Zimmerman appears in court on second-degree murder charge

Neighbourhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman has made his first court appearance on a second-degree murder charge following the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

During the brief appearance in Sanford, Florida, today, Zimmerman stood up straight and wore a grey prison jumpsuit. He spoke only to answer “Yes, sir,” after he was asked basic questions about the charge against him.

The judge said an arraignment would be held on May 29 before another judge.

Zimmerman, 28, was charged after a public campaign to make an arrest following the February 26 shooting, which has galvanised the United States for weeks.

Some legal experts had expected Zimmerman to face a lesser count of manslaughter and say a prosecutor will face steep hurdles to win a murder conviction. Zimmerman has claimed that he fired in self-defence.

The shooting has set off a debate about racial profiling and the rights to self-defence.

The prosecution must prove Zimmerman’s shooting of Martin was rooted in hatred or ill will and counter his claims that he shot Martin to protect himself while patrolling his gated community in the Orlando suburb of Sanford.

Zimmerman’s lawyers would only have to prove by a preponderance of evidence – a relatively low legal standard – that he acted in self-defence at a pre-trial hearing to prevent the case from going to trial.

There’s a “high likelihood it could be dismissed by the judge even before the jury gets to hear the case,” Florida defence attorney Richard Hornsby said.

The charges were announced last night after an extraordinary 45-day campaign for Zimmerman’s arrest, led by Martin’s parents and civil rights activists, including the Rev Al Sharpton and the Rev Jesse Jackson. Protesters wore hooded sweatshirts like the one Martin had on the night of the shooting. The debate reached all the way to the White House, where President Barack Obama observed last month: “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.”

Martin’s parents expressed relief over the decision to prosecute the person who shot their son.

“The question I would really like to ask him is, if he could look into Trayvon’s eyes and see how innocent he was, would he have then pulled the trigger? Or would he have just let him go on home?” said his father, Tracy Martin.

Many attorneys said they had expected the prosecutor to opt for the lesser charge of manslaughter. The most severe homicide charge, first-degree murder, is subject to the death penalty in Florida and requires premeditation – something all sides agreed was not present in this case.

Zimmerman’s attorney, Mark O’Mara said his client would plead not guilty and invoke Florida’s so-called “stand your ground” law, which gives people wide latitude to use deadly force rather than retreat during a fight.

The confrontation took place in a gated community where Martin was staying with his father and his father’s fiancée. Martin was walking back in the rain from a convenience store when Zimmerman spotted him and called police. He followed the teenager despite being told not to by a police dispatcher and the two got into a struggle.

Zimmerman told police Martin punched him in the nose, knocking him down, and then began banging the volunteer’s head on the sidewalk. Zimmerman said he shot Martin in fear for his life. Police took Zimmerman, whose father is white and whose mother is Hispanic, into custody the night of the shooting but released him without charging him.