Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story (2018–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - Stand Your Ground - full transcript

Bernie de la Rionda on
behalf of the state of Florida

with John Guy.

Attorney Benjamin Crump

on behalf of
Trayvon Martin's family.

Ms. Fulton, would you
raise your right hand, please?

My job is getting
some information, okay?

Okay.

Usually when I get home
from work,

Trayvon is there at the door.

Do you want to take
just a couple minutes?

Might be a good time for a few.
Should we do that?



Yeah, why don't we just
take a few minutes?

Off work, 11:23 a.m.

Mr. Martin, would you
raise your right hand, please?

I placed a call trying to file

a missing-persons report.

How long
has he been missing for?

Since last night.

And what's his name?

Trayvon Martin. - Trayvon Martin.

Trayvon Martin of Miami...

High-school junior
dreamed of becoming a pilot.

Trayvon Martin,
a Miami teenager,

was coming from the store,
from the 7-Eleven...

Did Trayvon Martin ask
if you wanted anything



before he left for the store? - Yes.

And what was that? Skittles

We are Trayvon!
We are Trayvon!

Sanford Police Department.

Line's being recorded.
This is Sean.

Hey, we've had some
break-ins in my neighborhood,

and there's
a real suspicious guy.

26-year-old George Zimmerman.

Zimmerman was acting in his role

as a neighborhood watch member.

Okay, and this guy, is he White,

black or Hispanic? - He looks black.

Did you see what he was wearing?

A dark hoodie.

Just because someone
wears a hoodie

does not make them a hoodlum.

May God bless Trayvon Martin.

Voices from all over
America speaking out.

Florida's
stand-your-ground law...

As members of the NRA,
we stand our ground.

The law gives people
the right and kill 17...

Our family has been threatened,

and I refuse to give you
my address.

White power!
White power!

You're aware that
you may be subject to contempt

for refusing
to answer questions?

Yes, and I'm not
giving my address.

Well, we'll see what we can do.

These assholes,
they always get away.

Residents heard loud
yelling and called 911

for the Sanford Police.

911, do you need
police, fire, or medical?

Maybe both, I'm not sure.

There's just someone
screaming outside.

That he went home that day,
and my son did not.

We came for permanent justice.

Our son was not
committing any crime,

and our son is your son.

There's someone
screaming outside.

All right, what is--

Black lives matter!
Black lives matter!

The American Dream...

is dead.

We used to call him Crazy Legs.

He wanted to do everything.

He was like that glow.

I just remember
Trayvon being so affectionate.

You felt like everybody
was his friend.

When you watch
your child grow up

and you notice the little
whiskers on his chin,

as a father,

I could see myself in him.

The first thing
that come out of my mouth

every morning is my son's name.

Although I didn't
ask to be here...

I'm here now.

I have my moments

where, you know, I want to get
off in a corner

or in a closet, dark corner,
and just crawl up, ball up,

and just cry.

But at the end of the day,
I got to toughen up.

You got to tough it out.

The life I used to
have is absolutely gone.

They say that
time heals all wounds.

It does not.

Had the tragedy
not been so public,

I probably would've taken
more time to grieve.

But I wasn't given
that type of privilege.

It was just a regular Monday.

I remember getting in.
I remember having coffee.

I remember sitting at my desk

when I received the initial
phone call from Tracy.

And he said that Trayvon
didn't come home.

Seminole County
Sheriff's Office.

We knew where
he was at all times.

It wasn't a day that went by

that we didn't know
where Trayvon was.

He was 17 years old,

transforming from
a boy to a young man.

There were more showers.

Now you want to put on cologne.

And now I don't have to take
you to get a haircut.

I have $10, he can
go get two Whoppers.

I'm like, "But there's
only one you.

Why you need two?"

Whatever it took for him
to get the money

to buy those sneakers.

Trayvon loved football.

Football was a way
for them to connect.

After work, my dad would still
be in his work uniform

coaching my brother
on the football field.

When my parents got divorced,
nothing changed.

Even though we're divorced,

you can't divorce the family.

