Reuters: Most Read Articles: Zimmerman, Florida teen's shooter, wears disguise: lawyer

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Zimmerman, Florida teen's shooter, wears disguise: lawyer Feb 27th 2013, 16:10 Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Parents mark anniversary of Trayvon Martin death at New York City vigil Tue, Feb 26 2013 Florida town tries to unite after Trayvon Martin killing Mon, Feb 25 2013 Florida task force recommends preserving Stand Your Ground law Fri, Feb 22 2013 Florida judge won't delay trial on Trayvon Martin's murder Tue, Feb 5 2013 Giffords seeks "bold" action as Congress takes up gun control Wed, Jan 30 2013 Analysis & Opinion The partisan politics of election laws State of the State of the States George Zimmerman arrives for a hearing in Seminole circuit court in Sanford, Florida February 5, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Joe Burbank/Pool Wed Feb 27, 2013 11:10am EST (Reuters) - George Zimmerman, the man whose fatal shooting of unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin a year ago captured the nation's attention, wears a disguise or body armor in public as he feels threatened, his lawyer said on Wednesday. Zimmerman remains in hiding and "can't go out in public without wearing a disguise or body armor," defense attorney Mark O'Mara told CNN. Zimmerman claims to have mistaken Martin, who was 17, for a burglar and to have shot him in self defense after a confrontation on February 26, 2012. After police initially questioned and released Zimmerman, citing Florida's so-called Stand Your Ground gun law, celebrity protests and nationwide public demonstrations prompted a re-investigation that led to his arrest for murder. Martin's parents attended a one-year anniversary vigil in New York City late Tuesday, and continued their call for stricter gun laws nationwide. Passed in 2005, Florida's Stand Your Ground law allows people to use lethal force in self-defense. Numerous states have since passed similar laws. Critics of the law say it encourages vigilantes and fosters gun violence. The uproar after Martin's killing led the local police chief to step aside and the governor to appoint a special prosecutor, who charged Zimmerman with second-degree murder. The trial is scheduled for June. O'Mara will ask a judge to dismiss the charges on the grounds of self-defense, at a much-anticipated pre-trial hearing on April 29. O'Mara said Martin badly beat Zimmerman after a confrontation inside a gated community in Sanford, Florida. "George didn't have an opportunity to retreat, so calling this a 'Stand Your Ground' hearing in not accurate," O'Mara told CNN Wednesday. O'Mara said Zimmerman was "very stressed (and) very worried" about the trial and has remained in hiding for the past year. (Reporting by Chris Francescani; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Bernadette Baum) Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (12) Blacks are big on marches and memorials aren't they? You could be a stone cold killer, but if you were black there would be a march for some reason or another. Might be nice if they stayed home and took care of their own kids, so they wouldn't end up in trouble and made held responsible for their actions. Feb 26, 2013 8:58pm EST  --  Report as abuse A man gots t' keep the ferals away. Feb 27, 2013 1:02pm EST  --  Report as abuse The above comment is way out of line. This case is where it ought to be- in court. And as the article correctly notes, since Zimmerman could not retreat, being on his back on the ground- Stand Your Ground has nothing to do with it. Trayvon was 17 and well built: Zimmerman was photographed with a broken nose and looking scuffed up. Under my state's law (AK) he could not claim self-defense if he started the fight. That's for the court. It was not racial profiling so much as the fact Trayvon looked like people responsible for a wave of burglaries and one home invasion. Not Zimmerman's fault those people were black. The edited 911 tape and the nonsense term "white Hispanic" to describe a Hispanic man with a non-Hispanic last name were real racism, not his profiling. IMO Feb 27, 2013 1:03pm EST  --  Report as abuse See All Comments » Add Your Comment

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