The attorney representing the parents of slain teen Travyon Martin said Tuesday he’s worried that no one knows the whereabouts of the shooter, George Zimmerman.
“We’re concerned that he might be a flight risk, that nobody knows where he’s at,” said Ben Crump. “That he can get in contact with you, but you can’t get in contact with him.”
Zimmerman says he shot Martin in self-defense after following the teenager in a gated community in Sanford, Fla., on Feb. 26. He said after he followed Martin for a time, he was returning to his truck when the teen attacked him. He shot the unarmed teen to death during the altercation.
Tuesday, Zimmerman’s now-former lawyers Craig Sonner and Hal Uhrig announced they no longer represent him and they don’t have contact with him. They said they believe Zimmerman is in the U.S., but not in Florida.
Knowledge of Zimmerman’s whereabouts may be instrumental in deciding what happens next in this case, according to CBS News senior correspondent John Miller.
“The lawyers told us yesterday, appropriately or otherwise, that they think he’s out of state, which means Florida authorities can’t pick him up,” Miller said Wednesday on “CBS This Morning.” “They have to get local authorities there and maybe go for extradition.”
So does law enforcement know where Zimmerman is?
Sanford police has said they were in contact with him, “which is different from, ‘we know where he is,’” Miller said. “So, it’s entirely uncertain, to me, whether they actually do know where he is. That’s going to be a factor here.”
BBC, April 11
A Florida neighbourhood watch volunteer has been charged with second-degree murder over the shooting of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin.
George Zimmerman turned himself in on Wednesday and is now in custody, special prosecutor Angela Corey said.
Martin’s parents said the charge was a first step towards justice, but added there was “a long way to go”.
Mr Zimmerman, 28, claimed self-defence and was not arrested in the weeks after Trayvon Martin’s fatal shooting.
“Today we filed an information charging George Zimmerman with murder in the second degree,” Ms Corey told reporters.
“I can tell you we did not come to this decision lightly. Let me emphasise that we do not prosecute by public pressure or petition,” Ms Corey added, in a reference to the intense media scrutiny that has surrounded the case in recent weeks.
New York Times, By Lisette Alvarez, July 16
Miami – An Orlando woman now in her mid-20s told investigators that George Zimmerman, who is charged with second-degree murder in the killing of Trayvon Martin, groped and touched her inappropriately over a decade, beginning when they were both young children, according to an audiotape released on Monday.
The woman, whose parents were close to the Zimmerman family, talked to investigators on March 20. Identified only as Witness 9, she said she had come forward, a decade after her last encounter with Mr. Zimmerman, because “with everything going on, I know he’s not going to be out in public.â€
It is unclear how, or whether, prosecutors plan to use the allegations in their case against Mr. Zimmerman, who is free on $1 million bond.
Mr. Zimmerman’s lawyer, Mark O’Mara, who first sought to block the release of Witness 9’s statement on June 18, called the allegations irrelevant to the case and inadmissible in court. Mr. O’Mara said the statement should have been withheld from the public because it would lead to “widespread hostile publicity†and would taint Mr. Zimmerman’s right to a fair trial.
He said he would “vigorously defend†Mr. Zimmerman against the allegations and file counterstatements in the coming weeks.
Also, Orlando Sentinel: ‘Witness 9′ tells prosecutors Zimmerman molested her for years.