laying on the ground don't mean he's passed. We have an ambulance on the way, and we are probably going to pick him up and take him to the hospital."

Caller: "I didn't see cause it was too dark, and I just heard people screaming 'help me, help me.' And this person shot him! He was like wrestling with him, you know what I mean, on the ground, from what I can see it was very dark. The man didn't try to run away or anything. I don't want to be a witness or anything. I'm scared. Oh, my god, a young boy, I can't imagine, I haven't seen anyone killed. This is a nice neighborhood. Oh, my God, I'm too scared to live here."

Dispatcher: "You don't have to worry right now. We have many officers on the way. Two officers on scene right now, we are on scene, OK?"

-----

7:17 p.m. ET

Dispatcher: "Do you need police, fire or medical?"

Caller: "Police. I just heard a shot behind my house. They are wrestling outside the back of my porch."

Dispatcher: "You just heard one shot go off?""

Caller: "It was either that or a rock at the window or something else. The guy's yelling 'help,' and I'm not going to help."

Dispatcher: "So you can hear someone yelling for help?"

Caller: "I'm pretty sure the guy is dead out here. Holy s***"

Dispatcher: "OK, we have several people calling in. Anything else that you heard?"

Caller: "A guy yelling, 'help.' Oh, my God! There is a guy with a flashlight in the backyard now. I think there's flashlights and a guy. ... I don't know if that's a cop. "

Dispatcher: "OK, we have several calls. Are you sure when you heard voices it was one person yelling, right?"

Caller: "There were two guys in the yard with flashlights, and there is a black guy down like he's been shot, and he's dead."

Dispatcher: "I have several officers going out there."

----–

7:17 p.m. ET

Dispatcher: "Do you need police, fire or medical?"

Caller: "Medical. I think someone has been shot."

Dispatcher: "Why do you think someone has been shot?"

Caller: "Because they are laying in the backyard and a gunshot and they said 'call 911.' Now there are people coming with flashlights ..."

Dispatcher: "And it's in the backyard?"

Caller: "Yes."

Dispatcher: "And someone is laying in the backyard?"

Caller: "Yes, there are people around him now."

Dispatcher: "You there with kids?"

Caller: "Yes, my daughter. He is a black guy."

Dispatcher: "We have units on the way. What do you mean it's a black guy?"

Caller: "There is a black male standing over him."

Dispatcher: "Can you tell me what he's wearing?"

Caller: "I think someone else called 911."

Dispatcher: "You do see officers out there?"

Caller: "Yeah, I think that's the flashlights that we see."

-----–

7:18 p.m. ET

Dispatcher: "Do you need police, fire or medical?"

Caller: "This is 911, correct? Police or medical. Someone is yelling two doors down from me, screaming, hollering 'help, help, help.' There is an elderly man that lives down there. I don't know. I heard a gunshot. I don't know if it would be ambulance."

Dispatcher: "How many shots did you hear?"

Caller: "One."

Dispatcher: "How long ago?"

Caller: "As soon as I heard that I picked up the phone and called."

Dispatcher: "Before calling 911?"

Caller: "Yes. There is somebody out by my back porch. ... There is someone walking around with a flashlight. The police may already be here. I don't know. Someone is out there with a flashlight, but I did hear something."

Dispatcher: "We do have units there."

Caller: "Oh, my God."

Dispatcher: "And the screaming, was it a male or female you heard?"

Caller: "It sounded to me like a male, and from what I know and I've been here four years, there is an elderly man that lives like four doors down, um, north of me, and I'm inside."

Dispatcher: "Do you think it's coming from your area?"

Caller: "I don't know, ma'am, I'm standing at my back sliding glass door. I don't see anything but a flashlight shining around, but I did hear someone yelling 'help, help, help' or 'oh, my gosh' and something, then moaning and a boom, and I picked up the phone and called."

Dispatcher: "Did you see or hear anything else like a vehicle pulling away?"

Caller: "No, ma'am, because I'm in the back, and in the back there is just a walkway. It could have been someone in the front with a car, I don't know, but I was in the back. It was scary. There is someone still back there with flashlights walking around."

Dispatcher: "There should be someone on the scene ..."

-----–

7:19 p.m. ET

Dispatcher: "Do you need police, fire or medical?"

Caller: "My brother said someone got shot behind our house."

Dispatcher: "Is your brother out there right now?"

Caller: "No, he ran in the house."

Dispatcher: "Do you know who was shot?"

Caller: "No idea. ... I'm inside. It's behind our house. ... Yeah."

Dispatcher: "You didn't see or hear anything else? Did you hear the shot?"

Caller: "I heard something, and my brother ran in the house."

Dispatcher: "My brother saw it."

Dispatcher: "What did you see?"

Caller: "I saw a man laying on the ground screaming who needed help. I was going to go over there to try and help him, but my dog got off the leash, and I ran and got him, and I hurried around and down, and the screaming stopped."

Dispatcher: "Did you see the person get shot?"

