The Prosecutor Will Decide Alone Whether or Not to Arrest the Presumed Murderer of Trayvon Martin

George Zimmerman, the self-proclaimed vigilante who killed Trayvon Martin, a black high school student, on Feb.26 in Sanford, Fla., was freed. Will he be prosecuted? Questioned? The grand jury charged with answering that question on Tuesday, April 10, will not be reunited. Angela Corey, the Florida state special prosecutor charged with the investigation, announced on Monday, April 9, that she would not appeal. This decision “has not been taken as her final decision,” says her spokesperson, adding that “the investigation continues.” Trayvon Martin’s family reacted immediately by “hoping” that the arrest of George Zimmerman “would follow.” Zimmerman’s lawyer saluted a “courageous decision.”

Based in Jacksonville, Corey was appointed on March 22 by the governor of Florida, Rick Scott, to replace the local prosecutor, who had decided to not pursue George Zimmerman by virtue of the “stand your ground” law, which broadens the notion of legitimate defense and extensively authorizes the use of firearms.

Angela Corey, age 57, elected prosecutor (Republican) of Jacksonville in 2008, is known at the same time for her severity and for her compassion toward victims. On March 29, she had already hinted that she might make the decision herself, as the law permits. The meeting of the grand jury, scheduled for April 10, had been decided by her predecessor Norman Wolfinger, prosecutor of Seminole County, where Sanford is situated. Hotly contested for freeing George Zimmerman, Mr. Wolfinger withdrew himself.

By avoiding the need for a jury to decide on prosecution and a possible indictment, the special prosecutor moves toward the center of this affair of national importance. She avoids the risk of a decision different from her own conclusions. As the affair has taken on emotional, political and media dimensions of great proportion, her decision could also go, in the short term, in the way of a local appeasement. The affair has reignited the long decades of racial tension in Sanford, Florida and beyond, in the whole country. The grand jury was to meet at the center of Sanford, not far from the scene of the crime.

A peaceful 60 km march involving several dozen students, leaving from Daytona Beach, arrived on Monday in Sanford. They stayed for several hours on Monday at the entrances of the local police station, alternating prayers and slogans. They intend to “defend the dream” of a post-racial America, the one of pastor Martin Luther King, and demand the arrest of the murderer of Trayvon Martin.