Police have turned over the investigation into last month’s killing of Trayvon Martin, 17, to the Seminole County State Attorney’s Office.
The state of Florida will now determine if George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain from Sanford, Fla., will be charged in his death.
According to the Sanford Police Department, Zimmerman admitted that he shot Martin Feb. 26, as the teenager walked from a convenience store back to the gated community where his father lived. Zimmerman, the captain of the neighborhood watch, was patrolling and called 911 to report a suspicious person, dijo la policía. He was told to stand down and wait for police, according to officials but instead, Zimmerman followed the teenager, got into a physical altercation and ended up shooting him.
Zimmerman claimed the shooting was self-defense, and police said they have little evidence to refute his claims. Próximo, the state attorney will determine if Zimmerman’s burden of self-defense has been reached.
“State Attorney Norm Wolfinger recognizes that Trayvon Martin and his family, interested persons, and the public-at-large are entitled to no less than a thorough, deliberate and just review of the information provided, along with any other evidence that may or may not be developed in the course of the review process,” a statement released from the State Attorney’s Offices Tuesday evening said. “We intend to honor that commitment.”
The shift from local to state officials comes amid suspicion about the department’s investigating techniques, according to reports. El caso indignó a muchos residentes de Sanford, que es aproximadamente 20 millas al norte de Orlando, en particular los de la comunidad afroamericana que han sugerido una historia de relaciones tensas entre la policía y los negros.
Hoy, dudas sobre la conducta de la policía durante la investigación surgieron. ABC News informó que la policía que llevó a un testigo’ testimonio para respaldar las afirmaciones de autodefensa de Zimmerman.
Inicialmente, la policía dijo a la familia de Martin que Zimmerman dijo que actuó en defensa propia y que su récord fue "inmaculada". Durante una conferencia de prensa el lunes, Sanford jefe de policía Bill Lee se hizo eco de que sus investigadores no tenían conocimiento de arrestos previos de Zimmerman.
Pero Zimmerman fue detenido en 2005 bajo los cargos de resistencia a la autoridad. Los cargos en este caso fueron retirados, according to county clerk records.
Members of the homeowner’s association of The Retreat at Twin Lakes gated community, where the shooting occurred, told HuffPost that residents had made several complaints to police and the association about Zimmerman’s aggressive tactics.
Benjamin Crump, the Martin family’s attorney, said the self-defense claims don’t make sense in the context of this shooting. When police arrived at the scene the night of the shooting, Martin had a bag of candy and canned iced tea, said police. También, Martin was 140 lbs., casi 100 libras. less than Zimmerman, said Crump.
Crump filed a public records lawsuit to get the 911 recordings for the night of the shooting. Crump said people who have heard the tapes said Zimmerman, who is white, made a comment about Martin’s race during the call and that he had no intention of letting the youth get away because, “they always get away.” Others outlets have reported the use of an expletive. Martin is black.
The shooting has highlighted long-simmering tensions between Sanford’s black community and the police.
“There has been tension between the black community and the police for a long time,” said Turner Clayton, the president of the local NAACP. “It’s hard to swallow,", Dijo. “The police department claimed that they didn’t have enough probable cause, and that all the evidence seems to point to self defense. ¡Por supuesto, we don’t believe that for a minute.”
Llamadas y correos electrónicos a Lee no fueron respondidas de inmediato el martes por la noche.
Justo el tiempo que la siguiente fase de la causa tendrá está claro. Un portavoz de la Oficina del Fiscal del Estado dijo que ha visto un asesinato, casos de homicidio y homicidio toman ascendente de un par de años en resolverse.
La declaración de la oficina dado a conocer hoy dijo que el proceso está sujeto a muchos factores, y que "el establecimiento de una fecha específica en este momento sería una mera especulación." En última instancia, sus decisiones se "basan en la ley y la evidencia,", Dijo.
Las pruebas se utilizará para decidir será proporcionado por el Departamento de Policía de Sanford. Lee ha dicho en repetidas ocasiones que sus agentes no han encontrado evidencia para contradecir las afirmaciones de Zimmerman de autodefensa.
“In this case, El Sr.. Zimmerman has made the statement of self-defense,” Lee said during Monday’s press conference. “Until we can establish probable cause to dispute that, we don’t have the grounds to arrest him.”
Fuente: Huffington Post
De marzo 22, 2012 en 4:44 pm
This is a terrible thing that has happen, and I hope that the man gets what he deserves not to be angry of the situation but it is just sad to see that this could cause a serious epidemic. I feel that it is time to come together understand as a people that if we don’t unite and understand that situations like this happen all time regardless of race that we are only going to be destroying ourselves. I understand justice needs to be serve and the man should at least go to trail or jail, but I just hope as a young black male our community won’t take this out of proportion. This is not the first time something like this has happened but for someone to kill someone and not get punished will cause devestation in the black community and think that we are on our own. What is stopping the next person from getting away with murder. Perhaps the people will not see justice but I know that God has. I can’t imagine what the family must be facing but now is the time to have faith, I just hope that this doesn’t get blown way out of the water.
De marzo 25, 2012 en 7:42 al
Zimmerman claims he was attacked and was defending himself. Which person in this case was defending himself, a kid armed with a bag of candy or some hulking jerk armed with a pistol? It doesn’t take any functioning neurons to figure out that Trayvon was the one defending himself desperately against a stalker set on killing him.