Blogged By: La Tray

Source & Story Credit: Miami Herald – TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, FRANCES ROBLES AND DANIEL CHANG

Video Credit: (YouTube cory rougeau)

Posted: Thursday April 12, 2012 @10:39 a.m. PST

Saying she believed the encounter that led to the shooting death of her 17-year-old son was “an accident,’’ Sybrina Fulton revealed on NBC’s  Today show her opinion in the case for the first time Thursday.

“I believe it was an accident,’’ Fulton said. “I believe that it just got out of control, and he couldn’t turn the clock back.’’

Fulton later clarified her statement to say she believed the encounter between her unarmed son and the neighborhood watchman who shot and killed him was an accident, not the shooting itself.

Details of the events that led up to the death of Miami Gardens teenager Trayvon Martin are still emerging Thursday after George Zimmerman, 28, was charged with second-degree murder following 45 days of protests, petitions and intense national media coverage of the case.

Zimmerman is scheduled for a bond hearing at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in Seminole County after turning himself in to police late Wednesday following the announcement of charges against him. Florida Department of Law Enforcement officials later transported Zimmerman from Jacksonville to Sanford, where he is now a protective custody inmate at the John E. Polk Correctional Facility.

Mark O’Mara, Zimmerman’s defense attorney, said his client will plead not guilty to the charge. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.

O’Mara told CNN Thursday morning that Zimmerman is fatigued from more than a month of seclusion.

“He’s stressed,’’ O’Mara said of Zimmerman. “He’s tired. He’s been through a lot with the way this case has been handled to date.’’

Trayvon’s family also has been through a lot, said Fulton, Trayvon’s mother, speaking on the  Today show Thursday.

Asked what she would say to Zimmerman if given the opportunity, Fulton said: “I would ask him, did he know that that was a minor, that that was a teenager and that he did not have a weapon.’’

Fulton added that she sympathizes with the Zimmerman family, but asked for their understanding as well.

“I understand that his family is hurting, but think about our family. We lost our teenage son,’’ she told  Today show anchor Ann Curry. “I’m sure his parents can pick up the phone and call him, but we can’t pick up the phone and call Trayvon any more.’’

Thursday’s bond hearing will be Zimmerman’s first appearance before a judge, who will explain the charges against him. The judge could order Zimmerman to be released on bail, or that he be held without bond.

O’Mara, who took the case Wednesday night after Zimmerman’s previous attorneys resigned, expressed surprise at the second-degree murder charges, and said he thought “it might be manslaughter’’ — a lesser charge.

Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder, a first-degree felony — a far more serious charge than the manslaughter arrest most experts were predicting. The decision to file the charge was made by special prosecutor Angela Corey, the Jacksonville-based state attorney for Duval, Clay and Nassau counties, who vowed to fight a self-defense claim and insisted that she did not bow to public pressure.

O’Mara said a pre-trial motion to dismiss the charges based on a claim of self-defense “could well occur, but it’s way too premature.’’