Al Sharpton to hold rally in Central Florida this Thursday in Trayvon Martin case

The fact that George Zimmerman is white (though his dad says he's part-Hispanic) and Trayvon Martin was black adds an undeniable element of race to the story. Trayvon's family members are outraged that Zimmerman chose on his own to investigate what the teenager was up to when he was walking around in the gated community on the night of Sunday, February 26.

Some legal observers say that because of the way the law is crafted, even though Zimmerman killed Martin in cold blood, his argument under the Stand Your Ground defense could easily get him off legally, as the Christian Science Monitor reported last week.

“It's hard to imagine that this couldn't have been resolved by [Mr. Zimmerman] leaving, so that no one would've gotten hurt, so this is a case where the Stand Your Ground law can actually make a legal difference,” says former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Bellin, a law professor at Southern Methodist University, in Dallas.

“Even if you have suspicions about what motivated this, and you think there was a racial element and no justification for this shooting, the fact is he had no obligation to retreat under the law,” he notes. “If prosecutors don't have the evidence to disprove the claim of self-defense, they won't be able to win.”

The family of Trayvon Martin has no confidence in the Orlando Police Department, and is calling on the FBI to investigate. The FDLE says they have been investigating the case since last Tuesday.

On Today, the attorney representing the Trayvon Martin family, Benjamin Crump, told Lauer that he does think that Zimmerman has to go to jail.

"I think Zimmerman has no legal recourse," Crump said. "He was not at his home. He was on a sidewalk, a common area, Trayvon Martin was 70 feet away from the back door. He was almost home. Zimmerman got out of his car, did not listen to the police, and chased this kid. You can't chase somebody and then claim self-defense. He had a 9 millimeter gun, he was almost 80 pounds more weight than Trayvon Martin, and it is a situation where, where you look at these parents, and you listen to those 911 tapes, and the three witnesses, everybody in America is asking when are they going to arrest Zimmerman for killing this kid in cold blood ?"