Here's a summary of tonight's developments in the Trayvon Martin case – now officially the Trayvon Martin murder case.

• Florida prosecutor Angela Corey has brought a 2nd-degree murder charge against George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch captain who shot Trayvon Martin dead. The charge carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

• Zimmerman is in custody in Florida, Corey announced. She defended the state against criticism that it took too long to bring charges after the Feb. 26 killing. She called the police investigation "thorough."

• The parents of Trayvon Martin issued a statement of gratitude for the charges. "I say thank you. Thank you lord, thank you Jesus," said Sybrina Fulton, the victim's mother.

• George Zimmerman will be arraigned before a Florida judge in the next 24 hours. His new lawyer is Mark O'Mara, who just yesterday spoke about Florida's Stand Your Ground law in a video that surfaced this evening.

Moving words now from the parents of Trayvon Martin, reacting to the charges against George Zimmerman. Trayvon's mother, Sybrina Fulton, speaks first.

"We just wanted an arrest," she said. "We wanted nothing more and nothing less and we got it. And I say thank you. Thank you lord, thank you Jesus." She's in tears.

Then she says, now I want to speak from the heart. Because "a heart has no color. Its' not black, its not white, it's red. And I want to say thank you from my heart to your heart."

Now the father, Tracy Martin, speaks:

"As attorney Crump said, this is just the beginning. We have a long way to go.... We wil, continue to walk by faith. We will continue to hold hands on this journey – white, black and Latino. We will continue to march until this whole thing is done."

Brief statements of affirmation from the parents. Not a note of negativity. They more than anyone are setting the tone in this case.

The blogger NYC Southpaw has an insightful take on the legal questions at stake in the prosecution of George Zimmerman.

As I read Florida's self defense statute, the key question in the Trayvon Martin case is who attacked whom—who started the fight?—not the nebulous question of what George Zimmerman believed.

The lawyer for the Martin family, Benjamin Crump, said the family had no promises from prosecutor Corey, who told them she would make a decision based on the evidence, not public pressure.

"We always believed that if you looked at the evidence... that [Zimmerman] would have to be arrested."

Crump reminds the audience that Tracy Martin, Trayvon's father, was told there would not be an arrest in the case. Crump says the public pressure was necessary "to get to this point."

"We can take a short breath, a short breath. Because this is only first base. We're on first base in this game of justice."

"This is not a night for celebration," Sharpton says. "It's a night that never should have happened in the first place."

"Are we happy with the charge? I must say, that if Americans come together they can achieve things."

Sharpton says the anonymous thousands who wore hoodies and had the courage to turn out for rallies in support of Martin have won a victory.

A video has surfaced of George Zimmerman's new lawyer, Mark O'Mara, discussing Florida's Stand Your Ground laws just last night.

"Other people call it the 'license to murder' statue, because it doesn't require actions to avoid the confrontation," O'Mara tells the reporter.

(H/t: Anthony De Rosa at Reuters)

The parents of Trayvon Martin now are preparing to speak in Washington. The Rev. Al Sharpton is introducing them.

Now Corey is shedding light on her interaction with the Martin family, which seems to have been remarkably open and forthcoming. She said she met with them three weeks ago and talked with them about what would happen if she did not bring charges. They were in suspense, it appears.

"I think that after meeting with Trayvon's parents that first Monday night after [we took the case]," Corey said, "...the first thing we did was pray with them. We did not promise them anything. We specifically talked about if charges did not come out of this-- what can we help you do, to make sure your son's death was not in vain?"

Florida State Attorney Angela Corey at her Wednesday evening news conference on second-degree murder charges she has brought against George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin.

"There's been an overwhelming amount of publicity in this case" which she worries could make it hard to find an unbiased jury. "It is regrettable that so many facts and details got released and misconstrued."

Now she is speaking on the police action in the case. She said the police conducted "a thorough and intensive investigation." She said the "outcry" over the case interrupted the police work and landed the case on her plate.

