By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years
The firing of Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee by Sanford, Fla., City Manager Norton Bonaparte Jr. is outrageous ("Police chief fired over Trayvon Martin shooting," Web, Thursday).
Things have spun out of control in the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case in Sanford, Fla. ("Zimmerman's account of killing corroborated," Web, Thursday).
Telling Trayvon Martin's parents and a national TV audience "I am sorry for the loss of your son," neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman took the witness stand in an extraordinary move Friday during his bail hearing, making his first public comments since fatally shooting the unarmed teenager.
Suspect George Zimmerman made his first appearance in a Florida courtroom Thursday, the day after he was charged with second-degree murder in the racially charged shooting death of black teenager Trayvon Martin.
Trayvon Martin had been suspended from school for having marijuana when the unarmed teenager was fatally shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer, a family spokesman said Monday.
Authorities say a Florida man is charged with threatening the police chief who had been overseeing the investigation into the shooting death of an unarmed black teen by a neighborhood watch captain.
The police chief and prosecutor who have been bitterly criticized for not arresting a neighborhood watch volunteer in the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager both left the case Thursday, with the chief saying that he is temporarily leaving his job to let passions cool.
The parents of an unarmed black teenager who was shot to death by a neighborhood watch volunteer say they are not satisfied that the Sanford police chief is temporarily stepping down.
Florida is among 21 states with a "Stand Your Ground Law," which gives people wide latitude to use deadly force rather than retreat during a fight. The self-defense law helps explain why a neighborhood watch captain has not been arrested in the shooting death of an unarmed teenager.
People in the Sanford, Fla., area are wondering if 28-year-old George Zimmerman is an earnest if somewhat zealous young man who was just looking out for his neighborhood, or a wannabe cop who tried to take justice into his own hands.
Florida State Attorney Norm Wolfinger said Tuesday his office will convene a grand jury in central Florida to investigate the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager who was killed Feb. 26 in a gated community by a neighborhood watch captain.
Federal and state prosecutors are investigating the fatal shooting of an unarmed black Florida teenager by a neighborhood crime watch volunteer in a case that has provoked a national outcry.