Caller: "No."

Dispatcher: Did you know the person who got shot, or did you see the person with the gun?"

Caller: "No, I just heard a shot, and the screaming stopped."

-----–

Officers arrived on the scene at 7:17 p.m. ET, according to a police report.

Officers Timothy Smith and Ricardo Alayo said they noted a black male in a gray hooded sweatshirt lying face-down in the grass, as well as a white male in the area.

"Zimmerman stated that he had shot the subject and was still armed," Smith wrote in a police report.

Smith said he asked Zimmerman to hand over the weapon, a Kel Tec 9 mm, and handcuffed him.

"While I was in such close contact with Zimmerman, I could observe that his back appeared to be wet and he was covered in grass, as if he was laying on his back on the ground," Smith wrote in the police report. "Zimmerman was also bleeding from the nose and the back of the head."

The officers also made several attempts to revive Martin.

When police put Zimmerman in the back of the cruiser, he said, "I was yelling for someone to help me, but no one would help me," according to the police report.


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Sources: CNN, Youtube, Google Maps

Trayvon Martin Case 9-1-1 Calls Proves He Was Targeted & Killed Due To Racial Profiling; Arrest Zimmerman NOW!

So because George Zimmerman is supposed to be "Half-Hispanic" he gets a pass by the local Police for killing an Unarmed, Non-Violent BLACK Teen with a bag of candy & an Iced Tea beverage in his hands?

George Zimmerman was told by Police NOT to follow Trayvon Martin however he continued to relentlessly pursue him. If he "Felt Threatened" why follow him?

The fact that Zimmerman followed Trayvon versus NOT following him, refutes any claims he or the local Police may have of the "Stand Your Ground" Legal Defense.









911 calls released in Trayvon Martin fatal shooting


After listening to recordings of 911 calls Friday night, the family of a black teenager fatally shot by a white neighborhood watch volunteer say they're convinced now more than ever that the shooter should be charged.

Attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing the family, told reporters that 17-year-old Trayvon Martin's parents both broke down and cried as they listened to the 911 recordings.

"They are completely devastated, are they are in unbelievable grief," Crump said.

Police agreed to release the recordings on Friday. Martin's parents previously sued to have the recordings released. A hearing for the case was scheduled for Monday.

Officials released a total of seven 911 calls. All of the callers described a single shot.

"There is somebody screaming outside," one female caller said, as an unknown male voice can be heard crying in the background. Then a shot is heard.

A male caller described a physical altercation between Martin and the shooter.

"I just heard a shot right behind my house," the caller said. "They're wrestling right behind my porch. The guy is yelling 'Help.' I'm not going outside."

Martin was carrying a drink and candy when George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch captain, called 911 to report a suspicious man, authorities said.

CNN reports the 911 dispatcher told Zimmerman not to confront the man, but by the time police arrived, Martin lay dead with a gunshot wound in the chest, according to Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee.

"Hurry please ... there's someone screaming outside," a neighbor whispers on another 911 recording. "There's a gunshot, hurry up ... there's someone screaming. I just heard a gunshot."

In another call, a woman begs the dispatchers to send help, saying someone is "screaming and hollering" for help.

Martin's parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, accused Sanford police of botching the investigation and criticized them for not arresting Zimmerman, who says he shot Martin in self-defense. Martin was not armed and his parents say the police department hasn't arrested Zimmerman because he is White and their son was black.


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Sources: CBS News, Youtube, Google Maps

Trayvon Martin's Unwarranted, Cold-Blooded Murder Probed By The FBI & Justice Dept: Sparks National Outrage!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

So because George Zimmerman is supposed to be "Half-Hispanic" he gets a pass by the local Police for killing an Unarmed, Non-Violent BLACK Teen with a bag of candy & an Iced Tea beverage in his hands?

George Zimmerman was told by Police NOT to follow Trayvon Martin however he continued to relentlessly pursue him. If he "Felt Threatened" why follow him?

The fact that Zimmerman followed Trayvon versus NOT following him, refutes any claims he or the local Police may have of the "Stand Your Ground" Legal Defense.

Last week more than 400,000 people, including many Celebrities have signed a Petition requesting the Federal Gov't to probe Trayvon Martin's Unwarranted, Cold-Blooded Murder which occurred February of this year in Florida.

So I Thank God Pres. Obama's Administration is finally stepping into the foray of the investigation of Trayvon's case.

Trayvon was clearly the victim of an Unwarranted Vigilante Justice Crime fueled by Racial Profiling and his Premature Death Should NOT be in Vain!

Since Pres. Obama's Election & Inauguration, his administration has consistently failed to Publicly address almost every Injustice facing the American BLACK Community (Widespread Employment Discrimination, Racial Profiling, Voting Rights, etc.,) thus I made up my mind that if he chose to sit this incident out just to curry favor with WHITE Voters, I would NOT cast my Vote for him again.

I mean it!

