Criminal justice lawyers said Corey faces an uphill battle in persuading a jury to convict Zimmerman of second-degree murder. Zimmerman told police he was fighting for his life in an altercation with Martin, who was 17 and unarmed, before he fired in self-defense.
Murder in the second degree, under Florida law, refers to a killing carried out without premeditation but with “a depraved mind regardless of human life.” If convicted, Zimmerman faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. His attorney, Mark O’Mara, said Wednesday that Zimmerman will plead not guilty.
Martin’s parents applauded Corey’s decision to take Zimmerman into custody, calling it a first step toward justice.
“We simply wanted an arrest,” said Sybrina Fulton, Martin’s mother. “Thank you, Lord.”
His father, Tracy Martin, said: “We got a long way to go, and we have faith. . . . We will continue to hold hands on this journey — white, black and Latino.”
Corey said she had personally informed Martin’s parents of the outcome of her investigation.
“It was less than three weeks ago that we told those sweet parents that we would get answers to all of their questions no matter where our quest for the truth led us,” she said.
Martin was fatally shot Feb. 26 while walking in the Retreat at Twin Lakes, a complex of about 260 peach-colored townhouses in Sanford, Fla. Martin was staying with his father and his father’s fiancee in her townhouse, and he had left briefly to walk to a nearby 7-Eleven to buy a bottle of iced tea and a bag of Skittles.
Zimmerman, 28, who worked at a fraud-detection company, was driving to Target, according to his father. Zimmerman spotted Martin and called 911, saying that there had been a rash of burglaries in the area and that there was “a guy . . . walking around, looking about.”
“This guy looks like . . . he’s on drugs or something,” Zimmerman said.
Before police arrived, Zimmerman and Martin encountered each other in a grassy area between the back yards of two rows of townhouses. Zimmerman says Martin punched him in the face, knocked him down and slammed his head against the pavement.
He has maintained that he was defending himself when he pulled a black Kel-Tec 9mm and shot Martin at close range in the chest after the teenager tried to take the gun. When officers arrived, they found Martin dead in a pool of blood in the grass and Zimmerman bleeding from his nose and the back of his head.
‘Stand your ground’ law
Authorities in Sanford decided not to charge Zimmerman, citing Florida’s “stand your ground” law, which allows a person to use deadly force in self-defense when there is a reasonable belief of a threat and which does not require people to retreat.
2012 mugshot of George Zimmerman. Cellphone call to the Sanford Police Department by George Zimmerman before the shooting of Trayvon Martin

, the Florida neighborhood watch captain who shot  teenager  in February, stepped into court for his first appearance Thursday afternoon after his arrest the previous night. The judge found probable cause in the charges of second degree , but Zimmerman's lawyer held off on making a bail request out of concern for his clients safety.

At a Wednesday evening news conference in Jacksonville, Florida, special prosecutor  announced Zimmerman willingly turned himself in. A law enforcement official said at the time Zimmerman was in custody at the  in Florida. Corey said, "It is the search for justice for Trayvon that has brought us to this moment."

Zimmerman, 28, was involved in an altercation with the 17-year-old  that led to Martin’s death the night of February 26 in , Florida. Zimmerman claimed self-defense when he shot Martin. Martin was in a gated community returning to the house he and his father were staying at carrying a pack of candy and iced tea when Zimmerman followed him and called the police to report a "suspicious" character. Since then, black leaders have demanded justice for a murder that they believe to be driven by race.

Zimmerman’s arrest and charge occurred after his lawyers announced Tuesday they were quitting the case after having no contact with him since Sunday. They also said Zimmerman was in a fragile mental state. 

In Florida, a person charged with second-degree murder can spend life in prison, and the charge is usually when a confrontation ends with the death one of the parties involved. Florida also has a , which means people can use deadly force in cases of self-defense, which is expected to play a major role in the case. In the United States, 24 states, including Florida, have such a law while the other 27 states do not. The  pushed for the law's passage in Florida seven years ago.

Trayvon Martin’s parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, have been publicly calling for Zimmerman to be prosecuted. They appeared at a press conference after the special prosecutor's announcement with Reverend  in Washington, D.C. Fulton said, "We simply wanted an arrest. We wanted nothing more and nothing less, we just wanted an arrest. And we got it."

Zimmerman's lawyer Mark O’Mara has already signaled that his client will plead not guilty at a future hearing which the judge set for May 29, but he also expects to request bail for his client once safety details are worked out.
Time of important events throughout the Trayvon Martin case. 


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