Democracy Now! April 12, 2012

April 12, 2012 from Democracy Now! via Creative Commons License BY-NC-ND

George Zimmerman is finally charged with second-degree murder, 45 days after killing Trayvon Martin and sparking national outcry. Connecticut is poised to repeal the death penalty as momentum grows for a Supreme Court challenge. Outrage over "Stand Your Ground" laws after Trayvon Martin killing has sparked an exodus of corporate sponsors from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a corporate-funded group that worked with the National Rifle Association to pass similar measures across the country. And a grand jury has met to consider whether charges should be filed in the Kenneth Chamberlain Sr. case, as an autopsy casts further doubt on police claims. Plus headlines and more.

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In This Video

George Zimmerman

On February 26, 2012, George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida. Martin was an African American teenager and 28-year-old Zimmerman is a man of mixed ethnicity (Latino and white American). Martin, who was unarmed, had been walking to the home of his fa... Explore this topic

Shooting of Trayvon Martin

The shooting of Trayvon Martin took place on February 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida. Trayvon Martin was an African American teenager who was shot and killed by 28-year-old George Zimmerman, a man of mixed ethnicity (Latino and white American). Martin, who was unarmed, had been... Explore this topic

Trayvon Martin

Trayvon Martin was an African American teenager who was shot and killed by 28-year-old George Zimmerman on February 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida. Zimmerman told police he shot Martin in self defense and was not arrested or charged with a crime. The case has sparked numerous p... Explore this topic

Angela Corey

Angela B. Corey is an American attorney currently serving as the State Attorney in Florida's Fourth Judicial Circuit Court, which includes Duval, Nassau and Clay counties. The first woman to hold the position, she was elected in 2008. On March 22, 2012, Florida Governor Rick S... Explore this topic

Sanford Police Department

The Sanford Police Department is a police agency in Sanford, the county seat of Seminole County, Florida. It employs 140 sworn police officers alongside 24 other employees, and its Interim Chief of Police is Richard Myers, the former chief of police in Colorado Springs, Colora... Explore this topic

Murder

Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human, and generally this premeditated state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide. As the loss of a human being inflicts enormous grief upon the individuals close to the victim, ... Explore this topic

Stand your ground

In the United States of America, stand-your-ground law states that a person may justifiably use force in self-defense when there is reasonable belief of an unlawful threat, without an obligation to retreat first. The concept sometimes exists in statutory law and sometimes thro... Explore this topic

Sanford, Florida

Sanford is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Seminole County. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 53,570. It is a principal city of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area, which was... Explore this topic

Al Sharpton

Alfred Charles "Al" Sharpton, Jr. is an American Baptist minister, civil rights activist, and television/radio talk show host. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidential election. He hosts his own radio talk show, Keepin' It Real, and h... Explore this topic

Benjamin Jealous

Benjamin Todd Jealous is the current president and chief executive officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He is the youngest ever national leader of the organization. Explore this topic

Also See

Shooting of Trayvon Martin

Stand your ground

George Zimmerman

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