An image of the Trayvon Martin family watching the Angela Corey news conference.

Corey declines to discuss the details of the case. She is frustrated about details already out there.

"So much information got released on this case that never should have been released," she says.

She says she never spoke with Zimmerman, who was rumored to have called the prosecutor's office.

Now Corey says her office received a call from Zimmerman. They took a message and referred it to defense counsel, she says.

Corey says she has been in touch with federal prosecutors in the case. "But they're not working on our part of the investigation and we don't work on their part of the investigation."

"Zimmerman will be taken, when it's appropriate, for the appropriate appearance in front of the judge."

"We have to have a reasonable certainty of conviction before we file charges," Corey says.

She says an "affirmative defense" – such as an alibi – can always appear mid-case, beyond the power of the prosecution to foresee and prevent.

Corey takes a question about the racial overtones of the case.

"I'm going to be quite honest with you. We are committed to justice for every race, every gender, every person," she says.

"It's V for victim. That's who we work tirelessly for." (As opposed to an abbreviation of race, sex, ethnicity.)

Corey is wearing a bright red blazer and a prominent gold cross. A team of prosecutors stands behind her.

She said her office stepped in after the governor directed her to handle the case. "We came to our conclusion based on the facts and Florida's law," she said.

Corey has handled more than 50 homicide cases. Her presentation and particularly her vociferous defense of the prosecutors' work here is living up to her billing as a serious, bulldog prosecutor.

Zimmerman turned himself in, Corey says.

"It didn't take long," she says, referring to her office's work. "We have many complicated homicides that are thoroughly investigated. Remember that a prosecutor's burden... is proof beyond a reasonable doubt."

"The investigation was in full mode. The governor appointed us less than three weeks ago."

"We arrived at our decision approximately last week... We had to make sure we had everything in place."

Corey is a bit peeved of tone about these questions. She's defensive about the 44 days between the alleged murder and the charges.

Now: "I will confirm that Mr. Zimmerman is indeed in custody."

Corey is part advocate for her office as prosecutor, and part advocate for the victim, Trayvon Martin, and his family.

She refers to "the person responsible for his death, George Zimmerman."

"Details have to come out in excruciating and minute fashion... it's only then that the law is applied to that and a decision can be rendered."

She annoucnes charges of murder in the second degree, filed today. She says there's an arrest warrant.

She says Zimmerman will have right to appear before magistrate within 24 hours of his arrest.

She does not say Zimmerman has been arrested.

Corey is acknowledging attorneys in her office who will lead the case.

She said her office informed the governor of her plan.

"I can tell you we did not come to this decision lightly. ... Let me emphasize that we do not prosecute by public pressure or by petition. We prosecute by the facts of any given case."

Corey is defending the time it took her office to bring charges. She said her office was careful in building charges while prosecuting many other cases.

State Attorney Angela Corey is now speaking in Jacksonville.

She begins by saying she has spoken to Trayvon Martin's parents just moments ago. She says her team has worked "tirelessly" to get answers in Trayvon Martin's death.

The Guardian's Karen McVeigh has spoken with Florida legal experts about the charges to be brought against George Zimmerman, and some of the difficulties the case could pose for prosecutors.

Second-degree murder involving a firearm carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and a minimum of 25 years in Florida. Lesser charges of manslaughter involving a firearm carries a maximum of 30 years in prison. Lawyers said State Attorney Angela Corey faces a difficult prosecution because of Florida's Stand Your Ground law. "It is a difficult job in a case of this nature with a homicide, no witnesses and the Stand Your Ground law," said William Eddins, the president of Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association and Pensacola's state attorney. He said the 911 tapes and the evidence collected at the scene will be vital. Defence lawyers citing Florida's Stand Your Ground laws can ask for a hearing before any trial, in which they can present a case that a suspect should never have been charged. "The best use of Stand Your Ground for a defence attorney is that you can get the issue to a judge before you go to trial" said David Hill, a criminal defense lawyer based in Orlando. "You can still raise it at trial." Hill said of Corey: "She has a difficult job ahead of her. There are no witnesses, there is evidence of a struggle and, in Florida, you have Stand Your Ground and justifiable use of deadly force. It's going to be difficult."

