Trayvon Martin shooting 1 year later: Sanford anticipates Zimmerman trial, hopes for closure

theGRIO REPORT - The shooting death of Trayvon Martin on February 26, 2012 marked a turning point for many black residents of Sanford...

Luther Vandross was outed as gay after his death.

Zimmerman’s attorney Mark O’Mara worries about sentiments like that.

“My fear is that people are tying civil rights to a verdict that isn’t a civil rights case,” O’Mara said. “Here’s my concern: if the facts come out, as they have come out over the past year, that convince a jury, that George was acting in self defense, then we have to respect that verdict.”

O’Mara says he wishes the case would be “divorced from all the symbolism that people have attached to it,” though he recognizes that the roots of people’s passion over the case lie in Sanford’s history.

“Certainly there’s no question that the Sanford police department, and Sanford as a town, has had its concerns over the way it’s handled its race relations,” O’Mara says. But he insists there’s no evidence that his client acted with racist intent, or that police, in initially releasing Zimmerman, essentially sent the message: “don’t worry about it, you just killed a black kid, that’s okay go home.”

“So while I’m OK with this being the starting point for conversation” about race and the justice system, O’Mara said, “it is not the sum and substance of it. This is not a case where we have to say, George has to get convicted for civil rights to prevail. Let me tell you something: [if] George gets convicted, civil rights did not prevail. What really would have happened if he gets convicted, is the system just got so skewed out of whack, that it convicted an innocent man. That would be my take from it.”

A “stand your ground” immunity hearing is scheduled in the case for April 22nd. If that fails, Zimmerman will go to trial June 10th.

Triplett believes that whatever the outcome of the case, just putting it in the hands of the court has eased tensions in the city.

“You know, a lot of those conversations and the people coming to our town, and the rallies, it was about demanding justice,” Triplett says. “It was about getting [the case] out of the Sanford police department’s hands and into a prosecutor’s, to make a decision.”

“Those decisions have been made,” Triplett says of the charges filed against Zimmerman. “It is now in the state of Florida’s hands, from the prosecution side, and the defendant’s hands, for them to work it out now. I want to think — call me naïve a little bit — but temperatures have calmed down.”

Bonaparte agrees, though he said the city is prepared for a strong public reaction to a verdict in the Zimmerman trial, whatever that verdict is. He adds that the work the city is doing to bring its various communities together is important, whatever ultimately happens in the case.

“I would say that in honoring the life of Trayvon Martin,” said Bonaparte, calling the death “a tragic situation where a young man’s life was taken,” – “In honoring that I think we have an obligation to make Sanford a better community.”

Editor’s note: George Zimmerman has sued NBCUniversal for defamation and the company has strongly denied his allegations.

 Follow Joy Reid on Twitter at @thereidreport

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