Back, back, back, back!

I wanted my children
to do everything.

Trayvon was
interested in aviation.

He wanted to learn how to fly.

He'd ask me about
traveling to different places.

You know, what it's like
to go to Japan,

what it's like to go to Africa.

This was more than
an interest to him.

You could tell
this was like his passion.

All the way up
until his sophomore year,

you didn't have to ask him
did he do his homework.

But then he started doing
things that teenagers do.

That's just the nature
of the beast.

Trayvon had an incident
at the school

where he had a baggie,

which they said had
marijuana residue in it.

They put him
on a two-week suspension.

And I'm not sure
whose decision that was.

I just think it could've
been done a better way.

It's so drastic.

I mean, if he's not in school
for ten days,

then what is he gonna do?

The first week,
I had to go to work.

So my mom found little
odd jobs for him to do.

He said, "I don't know, Grandma.

"I mean, I'm just not making
the right decisions."

And I said, "Well, you know

we're not giving up
on you, right?"

He say, "I know."

And that was the last
conversation we had.

That's when Tracy decided,

"Well, next week
he'll come with me,

and I can get him straight."

I wanted him to get
away from the distractions.

I was originally scheduled
to visit my girlfriend

that weekend in Central Florida.

I thought it'd be a good idea
for Trayvon just to get away.

My girlfriend lived in Sanford.

I had moved
to Sanford from Orlando.

It was just a nice place
where I could raise my son.

I moved to The Retreat.

It was a quiet neighborhood.

It was gated.

It wasn't that friendly.

Everybody pretty much
kept to themselves.

That night, me and
Brandy went to a function.

We got home,
and the first thing that I did

was to look for Trayvon,
and he wasn't in the house.

And so I asked Brandy's son.

He said last he remembered
Trayvon had went

to the 7-Eleven
right down the street.

Yeah, a dark hoodie.

Late teens, okay.

All right, sir,
what is your name?

George.

All right, George,
what's your last name?

Zimmerman.

All right, George,
we do have them on the way.

Do you want to meet
with the officers

when they get out there?

Yeah, that's fine. - Okay.

Yeah, that's no problem. - Thanks.

You're welcome.

It just hurts really bad.

Whatever happened that night,

the only time they cannot
account for

was 71 seconds.

71 seconds,

and it changed America.

The Retreat at Twin Lakes...

I don't think I'd ever been
there in my career before.

I heard a suspicious-person
call go out.

And before I could actually
get in my car,

shots had been fired.

So I went down there.

I saw a body
laying in the grass.

I rolled this man over and...

saw this--just a kid.

I did CPR,
but there was nothing there.

Now I've got the shooter,
and I've got the gun.

It seemed like an arrest
was going to be imminent.

At the time, I just didn't
understand the complexities

that were gonna be involved.

Persons in the room
with George Zimmerman.

Correct? - Yes, sir.

George Zimmerman
claimed self-defense.

This young man can't speak
about what had occurred.

And so we needed
to get probable cause

for the arrest
of Mr. Zimmerman.

And that's what
the issue at hand was.

Yes, sir.

I came to work.

I was showed a picture
of John Doe--

a young black kid,
laying on the ground.

The mission was to find out
who the kid was,

identify him,

contact whoever
we needed to contact

to let them know
that he was deceased.

I received
a missing-juvenile call

in The Retreat, the same area
that the incident happened.

And I'm reading
the description of the male

and then the caller's name
and where it's at.

What was your son
last seen wearing?

You know, I put
two and two together.

Okay.

A detail officer pulled up

in an unmarked vehicle.

He asked me to sit down.

He told me there had been
an altercation.

Tracy automatically
began saying...

"Don't tell me it was my boy."

He just repeated several times.

"Don't tell me it was my boy."

He slid a crime scene photo
to me

and asked, was that my son.

I just hear a scream...

a scream that you just don't
ever want to hear in your life.

I see the picture on the table

of Tray laying down.

I have kids.
I have boys.

And when I send my kids
somewhere with anybody,

I expect them to keep them safe.