The Associated Press is citing an unnamed official as saying that George Zimmerman will face second-degree murder charges in the killing of Trayvon Martin. The AP reports:

The official with knowledge of the case says that the charge against George Zimmerman will be announced at a news conference at 6 p.m. Wednesday. The official says he's in custody in Florida but wouldn't say where.

The charge is a first-degree felony and carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Two big pieces of news now from AP:

George Zimmerman is in custody.

He will face second-degree murder charges.

BREAKING: Official tells AP: Trayvon Martin's killer to be charged with 2nd-degree murder; is in custody. -RAS — The Associated Press (@AP) April 11, 2012

Speculation is rife as to the nature of the charges Zimmerman will face. Here's savvy lawyer Doug Mataconis:

I'll predict that Zimmerman gets charged with Aggravated Manslaughter. Aggravated because Martin was a minor. Potential sentence 25 to life — Doug Mataconis (@dmataconis) April 11, 2012

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has just called federal involvement in the Trayvon Martin case "very dangerous."

Gingrich appeared on CNN for an interview with Wolf Blitzer, who asked the candidate about Attorney General Eric Holder's investigation of the Martin killing.

"I think it's very dangerous," Gingrich said. "I don't know that they have any more information than you have or I have... You would hope that the attorney general of the United States would be in favor of the system of justice, and you'd hope that the president, who's a Harvard Law grad, would be in favor of the system of justice... I'm inclined to rely on [special prosecutor Corey's] judgment."

Earlier in the interview, Gingrich cautioned against jumping to conclusions in the case.

"We don't have access to the evidence," Gingrich told Blitzer. "We don't have access to the witnesses. And I think it's always dangerous to jump to conclusions."

While it remains unclear whether Florida prosecutors know the location of George Zimmerman, he has been leaving electronic footprints. Robert Mackey of the New York Times spots recent changes to the fundraising web site Zimmerman set up, therealgeorgezimmerman.com:

Although the gunman remains in hiding, two edits made to the Web site in the past 24 hours appear to indicate that he is aware of at least some of the response it has generated. An image of graffiti scrawled on the wall of a black cultural center at Ohio State University last week, reading "Long Live Zimmerman," is no longer featured on a page dedicated to his supporters. The site's home page now includes an update, apparently added at 1:30 p.m. E.D.T. on Tuesday, which reads: I am attempting to respond to each and everyone of my supporters personally. The support has been overwhelming in volume and strength. I thank you all and ask that you permit me the time to respond to each one of you personally. Once again thank you. — Sincerely, George Zimmerman

The parents of Trayvon Martin today said the arrest of George Zimmerman would start the process of healing in their son's death.

"If we stop today, all this that we've done would just be for nothing. So it would be very important that we get an arrest," said Tracy Martin, Trayvon's father.

(h/t: AP)

A San Francisco businessman is seeking to trademark the phrase "I Believe You Zimmerman," according to The Smoking Gun.

According to United States Patent and Trademark Office records, Lawrence Sekara paid $1100 to apply for the mark for use in four separate classes. The 49-year-old Sekara wants to place "I Believe You Zimmerman" on a wide variety of merchandise, including beer mugs, bumper stickers, leggings, footwear, "Button-front aloha shirts," and other assorted apparel.

(h/t: Matt Gutman)

Fox News host Sean Hannity has acknowledged talking to someone he believes was George Zimmerman, the Associated Press reports.

Zimmerman's former lawyers said their client had spoken with Hannity, and that Zimmerman told the Fox host details he withheld from his counsel.

