Trayvon Martin was shot through the heart at close range and George Zimmerman had a broken nose, bruises and cuts on the back of his head, new documents show.

A neighbourhood watch guard who killed an unarmed black teenager apologised to the teenager’s family today at a hearing where he sought release from jail ahead of his trial.

Prosecutors face steep hurdles to win a second-degree murder conviction against a neighbourhood watch volunteer charged in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, experts say.

It has been reported that George Zimmerman -- the neighbourhood watch volunteer who shot and killed an unarmed teenager in Florida -- is to be charged by police two months after the incident .

The parents of a shot Florida teenager have accused police of leaking information about their son being suspended for marijuana and details about the fight in which he died that portrayed him as the aggressor.

The parents of an unarmed black teenager shot dead by a neighbourhood watch helper in Florida are leading a rally in protest at the lack of an arrest.