And I didn't do that
for Trayvon.

I didn't do it.

I didn't do it.

I can remember going up
there in the room.

I didn't get a chance to hug
him before he died,

and so there was just the
smell of the fabric softener

in the clothes that he had.

I can remember getting on
my knees just holding the bag.

And, um...

You can't really explain
the feeling, man,

unless you actually been there.

It was a thousand things
racing through my head.

"Was the individual arrested?"

"No, he hadn't been arrested."

"Why haven't
he been arrested?"

I wasn't getting any answers.

And there was a runaround.

Detective Chris Serino said

they were gonna do a
walk-through of the incident.

And while they were
doing the walk-through

with the person
who had killed Trayvon,

he basically asked me not to
come outside the residence.

I says, "This is crazy."

And when I got
to right about here,

he yelled from behind me
to the side of me.

He said, "Yo, you got
a problem?"

And I turned around, and I said,

"No, I don't have
a problem, man."

And he said,
"You got a problem now."

And he punched me in the face.

I tried to sit up, and that's
when he grabbed me by the head

and tried to slam my head down.

I kept yelling, "Help!"

He said, "Shut the f#k up."

And, uh, then I tried squirming.

That's when my jacket moved up,

and I had my firearm
on my right-side hip.

And he reached for it.

Like, I felt his arm
going down to my side.

And I grabbed it,
and I just grabbed my firearm,

and I shot him...
one time.

Okay.

When I walked up
to Investigator Serino,

he was like,
"George Zimmerman said

that he was
in fear of his life."

People in f--I could be
in fear of my life,

and I'm a police officer,
and I carry a gun,

but I just can't shoot.

I really don't know
what was going on, and...

there was a lot of rage
built up in me.

And I wasn't at the point
where I was ready

to turn the other cheek.

I was on the verge of going to
tear the city of Sanford up.

That's just where I was at.

I had some long thoughts
about it.

I had to get some redemption

for what had happened
to Trayvon.

But I also knew that
there was a right way to do it.

I needed someone to help us out.

Tracy Martin gets on the phone.

It's a...

a sound of, like...

broken-heartedness.

"Mr. Crump, they said they
were not gonna arrest

the killer of my son."

For black Floridians,

Ben Crump is seen as the guy.

He's the Johnny Cochran of
Florida civil rights law.

He's very good at forcing
a public conversation

about a case
that's being ignored.

It's becoming exceedingly clear

that this is a cover-up.

This is not a justice issue

just for African-Americans.

This is a justice issue
for all Americans.

You better make it
as public as possible,

or they're just gonna
sweep it under the rug.

I said, "Tracy,
we'll take your case.

"We're gonna fight
like hell for you,

"because this kid
walking home from a 7-Eleven

was profiled, pursued,
and shot in the heart."

Trayvon Martin never, ever

should've been killed like this.

The car ride over
to the funeral home,

everybody was just stoic.

I prayed a lot.

And I had to ask for guidance.

My life changed forever.

A piece of me died

I never understood,

and I can't
say I understand now,

why it happened.

How did he die?
Why is he dead?

I couldn't answer
their questions,

and I couldn't answer
nothing else.

I remember assembling the team.

I had Attorney Parks.

We had been through
these battles before.

I had Jasmine Rand,

this young, incredible
civil rights lawyer.

I had Natalie Jackson.

She had a law firm
of black women.

And she was from Sanford.

One of the things
that we learned

about George Zimmerman
in the course of investigation

is that he called
the non-emergency line

so many times,
reporting what he believed

were suspicious people
in the neighborhood.

The Retreat was
a gated neighborhood.

And many of the people who
lived in this neighborhood,

they bought
at the top of the market.

Then you had the market crash.

Financial assets
related to home mortgages

have lost value
during the housing decline.

Florida ranks third
in the nation

in the number
of home foreclosures.

Thousands of homes
on the market,

house after house,
street after street.

You had investors
come and buy up foreclosures.

And you had an influx
of renters.

Many of the renters
were Section 8 people--

people who had previously lived

in Sanford housing projects.