In 2008 Millions of BLACK Voters went to bat for Pres. Barack Obama but yet for Political reasons he could NOT step up for us?

That's Not Right!

So if he failed to intervene in the Unwarranted, Cold-Blooded Murder of an Unarmed, Non-Violent 17-yr old BLACK Youth named Trayvon Martin, I was NOT going to Vote for him this Fall.

In fact I would NOT have Voted for a Presidential Candidate at all.

Candidates for other Political Offices? Yes but NOT a Presidential Candidate.

So I'm happy to see the Obama Administration finally stand up publicly against Injustice within the American BLACK Community.

Its Time For REAL Change For BLACK People Too NOT just Gay People, Asian People & White Middle Class People.

Trayvon Martin's Death should NOT be in Vain!

JUSTICE FOR TRAYVON.

Let's Please Keep Trayvon's Family In Our Prayers.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Outrage Prompts U.S. Probe Into Killing of Florida Teenager

Responding to an international petition, celebrity tweets, and spreading public outrage, the Justice Department opened an investigation on Monday into the shooting of a black teenager by a neighborhood watch captain who escaped arrest.

More than 435,000 people, many alerted by tweets from celebrities like movie director Spike Lee and musician Wyclef Jean, signed a petition on Change.org, a social action website, calling for the arrest of the shooter, George Zimmerman.

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the FBI announced swiftly that they have opened an investigation into the shooting in Florida of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was unarmed when he was killed.

“The department will conduct a thorough and independent review of all of the evidence and take appropriate action at the conclusion of the investigation,” the Justice Department said in a statement.

The campaign to draw attention to the case is the third largest in Change.org’s history, and surpassed a petition of about 300,000 signatures credited last year with persuading Bank of America to drop plans for a $5 debit card fee, said Megan Lubin, a Change.org spokeswoman.

The victim’s family lawyer, Ben Crump, said public pressure was behind an earlier promise by the Justice Department to review the case. And some Florida legislators are moving to consider a change in the law to prevent a recurrence.

“People all over the world, more than 400,000 people, said we demand you make an arrest. That’s what is building pressure to look at it,” Crump said.

The shooting occurred February 26 when Zimmerman spotted Martin walking home from buying candy and iced tea at a convenience store.

Zimmerman, patrolling the neighborhood in his car, called the 911 emergency number and reported what he called “a real suspicious guy.”

“This guy looks like he’s up to no good, or he’s on drugs or something. It’s raining and he’s just walking around, looking about,” Zimmerman told dispatchers.

The dispatcher, hearing heavy breathing on the phone, asked Zimmerman: “Are you following him?”

“Yeah,” Zimmerman said.

“Okay, we don’t need you to do that,” the dispatcher responded.

But several neighbors subsequently called 911 to report a scuffle between Zimmerman and Martin. While some of the callers were still on the phone, cries for help followed by a gunshot can be heard in the background.

“I recognized that [voice] as my baby screaming for help before his life was taken,” Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, told Reuters.

“STAND YOUR GROUND”

Police declined to arrest Zimmerman, and turned the case over to prosecutors where it remains under review. Police cited Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, enacted in 2005 and now in effect in at least 16 other states.

Dubbed “Shoot first (ask questions later)" by opponents, the Florida law allows a potential crime victim who is “in fear of great bodily injury” to use deadly force in public places.

The landmark law expanded on legislation, known as the Castle Doctrine, that allowed use of deadly force in defense of “hearth and home.” Passed under former Florida Governor Jeb Bush in 2005, it overturned a centuries-old doctrine that required the potential victim to retreat and avoid confrontation if possible, according to Ladd Everitt, spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, a Washington-based advocacy group.

“No one could argue that Zimmerman could not have safely retreated and avoided this conflict, and I think that is the critical element here and why these laws are so dangerous,” Everitt said. “He (Zimmerman) does not have a duty to retreat in Florida.”

Crump said Zimmerman should not be protected under the Stand Your Ground law. “It’s illogical, you can claim self defense after you chase and pursue somebody,” he said. “That’s a courtroom defense. That’s not something the police accept on the side of the street.”

Five years after Florida’s Stand Your Ground law was enacted, a 2010 review by the St. Petersburg Times found that reports of justifiable homicides had tripled, and a majority of cases were excused by prosecutors or the courts. Meanwhile, the petition drive, started by a friend of Trayvon’s mother, has been signed by people across the globe from Canada to Thailand, Lubin said.

Celebrity tweets over the weekend made #Trayvon a trending topic on Twitter, she said. Additional celebrities tweeting and posting on Facebook about the case include singers Clay Aiken and John Legend, film director Michael Moore and actress Mia Farrow.

“This is a great moment for the entire nation to become educated in these Stand Your Ground laws,” Everitt said. “It’s unbelievably dangerous and really takes us to a situation where the rule of law is beginning to erode on our streets and vigilantism is being actively encouraged by these laws.”


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Sources: AP, CNN, MSNBC, NY Times, Reuters, Zimbio, Google Maps