{"id":11767,"date":"2012-04-04T15:19:51","date_gmt":"2012-04-04T19:19:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theredphoenixapl.org\/?p=11767"},"modified":"2012-04-04T15:19:51","modified_gmt":"2012-04-04T19:19:51","slug":"parents-of-trayvon-martin-ask-feds-to-investigate-state-prosecutor-for-nixing-efforts-to-arrest-george-zimmerman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/2012\/04\/parents-of-trayvon-martin-ask-feds-to-investigate-state-prosecutor-for-nixing-efforts-to-arrest-george-zimmerman\/","title":{"rendered":"Parents of Trayvon Martin ask feds to investigate state prosecutor for nixing efforts to arrest George Zimmerman"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Martin family will send a formal request for a review of State’s Attorney Wolfinger\u2019s actions to the Justice Department on Monday, lawyer Ben Crump told CNN Sunday<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The parents of Trayvon Martin are asking the feds to investigate the state prosecutor who overruled the cop who wanted to arrest their son\u2019s killer.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the night of the killing, State’s Attorney Norm Wolfinger reportedly nixed efforts by Sanford, Fla., Police Detective Chris Serino to charge George Zimmerman with manslaughter.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Martin family will send a formal request for a review of Wolfinger\u2019s actions to the Justice Department on Monday, lawyer Ben Crump told CNN Sunday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Citing a report from the black community news site TheGrio.com that Wolfinger was at the Sanford police station that night to make the call in person, Crump said something was fishy.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Why did he get out of his bed and go to the police station that night and overrule the lead investigator?” Crump said. \u201cIt doesn’t fit well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Wolfinger stepped down from the case on March 22, saying he wanted to avoid \u201ceven the appearance of a conflict of interest.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He has kept a low profile ever since.<\/span><\/p>\n

His replacement, special prosecutor Angela Corey, is deciding whether to charge Zimmerman, send the case to a grand jury or decide against charging.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Fox News host Geraldo Rivera – who sparked a firestorm when he blamed Trayvon\u2019s hoodie for his slaying – said he would apologize personally to the teen\u2019s parents on Sunday night.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTrayvon Martin’s parents are coming on my show tonight,\u201d he tweeted. \u201cI’m going to apologize for guilty hoodie stuff.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The live appearance was set for 10 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n

Show producers said Rivera would also discuss a new report from the Orlando Sentinel quoting two forensic audio experts saying it is Trayvon, not Zimmerman, who is calling out for help on the 911 tapes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rivera\u2019s apology to Trayvon\u2019s parents is the latest in a series that began March 23, when he appeared to blame Trayvon for getting killed based on his \u201cgangsta\u201d wardrobe choice.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin’s death as George Zimmerman was,\u201d Rivera said.<\/span><\/p>\n

He told parents of black and Latino youngsters not to let their kids go outside in hooded sweatshirts.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUnless it’s raining out, or you’re at a track meet, leave the hoodie home,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rivera appeared unaware that it was drizzling on Feb. 26, the night Trayvon was shot coming home from a convenience store trip to buy candy.<\/span><\/p>\n

The comment from a TV personality accustomed to stirring outrage drew an unusually ferocious storm of attacks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even his own son chided him, Rivera said.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Twitter, he defended himself, insisting he was not blaming the victim but speaking hard truths.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s common sense,\u201d he said at one point. \u201cLook like a gangsta and some armed schmuck will take you at your word.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHoodie-gate\u201d lasted for days, with liberals pointing out that most young men of every skin color own hoodies and that Fox sold Fox News branded hoodies. The NRA even sells a hoodie with a special pocket to hide a gun in.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last week, Geraldo apologized – grudgingly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI apologize to anyone offended by what one prominent black conservative called my \u2018very practical and potentially life-saving campaign urging black and Hispanic parents not to let their children go around wearing hoodies,\u2019\u201d he wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n

He acknowledged that his anti-hoodie comments had \u201cobscured the main point that someone shot and killed an unarmed teenager.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In an online column, Rivera said he\u2019d been through \u201ca wrenching week.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is frustrating and depressing, particularly because I meant well,\u201d he wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo be clear, I apologized for insensitivity and for the hubris caused, not for the potentially life-saving advice given to fellow minority parents,\u201d he wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA minority male over the age of 15 wearing a hoodie in a hood not his own after dark is a 911 call waiting to happen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He said Zimmerman calls to 911 on the night he killed Trayvon \u201cprove he was acting with good intentions, however over-zealous and misguided. Zimmerman saw the kid as another in the neighborhood’s long sorry string of similarly garbed kids \u2018up to no good.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The 911 calls that night have become a central piece of evidence – not just for what Zimmerman\u2019s words say about his state of mind but also for what was caught in the background of calls made by worried neighbors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Several calls recorded screams for help in the dark and exactly who was calling out is the crux of whether it\u2019s a case of homicide or self-defense.<\/span><\/p>\n

Zimmerman says he was being attacked and begging for help when he shot Trayvon. Trayvon\u2019s family says it\u2019s the teen crying out, and that just before the shooting, he told his girlfriend on a cellphone that he was afraid and trying to evade a man following him.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Orlando Sentinel enlisted two experts in forensic voice identification to analyze the sounds on the 911 calls and both said it was not Zimmerman\u2019s voice.<\/span><\/p>\n

They didn\u2019t know whose voice it was because they had no tape of Trayvon speaking to compare with.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou can say with reasonable scientific certainty that it’s not Zimmerman,” Tom Owen, forensic consultant for Owen Forensic Services, told the paper.<\/span><\/p>\n

Owen used software called Easy Voice Biometrics to compare Zimmerman’s voice to the 911 call screams.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ed Primeau, a Michigan-based audio engineer and forensics expert, said he was sure it was Trayvon after he enhanced the tape.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s a young man screaming,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

A Sanford, Fla., officer wrote in a police report that Zimmerman told a paramedic, \u201cI was yelling for someone to help me, but no one would help me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Zimmerman was not arrested.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fuente<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Martin family will send a formal request for a review of State’s Attorney Wolfinger\u2019s actions to the Justice Department on Monday, lawyer Ben Crump..<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[149,166,97],"tags":[357],"class_list":["post-11767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-discrimination","category-government","category-us-news","tag-racism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redphoenix.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image_11767_2c192.jpg?fit=635%2C423&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}