That prompted the people
who had paid

all this money for their houses

to think, "Our neighborhood
is going down."

So they started
a neighborhood watch.

George Zimmerman, who had
an interest in policing

and wanted to be
a police officer,

he volunteered to be the
neighborhood watch captain.

But the story that we got
was the neighborhood watch

was really the watch
of the black people

in the neighborhood.

Sanford Police.
This line's being recorded.

Sharon speaking.

What's going on there, George?

Sanford Police Department.

Hey, we've had some
break-ins in my neighborhood.

This was not an accident.

This was racial profiling.

But all we got is
Trayvon Martin's killer

to listen to.

The issue is
that George Zimmerman

claimed self-defense.

Florida had a law
that came in around 2005

under Jeb Bush
that added a new way

of asserting self-defense.

And it was called
"stand-your-ground."

Stand-your-ground
removes the obligation

to retreat before responding
with lethal force.

Our laws used to be based

on the English common law
called the "castle doctrine."

If I'm in my castle
and you come in

and I perceive you as a threat,
I can use deadly force.

The stand-your-ground law
changed the castle doctrine

to make everywhere your castle.

Jeb Bush signed
the stand-your-ground law

with an NRA lobbyist
at his side.

Now the law is on the side of
law-abiding people and victims,

rather than on
the side of criminals.

Marion Hammer is
the long-time NRA queen

of the state of Florida.

She's under 5 feet tall.
She has a pageboy haircut.

She still carries a handgun
in her purse.

For a long time, it was
a laser-guided pistol.

Marion Hammer is one
of the most influential

gun lobbyists in history.

In 2005,

she changed self-defense laws
in this country

to help the industry
sell more guns.

Go ahead.
Write about our paranoia.

But there is no greater freedom

than the right
to protect our families

with all the rifles, shotguns,
and handguns we want.

Not only do we want
more guns sold,

now we want to take it
a step further.

You should be able to use it.

The NRA wanted
to protect those shooters.

But one of the consequences
of this law

was to make it easier
to get away with murder.

Prosecutors
who oppose these laws

say that now police officers,
rather than lawyers,

are deciding whether someone
is charged with a crime.

The NRA has put its
thumb on the scale of justice

across the country.

This is gonna have to involve
the death of a child

before the public is gonna
realize it's not reasonable.

This law had
the effect of exonerating

people like George Zimmerman

who said that they were in fear.

Mr. Zimmerman
was subjected

to a truth-verification
instrument.

We use a voice-stress analysis,

which is pretty much
self-explanatory.

We went through that process.

It was part
of our investigation.

George, pleasure
to meet you, sir.

Thank you.
You as well.

Hopefully I never see you again.

Hopefully you won't.

The police accepted
his version like the Gospel.

Can you imagine if Trayvon
was a white kid

and a Neighborhood Watch
volunteer

shot him in the heart

and got to go home
and sleep in his bed?

How many heads
would roll over that?

For Trayvon Martin's
case having any chance

to make it into
the court of law,

I first had to win
the court of public opinion.

For Ben Crump,
race became a focal point.

Why is a young black teenager
looked at as suspicious?

I think that that element
of the story

really continued to grow.

Ben Crump said,
"The elephant in the room

"is the fact that this was

"a White Neighborhood Watch
captain

and a young black man."

And I quoted him on that.

The story started blowing up.

It got, like,
over 12,000 comments.

People were outraged,
and they wanted to know more.

The attorneys are
demanding that Zimmerman

be arrested and charged
with Trayvon Martin's murder.

At that particular time,

I didn't know
the power of the media.

My son left Sanford,
Florida in a body bag,

while George Zimmerman went home

to go to sleep in his own bed.

The story really began
to generate energy,

pushing it onto
the national horizon.

The parents of a teenager
who was shot and killed

near Orlando last month--

they're outraged that no one
has been arrested

in a case that has
serious racial overtones.

CBS flew a crew in.

So we met them,
and they did a walk-through.

Yeah, it must be
a little odd to be here, huh?

Yes.

When Tray was only nine,

he pulled his father
from a burning kitchen.

My son saved my life.

And for me not to be able
to save his life,

it's just, uh...

It's--it's hard.

We're here to demand
that the state attorney

charge this homeowner's
association loose cannon

with murder.

Attorney Crump told us,

"This is gonna be
a tough process.

It's gonna be a long process."

Realistically,

just hearing a father's cry
wasn't gonna do it.

I remember just not wanting

to get up in the morning...

not wanting to comb my hair
or brush my teeth or shower

or anything.

Tracy called me and said that
I needed to come to Sanford.

And I said,
"I'm never coming there."

She was kind of, like...
getting withdrawn.

You had to push her
to get her to keep going.

Either you choose to grieve,

or you choose to fight.

But you got to choose one
or the other,

because if you choose to grieve,

it's over.

Nothing happens
to the killer of your child.

That's a hard pill to swallow.

I'm like...

"I'll be there."

If I had my choice,
I probably would not talk,

but I don't want this
to be swept under the rug.

I want people to be aware
of what's going on.

Oh.

As a mother,

my heart is broken.

My heart hurts.

I don't understand.

George Zimmerman
had a 9-millimeter gun.

Trayvon Martin
had a bag of Skittles.

George Zimmerman
is a college student

majoring in criminal justice.

We couldn't reach him or
find any trace of him online.

On "CBS This Morning,
Police Chief Bill Lee

says Zimmerman shot
in self-defense.

Zimmerman admitted shooting him.

Correct.

He was armed,
and the victim was not armed.

That's correct.

But no arrest.

No arrest.

They kept saying that
they're not going to arrest

because of this
stand-your-ground,

and I think that's the first
time I had ever heard

of stand-your-ground.

In 2005,
George Zimmerman was arrested

for battery
on a law enforcement officer

and resisting arrest
with violence.

However, it appears
his history with the law

did not impact Chief Lee's
decision to make an arrest.

I just answered that question,

that we take everything
into consideration.

Trayvon Martin's
family wants answers, justice,

and the 911 calls
from that tragic evening.

Six neighbors dialed
911 to report a fight

and then a gunshot.

Sitting on the couch,
about to watch the Oscars,

you know...

And, uh, boom.

On one of the 911 calls,
there is evidence,

you can hear in the background,
of a struggle and a gunshot.

But Chief Bill Lee

says those 911 calls are part
of an active investigation

and will not be released.

We had to get these
tapes out to America.

I understood how
to navigate the media,

to make them give a damn
about a black life.

His ability to bridge the world

between white mainstream media

and marginalized communities,
specifically African-Americans,

is unparalleled.

In 2006, Ben Crump
became involved in a case

of a 14-year-old boy

who died at a boot camp
after being beaten by guards.

Martin Lee Anderson collapses.

They pick him up,
kick him, punch him.

And when he's not responding,

they start stuffing ammonia
tablets inside his nose.

They say he died
a couple hours later,

but you could tell
he's already dead then.

Martin Lee Anderson's case
became a test run

in how to handle
these types of cases.

I filed a lawsuit

demanding the video be released.

Police released
a video of the incident.

That's what the family had been
demanding the whole time.

The most important
thing, civil rights-wise,

was that Ben Crump got the boot
camps in Florida shut down.

There were so many things

about Martin Lee Anderson
that prepared me

for Trayvon Martin's case.

I kept telling
everybody on my team,

"Let the press know,
we gonna get this tape."

We'd filed our Freedom
of Information requests.

I called the lawyer
for the city of Sanford.

And he said,
"We're not releasing the tapes,

"and we're not gonna continue
this conversation.

"Chief Lee is gonna make
a statement to the press.

You'll hear it when
everybody else hears it."

Mr. Zimmerman has made
the statement of self-defense.

Until we can establish
probable cause

to dispute that,

we don't have
the grounds to arrest him.

Right.

That's the perception.

Outraged residents have asked

the Sanford Police Department
to show accountability.

This is not
a justified shooting.

A man gets out of his car,
packing a gun,

detains a black man,
and gets in an argument

and shoots him to death.

How can you justify
that shooting?

People felt
that we weren't doing

what we should've been doing
by making an arrest.

As a police officer
in the police department,

we have to open the gates up
and look at every angle,

not just from
Mr. Martin's angel,

also Mr. Zimmerman's angle,

'cause we're obligated
by law to do that--

have an open mind,

and that's what we're gonna do
in this case.

But what has happened
to Mr. Zimmerman right now?

At this point, nothing.

Crump was furious.

Why is Bill Lee going out
to hold a press conference

to announce to the world
that he's not going to arrest

the person that shot
and killed Trayvon Martin?

Crump was saying,
"He's not sending a message

"just to Trayvon Martin's
parents,

"he's sending a message
to Sanford.

"He's sending a message
to our children saying,

'Your lives don't matter.'"

I called Reverend Al Sharpton.

When Ben Crump
called about Trayvon,

I said, "I'm going
to use my show

to drive this home."

Joining me now
from Tallahassee, Florida,

Martin family attorney,
Benjamin Crump.

That 911 tape would tell us

why he thought Trayvon Martin
was suspicious.

The tapes need to be released.

All sides need to see
what happened here.

We gonna make
them care about Trayvon.

All America is gonna care
about Trayvon.

After the Trayvon
incident happened,

it was a tough,
tough moment in time.

You know,
there were rumblings of,

"Why is the city
not being transparent?"

The conspiracy theories,
the PR nightmare.

That was my 3:00 a.m.
wake-up call every night.

They need to release the tapes.

And I'm--I'm gonna
be coming to Florida

to see you and the family.

I didn't want to
wait for a court case,

so I said,
"A decision's gonna be made."

It was Mayor Triplett's decision

to release the 911 tapes.

I quickly called Tracy
and Sybrina

I said, "You all
got to get here,

"because out of respect,

"they want you all
to hear them first,

and then they're releasing
them to the world."

We went upstairs
to the mayor's office.

The family went in.
Ben Crump went in.

The mayor was sitting behind us.

They hit play, and they just
ran through the calls.

And then it went
to all the other 911 calls

where you could hear
the screams.

Would that have been
the first time you heard it?

Yes.

I recognize the voice
that's on there.

What voice was that?

It was Trayvon's voice.

What did you hear him say?

I heard him...

say "help."

Help!

So you think
he's yelling "help"?

Yes.

All right, what is your--

There was a gunshot.

When you hear that pop,

Sybrina screamed...

and ran out the door.

And I left the office.
That was enough for me.

I think I kind of took
control of the cursor

and kept clicking.

There's someone screaming.

I just heard a gunshot.

I see the person right now.

I see him, like, walking.

I'm pretty sure
the guy is dead out here.

Holy shit.

He stared
at the computer by himself,

replaying that tape

with a tear running down
his face.

I listened to it
maybe 20, 25 times.

I know my son's voice, you know.

I know that that was him.

We walked outside.

CDs were handed out
to all members of the media.

It was already big,
but it just exploded.

There's new information

coming out of Orlando.

That was the game changer...

after those 911 tapes
were released.

People were outraged,
and they wanted to know more.

Suddenly everybody
knew who Trayvon Martin was.

Trayvon. Trayvon Martin.

It was like an explosion.

But there are
thousands across the country

clamoring for justice.

And the people wouldn't stop.

Tens of thousands of
people will be rallying today.

It took my son being shot down
to make me stand up.

This is not about
a black-and-white thing.

This is about
a right-and-wrong thing.

I am Trayvon!
I am Trayvon!

This woke up a nation.

I'm angry!

Trayvon became
the face of our community.

We had to go to war for him.

Then Barack Obama says...

You know, if I had a son,
he'd look like Trayvon.

It just immediately
polarized the country.

Thousands across the country

clamoring for justice.

They're in the streets.

The President is weighing in...

We will make
America great again.

We opened up Pandora's box...

and I had no idea
what was gonna happen.