George Zimmerman charged in Trayvon Martin case: Why now, and what next?

George Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of Trayvon Martin. Florida?s Stand Your Ground law could loom large moving forward.?

Forty-five days after police in Sanford, Fla., released neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman without charges after he shot an unarmed black teenager, a special Florida prosecutor has charged him with second-degree murder.

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News that Mr. Zimmerman was in custody in Florida capped an emotional and tense three weeks that raised questions about racial injustice and sparked a fiery national debate about Florida's landmark Stand Your Ground self-defense law, which prosecutors acknowledge they may still have to contend with in the case.

Amid massive public pressure and attention from the White House and the Justice Department, special state prosecutor Angela Corey announced Wednesday that the state was charging Zimmerman, a 28-year-old former altar boy going to school to become a police officer, for his role in Trayvon Martin's death.

Saying her decision had nothing to do with public pressure, Ms. Corey said she believes prosecutors have evidence to prove that Zimmerman did not act in self-defense under the state's Stand Your Ground law. A charge of second-degree murder involves the claim that death was caused by dangerous conduct and an obvious lack of concern for human life. Florida law requires a minimum punishment of 25 years and a maximum of life in prison without parole if convicted.

?We have to have reasonable certainty of conviction any time we file charges,? said Corey. ?If Stand Your Ground is an issue, we'll fight it.?

Sanford police released Zimmerman on the night of the shooting, believing they didn't have probable cause given his self-defense claim and physical evidence ? including blood on nose and back of his head ? that he had defended himself.?

But Corey said the case ?changed course? amid a public outcry over the Sanford Police Department's assertion that there would be no arrest, and as Gov. Rick Scott appointed her three weeks ago to lead the investigation.

?The Supreme Court has defined our role as not only ministers of justice, but seekers of truth, and we stay true to that mission,? said Corey, who said she had prayed with the Martin family at their first meeting three weeks ago, though she had not promised them that any charges would be filed.

Given the tension over the case in Sanford, officials in Seminole County ? where the special prosecutor is based ?remained on high alert ahead of Wednesday's announcement. On Monday, an empty police cruiser was riddled with bullets near where Trayvon was shot. Corey said Zimmerman was being held in an undisclosed location for his safety and the safety of others.

?I trust in the goodness of all Florida citizens to allow justice system to reach appropriately conclusion in this case,? Governor Scott said.

According to Martin's family, the arrest is the first step toward closure. They have urged police to arrest Zimmerman, alleging that the outcome would have been different had a black man shot a white man. Thousands of people have marched, many of them wearing a similar hoodie to what Trayvon was wearing the night he died. More than a million people signed a petition for police to arrest Zimmerman on the Change.org website.

?We simply wanted arrest, nothing more, nothing less, and we got it, and I say thank you, thank you Lord, thank you, Jesus,? Trayvon's mother, Sybrina Fulton, said. ?Secondly, I just want to speak from my heart to your heart, because a heart has no color. It's not black, it's not white, it's red. Thank you from my heart to your heart. ?

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Delonte West Wet Willies Gordon Hayward [Video]


Delonte West is back to poking those he should not poke again, although this time the victim is Utah Jazz shooting guard Gordon Hayward, not the mother of LeBron James.

On Monday night, during his team's triple-overtime loss to the Utah Jazz, West was called for traveling... back to elementary school when he gave Hayward a Wet Willy during game action. Seriously! See for yourself:

West received a technical foul for the display, reacting afterward with sarcasm.

“We are two warriors, out here battling. I forgot the NBA is a gentleman’s game," the troubled former Saint Joseph's University star told reporters.

Hayward, meanwhile, took the reasonable road:

“I wanted to fight right there, but you can’t do that. It wouldn’t have been the smart idea. I’d risk getting a technical foul, getting suspended for the season, whatever. There’s more important things than fighting someone out on the court. The more important thing was getting the win and we were able to do that.”

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Eduardo Dantas and Alexander Gustafsson were the best of the weekend?s warriors

Eduardo Dantas leads off this week's edition of Weekend Warriors, your Monday morning look at the weekend's MMA. "Dudu" was the star of Bellator's show on Friday, choking Zach Makovsky unconscious in the second round of their title bout. With that win, Dantas became the new Bellator bantamweight champ and one of the hottest lighter weight prospects in MMA.

Marcos Galvao and Luis Nogueira both won their bantamweight semifinal tournament matches with unanimous decisions as they vie for the chance to face off with Dantas. In the featherweight tournament, an emotional Daniel Straus pummeled Mike Corey on the way to a unanimous decision win to earn a spot in the tourney final. Straus' training partner was killed in a car accident just a week ago. Staus will face Marlon Sandro for the featherweight tournament championship on May 11.

Gustafsson impresses in Sweden at UFC on Fuel 2

Alexander Gustafsson cemented his role as a top contender in the light heavyweight division with a convincing decision over Thiago Silva on Saturday. Brian Stann got back to his winning ways with a gentlemanly knockout of Alessio Sakara, and Dennis Siver got his first win at featherweight with a decision over Diego Nunes.

In his UFC debut Siyar Bahadurzada took home a $50,000 Knockout of the Night bonus for his 42-second KO of Paulo Thiago. John Maguire earned a Submission of the Night bonus for his armbar of Damarques Johnson. Brad Pickett and Damacio Page were given Fight of the Night honors for the back-and-forth battle that ended with Pickett finishing Page with a second-round rear naked choke.

Team Faber gets the edge

On "The Ultimate Fighter," Joe Proctor, a protege of UFC lightweight Joe Lauzon, helped Urijah Faber's team take the lead. Proctor took out Chris Tickle with a first-round rear naked choke. John Cofer from Team Faber will face Team Cruz's Vinc Pichel.

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Court Rules Software Not Protected By Fed Crime Laws, Overturns Conviction of Goldman Engineer

High frequency trading-thumb-225x149Before leaving Goldman Sachs to earn a millionaire?s salary with Chicago High Frequency Trading (HFT) startup Teza Technologies, Sergey Aleynikov made one last transaction. At 5:20pm on his last day, just before his going-away party, Aleynikov uploaded 500,000 lines of encrypted source code from the Wall Street firm's proprietary HFT system to a server located in Germany. Following the clandestine upload, Aleynikov deleted the encryption program, wiped his command history, and headed to the party. Although Aleynikov later managed to download the source code to his home computer in New Jersey before flying to Chicago, he was apprehended by the FBI while returning through Newark Liberty International Airport. But after his conviction at trial and imprisonment during the appeals process (his dual US-Russian citizenship presented a flight risk), Aleynikov is now a free man. The reasons why touch the entire software industry.

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Sony kicks off its ICS upgrades; Scandinavia up first

Sony Xperia Arc S

Here we go, boys and girls! Sony's kicked off its initial round of Ice Cream Sandwich updates today. First up are the Xperia Arc S, Xperia Neo V and Xperia Ray -- but only if you're in Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Finland and Norway. (Fine places to be even if you're not waiting on Ice Cream Sandwich.) The update will be pushing over the next four to six weeks.

You'll need a Mac or Windows machine to update (boooooo, lack of over-the-air upgrades!), and Sony says it'll have additional information on the next round of updates at a later time. For now, if you've got a Scandinavian Xperia -- here's the complete list of phones for this round of  updates -- hit the links below to get going.

More: ICS update instructions; source: Sony Mobile

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