Hannity said Zimmerman contacted him on Monday. "He reached out to me, we spoke on the phone about his case and I agreed not to report on the contents of that conversation," Hannity told AP.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg today announced a new initiative to repeal so-called "Shoot First" laws – aka "Stand Your Ground" laws – that give shooters broad protection in gun violence cases in Florida and elsewhere.

Florida is one of 25 states to have passed such laws since the National Rifle Association launched a national campaign in 2005 to ease prosecutions in gun crimes. Bloomberg took to Twitter today to tie his campaign to the Trayvon Martin case.

Shoot First laws have nothing to do w/ the 2nd Amendment. They invite vigilante justice w/ disastrous results: bit.ly/HBqjoh #Trayvon — Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) April 11, 2012

The Bloomberg initiative is being carried out with a coalition of African-American leaders against gun violence. The groups released a statement quoting the mayor:

It's now clear: the NRA's 'shoot first' laws that have passed in 25 states have undermined the integrity of the justice system, and done serious harm to public safety. They have sown confusion in police departments about when to make arrests, made it more difficult for prosecutors to bring charges in cases of deadly violence and, most importantly, they have been responsible for a major increase in so-called 'justifiable homicides.' These laws have not made our country safer; they have made us less safe and it's why we're launching a nationwide campaign to reform or repeal shoot first laws. The NRA's leaders weren't interested in public safety. They were interested in promoting a culture where people take the law into their own hands with a gun and face no consequences for it.

Attorney General Eric Holder, who has been overseeing a separate federal investigation into the killing of Trayvon Martin, said today that the government has a "very high bar" to bringing charges in the case.

It is possible for federal charges to be added to the Florida state charges expected to be announced against shooter George Zimmerman this evening.

"We have a very ... high bar that we have to meet in order to bring federal charges in this case so we are continuing in that regard," Holder said at a news conference. The FBI has conducted forensic tests at the killing scene "to try to build that case," he said.

Further pictures of the preparations outside Seminole County Jail for the possible intake of suspect George Zimmerman.

The John E. Polk Correctional Facility is located in Sanford, Florida.

What charge or charges will George Zimmerman face in the death of Trayvon Martin? Florida special prosecutor Angela Corey plans to bring a single charge, according to the Miami Herald, which quotes "a source briefed on the case" as saying that Zimmerman would face "a single charge, something less than a first-degree felony."

The Sanford Police Department did not file charges against Zimmerman at the time of the Feb. 26 shooting. Corey declined to convene a grand jury in the case, signalling that she would make a decision about the charges herself.

A manslaughter conviction in the case could bring a 30-year prison term. Other possible charges include second-degree murder or aggravated assault with a gun. Influencing Corey's decision is Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law, which awards broad protections to defendants who argue self defense.

Where is George Zimmerman? There are conflicting reports on whether Florida authorities know the location of the man who is about to become an official suspect.

The Associated Press quotes "a person with knowledge of the case" as saying that law enforcement knows where Zimmerman is. But an hour ago, Matt Gutman of ABC News said Zimmerman's location was still unknown.

@ABC confirms thru law enforcement sources Zimmerman will be formally charged today. Investigators still dont know his location. — Matt Gutman (@mattgutmanABC) April 11, 2012

We don't know yet whether George Zimmerman will be arrested in connection with the charges to be announced at 6pm. One potential clue was visible outside the Seminole County Jail, where an officer erected barriers and crime scene tape around the entrance of the intake building.





A special prosecutor is due to announce charges against George Zimmerman, the self-declared neighborhood watch captain who shot dead an unarmed Florida teenager, Trayvon Martin. A press conference has been scheduled for 6pm ET in Jacksonville, Florida. This is Tom McCarthy in New York with live blog coverage of this unfolding story.

The charges come a day after Zimmerman's erstwhile lawyers called a news conference to announce they had lost contact with their client and were standing down as his lawyers. They said Zimmerman had not informed them of his plans to start a fundraising web site.

The family of Trayvon Martin have also announced a press conference for 5.15pm ET.

Here's the latest from our reporter in Miami, Richard Luscombe: