>> very cute. thank you very much. that does it for me. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." join us every weekday from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. eastern right here on cnn. the news continues next on cnn. hello, everyone, i'm don lemon. welcome to a special edition of the cnn newsroom. he was just 17, his whole life ahead of him. but a gunshot ended everything in a blink. we're spending the next hour covering the story that's on so many minds right now, the killing of unarmed black teenager trayvon martin. we're bringing people together, attorney holly hughes is here for legal analysis. alex manning is an instructor who trains neighborhood watch volunteers, much like george zimmerman, the man who admits

shooting martin. george howl ell is covering the latest on the investigation in florida. thank you for joining us. so many across the country over trayvon martin's death, but at what point does the outrage tip over into vigilante justice? >> we want justice! we want justice! >> in a new twist, members of the new black panther party are offering a $10,000 bounty for the capture of martin's shooter, george zimmerman. but zimmerman is not evading police. so far they haven't charged him. a national spokesman for the panthers denies that this is a call to violence. >> george zimmerman should have followed the police instructions and stayed in his car and shouldn't have took trayvon's life. >> do you feel that you're inciting violence by doing this and that may be a possibility

from your actions? >> no, we're not. we're doing what american citizens have been doing for many years. we're doing a citizen's arrest. >> zimmerman claims he was acting in self-defense. his attorney is cautioning the public that all the facts aren't in yet. >> i hope there's a way to reign things in so it doesn't become an issue of a racial battle. i hope there can be a time for justice and for healing. >> meanwhile, police arrested a man who threatened to harm sanford police chief bill lee, the man who was leading the investigation. lee stepped down on thursday after she was criticized for his handling of the case. the public anger is palpable. in new york, the reverend al sharpton demanded justice. this case has struck a nerve nationwide for a lot of complex reasons. and it came close to being completely overlooked. here's how the trayvon martin

story unfolded. his death at first unnoticed by the national press. until outrage stirs social media, creating america's newest power to the people movement. justice for trayvon. >> what do we want? justice! >> and it's not just the people it's stirring. >> if i had a son, he would look like trayvon. >> why wouldn't anyone feel for a family who loses a child? in this case, an unarmed 17-year-old walking home at night from picking up candy from a convenience store. until this man, 28-year-old george zimmerman, a volunteer neighborhood watchman, saw trayvon, thinks the teen looks suspicious. confronts him and shoots him dead. >> this guy looks like he's on drugs or something. >> zimmerman claims self-defense. not so say the people who heard the confrontation, the screams, gunfire, silence.

>> i heard the crying of the little boy. as soon as the gun went off, the crying stopped. therefore it tells me it was not zimmerman crying. >> police take zimmerman at his word and say there's no evidence to prove him wrong. leaving trayvon martin's parents to wonder why zimmerman isn't being held accountable for the murder of their son. >> i don't understand why this man has not been arrested. at least charged and let a judge and jury decide if he's guilty. >> and if not for the internet, the martins might still feel alone in their mission for justice. an online petition to prosecution zimmerman has a million signatures so far. and black journalists give the story a national voice.

>> george zimmerman said it was his voice on the 911 tapes screams. but i'm a mother. i know the sound of my own son's cries. mrs. martin says it was trayvon screaming and begging for his life. >> soon, anger evolves into action. thousands march across the country. their outrage is heard by the florida attorney general. the fbi, and the justice department. the police chief steps aside, and the president speaks. >> if we're going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened. >> this story speaks to people in so many towns across america. we told you about the new york rally. the same in the nation's capital. many protesters wearing hoodies, which have become a symbol of this tragedy. more is scheduled in the coming days in atlanta and baltimore.

wtkr's eric leavy has more on the demonstration in norfolk, virginia. >> reporter: a tan hoody with a bag of skittles, that's what you're seeing here in norfolk, virginia. people are blasting their horns, chanting "no justice, no peace." it's all for trayvon martin. what these people, trying to get the word out that they want the person who shot trayvon martin in jail. and they're also trying to -- these are perfect strangers, but they're trying to support trayvon martin's family during this time. so we have people holding up signs, chanting "no justice, no peace," and dodging the raindrops, all to show support for trayvon martin. >> the admitted shooter of trayvon martin, george zimmerman, is not under arrest,

in part because of florida's stand your ground law. but what does that law say and does it apply in this case? we're talking with legal and law enforcement experts. and look at these women. they are the mothers of young black men, including one that you see right there, and both have given advice to their children that's far different from the parents of other races might give to their children. it's advice on how to keep from dying. we're back in two minutes. ♪

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♪ ♪ welcome back to our special edition, "killing of trayvon martin." we've been asking you to send your thoughts to cnn/twitter.

here are a few of your comments right now. today, 2012, black parents teach their kids the same lessons slavery taught, how to survive. another says, how can he say on national tv that he does not think race had anything to do with this? and erma said, my son got stopped by police for nothing several times just because he's brown. we are hispanic. we appreciate your comments and we may answer some of your questions on the air. far beyond the twitter community, people are talking about the man who shot the florida teen. police have not arrested george zimmerman, who says he acted in self-defense. hally hughes is here, as well as alex manning. thank you both very much. first, i'm going to go to you, holly, about the stand your ground law. a person can use deadly force if that person is threatened.

why doesn't this necessarily apply in this case? >> because in this case, the shooter was the initial aggressor. he pursued trayvon martin after that young man walked away. he was doing nothing but walking down a street. george zimmerman is in his car when he sees him. he stops his car, gets out and goes after trayvon. you cannot be the initial aggressor. you can't go pick a fight for the purpose of beating somebody or shooting them or killing them. so that's not what happened here. if he was being attacked and trayvon was coming after him, that would be a different story. but we know from the 911 tape, don, that's not what happened. the police told him, we don't need you to follow him. >> there are reports now from the attorney, mr. craig sooner who spoke out and said listen, this was in fact trayvon was the aggressor of my client. he was bloodied and all of that and beaten.

what do you make of those reports? >> i got to tell you, it makes my eyebrows raise, because we didn't hear those things initially. we're now hearing oh, he had a broken nose and a gash on the back of his head. head wounds are bleeders, okay? if you punch somebody hard enough to break their nose, they are gushing blood. if you have a head wound, they are gushing wound. when the police officers showed up on scene, there is a dead teenager and a man with a gun saying i shot him and then gushing blood. if he said to the police officers he attacked me, they would have called an ambulance and transported him. they don't want to let him walk off the scene because maybe they're facing a civil liability later on. >> alex, let's talk about the training that neighborhood watch people, captains have to go through here. >> okay. neighborhood watches are really set up to bridge the gap between citizens and police agencies to

let agencies know what we can do for our citizens and citizens tell the police agencies what we need from you. it's to particularize them with police procedures and things that police officers do on a day-to-day basis and when they're investigating a crime. when you set up a police academy, this particularization at the end of every day, no matter what topic you cover, the last thing you say is you are not a police officer. you do not have the powers of arrest and don't do this on your own. call us. >> which is essentially what the 911, the person on the other end of the 911 call said, are you following him? yes. we don't need you to do that. >> exactly. if you see someone driving drunk on the road, get the tag number, the description of the car, and back off. >> let the people who are licensed to do it handle it. speaking of the 911 call, this is from george zimmerman's 911 call. many people at cnn have listened to this and we've had the sound

enhanced but there's no consensus whether or not he used a racial slur. take a listen. >> i have not listened to this portion of the tape at all. i just want to hear it raw right now, if you can play ten seconds. >> which entrance is he heading towards? >> the back entrance. >> all right. did we hear it? i didn't hear it. >> i didn't hear it. but my ears are bad. >> let's do it one more time, because i think we cut it off at the end. play it one more time, please. >> i have not listened to this tape at all. i want to hear it raw, if you can play ten seconds before it. >> he's heading down towards the entrance to the neighborhood. >> okay. which entrance is it that he's heading towards? >> the back entrance.

>> okay. that was it at the very end. the sound has been enhanced, again. if you hear it, some people say he's saying f'ing coons. does that change it in any way? >> of course it does. you know why? when you have a crime, we always want to know what did the defendant do? did he shoot this person? what was the act he committed? when you attack somebody based solely on their race, religion, sexuality, that puts you in a whole different ball game, that is a hate crime. and at that point, we are asking a jury to get into the mind of the defendant, not just what did he do, but why did he do it? because it is so much more insidious. you're in a bar fight, things get bad, you punch somebody, that's one thing. but when you go out looking to

victimize someone, simply based on the color of their skin, that is a hate crime. we could see federal charges here if, in fact, the prosecutors agree that they heard the same thing you did on that tape. >> let's look at the website. this is a website of the neighborhood watch and it says, this is not vigilante police, it's a neighborhood watch. alex, what kinds of force are citizen police supposed to use before -- when apprehending someone or checking on someone, can they use a firearm? >> well, citizens, whether they're citizens police or just a citizen period, should never use lethal force unless they are in immediate danger or they're protecting someone else from immediate danger. they're not held to the same standards as a police officer. which they used to teach the use of force continuum. now they've went to different case law that came out where you look at the totality of

circumstances. but he was not a police officer. he was a regular person who was asked to keep an eye on the neighborhood. and even -- a police officer is taught to meet force with the same amount but you go to the next step. if you're hitting me, i'm going to use my baton or pepper spray. i'm not going to shoot you. but as a citizen, you need to do what it takes to get you safely away from that. he's never authorized to use it, unless he's in immediate harm to protect himself. >> all right. alex, holly, stand by. thank you very much. next, we'll go live to florida to hear directly from members of the community under the national spotlight. they are watching and listening to this discussion and they're going to weigh in in just two minutes. ok, guys-- what's next ?

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welcome back to our special coverage, "trayvon martin killing" here on cnn newsroom. the sanford, florida community is in the national spotlight. not a comfortable place to be in, in a story like this one. we wanted to give people there a chance to share their thoughts about the trayvon martin case, in their own words. and george howell is standing by with people who live and work in sanford. george, what are they saying to you? >> reporter: what happened here in sanford touched a nerve in this community. in the country and around the world. right now, we have a group of people here, just a show of hands of how many people were at the rally a few days ago. so the majority of people.

and we were talking a few minutes ago, just watching the show, talking about the issues that stood out and if you would tell me, first of all, your name again. >> joseph. >> reporter: we were talking, what stood out to you in the show as we were watching? >> i think that, again, we need to make sure that we understand that the major issue is an investigation and an arrest. i think everyone within the community feels that there's probable cause for that and we need to maintain that focus. >> reporter: but the fact that george zimmerman walls nzimmerg arrested -- >> i think that's touched off the movement and that will continue until there is an arrest. we have to be careful about declaring open season on our children. you can't do that as a society. >> reporter: thank you. there was something in the show that really stuck with you. what was it. >> ken bentley. the biggest thing was the

solidarity with everything. everybody came out to fight one thing, and that was the arrest of mr. zimmerman. and also mr. trayvon martin is the big screen name on this case, but there's been several african-american boys in this community that have been murdered and the residents feel that the police department has done nothing with the investigation. he's the major attraction on this screen tonight, but it's been four or five other african-american men in sanford that have been murdered and nobody has been arrested and nothing has been done. so people are under the impression that it's just status quo. it's a black man, a cold case and we won't talk about it next week. >> reporter: the police chief has stepped aside temporarily. just a show of hands, does that -- is that a good start, does that make sense for people? a show of hands for people that agree. >> there needs to be more. >> reporter: your thoughts? >> yeah. frankly, i'm not sure what temporary means.

i think that as we just heard the issue goes a little deeper than just a single case. the issue, you know, any time you get more than one, you're really speaking of something that can be considered a pattern, and a pattern, in order to break a pattern, you need to make some fundamental changes within the department and the community expects that. >> we also reached out to someone that would speak for george zimmerman but that person has not shown up at this point. but a lot of reaction of what happened here in sanford, don. >> can you ask george how many people think there is an issue with the police department, is there a race issue in their estimation? >> reporter: how many here in this group think there's a race issue with the sanford police department, a show of hands of people who think that is the case. thank you. clearly, the police department taking steps, the police chief has stepped aside, what happens next in the hands of the city manager at this point, as he

waits to see what happens with this federal investigation of the case. >> was that a show of hands for just about everyone there? >> reporter: indeed, it seemed to be. >> it seems to be everyone. george, thank you very much. we're going to get back to you. more with george in a little bit here on cnn. trayvon martin's death is sparking outrage among americans regardless of color or race, ethnicity. we'll talk about that with anti-racism writer and activist tim weiss. these women are moms of young black men. why they believe they need to give their sons special advice so they don't end up dying young like trayvon martin.

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zimmerman. but zimmerman isn't evading police. the national spokesman for the panthers denies that this is a call to violence. take a listen. >> all you have to have to arrest somebody is probable cause for murder. if this wasn't a case for probable cause, i don't know what case is. and if it would have been a white done like that by -- if a black youth would have shot and killed a white male, he would already have been arrested and we know this. >> once you get him into custody, as you said, what do you plan to do with him? because if police haven't arrested him, how are you going to hold him? >> when we get him, they can get him from us. at that point, they need to charge him. >> do you feel that you're inciting violence by doing this and that may be a possibility from your actions? >> no, we're doing what american citizens have been doing for many, many years. we're doing a citizen's arrest. and we're asking other people to help us do the citizen's arrest,

since chief bill lee wouldn't do it. >> we just received a statement from the sanford police department in response to the comments by the new black panther party and it says, the city of sanford does not condone the recommendations of the new black panther party and says the city of sanford recommends all apprehensions be left to those trained to accomplish that task. quickly, holly hughes, you said to that? >> if they told george zimmerman that on the 911 tape, trayvon martin would be alive today. >> thank you. trayvon martin's death is reviving some difficult, even painful questions about race in this country. let's talk about it with writer and activist tim weiss, the author of "dear white america." thank you for joining us. i would like to get your reaction to what you just heard, the comments from the new black panthers and the fact that they're getting involved in this case. >> this story is not about the

panther part any, but a white police department that has a history of not doing its job when it comes to the killing of black people in that town. this is about law enforcement's obligation to do its job. i think we all know if the shoes had been reversed and a black person trailed a white person into a neighborhood looking for them and that white person jumped on them and ended up killing them, this would have turned out quite a bit different. >> listen to what one of the witnesses to the shooting told cnn's anderson cooper. >> what was your impression of the police's attitude toward this. >> they were siding with him. >> with zimmerman? >> oh, yeah. >> what makes you say that? >> i gs just their nonchalant attitude. >> does what she say surprise you, tim? >> not at all. i've done training with law

enforcement around the country and spoken with lots of officers. i've asked them in those training, what is the first thing you think when you see a young, black male driving a nice car and they say drug dealer. i say what about a white dealer? they say spoiled little rich kid. if law enforcement has those biases, we shouldn't be surprised that they enforce the law in a differential way. >> george zimmerman's dad issued a statement saying hey, this isn't strictly a black and whitish shoe, that george zimmerman is a spanish speaking minority. just because you're a minority doesn't mean you can't be biased. does that make sense? >> it means absolutely nothing. research for 20 years now has found that large numbers of white folks and latino folks have anti-black bias. the fact that a person of color may have the same bias against

black folks or other people have means nothing. there were black slave owners. that means absolutely nothing at all. >> more with tim weiss coming up. tim, thank you very much. concerned black mothers, a group that caught our attention in the light of this trayvon martin killing. what mothers of young black males are telling their sons about how to survive in america today. it's a conversation you need to hear. this good... colors are more vibrant, words are pin sharp, everything is more brilliant. because when a screen becomes this good... it's simply you and the things you care about. the stunning retina display. on the new ipad.

back to our discussion just a moment. but first breaking news just in to cnn. former vice president dick cheney is recovering from a heart transplant according to a statement from an assistant. he has a long history of cardiovascular issue and has survived five heart attacks. he is recovering in a hospital in falls church, virginia. he's been on the transplant list for more than 20 months. neither cheney nor his family know the identity of the donor but will be forever grateful for this gift. cheney has a long resume in

washington, including vice president, defense secretary and chief of staff. stay tuned to cnn. being a mom is already a tough job. but imagine the difficult conversations black mothers are having with their sons in the wake of the death of trayvon martin. i'm joined again by tim weiss, and joining me here in studio are natalie brown and her son nicholas. what went through your head when you heard about the trayvon martin killing? >> well, i thought about my son, because after seeing the pictures on the internet of trayvon martin, i thought he was a 14-year-old child, not knowing that he was 17. my first reaction is to speak to my son and tell him things like this does happen in life and we don't know how to prevent it. but sometimes they look at the way we dress, what we do and how we walk. we want all that to stop. >> nicholas, do you understand the conversation when your

mom -- how did you handle it? and do you live it? if you happen to be in that situation, i would imagine it would be tough to follow every single thing that she said in your head. >> yeah. i mean, i listen and, you know, i just follow my mom's wishes so i don't end up with this happening to me. you know -- >> what did you think when you heard about this? >> well, at first, i thought like how could this happen to somebody, an innocent boy just walking? he didn't do nothing wrong. and being that his skin color is brown, he had to get, you know, shot, killed for no reason. >> miss west, i know that you have a son, as well. you're very passionate about this. i know that you spoke to him about it, but he also talked to you and wrote something i think that's very poignant. you want to read it. how old is your son again? >> 22. >> just read a portion of it. >> so he started out by saying,

what is justice, what is peace? can you tell me? can you? you probably could, but it's going to be a major waste of your time, because i don't believe in either anymore. then it goes on to say, there's something seriously wrong with this picture, and another thing, if you call the police and they tell you to stop following the person because there's a conclusion that he's a nonthreat, why proceed? lastly, how is it not obvious to you that he was the one that felt he was in danger because of your suspicion? man, i don't know how i really should think, but i know one thing, if this was my brother, cousin, nephew or son, mr. zimmerman couldn't have made it to that prison or courthouse. but of course, that would have caused more problems. so if earthly justice won't prevail, it's in god's hands. truthfully, it really is. i'm done. >> there are a lot of shaking heads on the set right now. what does that do to you as a

mom? and to have to have these conversations? >> it just totally rips my heart out, because we started these conversations, my husband and i, with our son at an early age. and not to the point of just being blatant, we kind of skirted around it by building him up, by speaking words of wisdom, like you are somebody, you're going to be the best. you're going to be great without calling the race card or going to that place. we wanted our son to grow up in a place where he would know that he's somebody. and he's special. but as he grew older, we had to go into that place, like you know what? you're different. just check it out, son. avoid confrontations. don't reach quickly into your glove compartment if you get stopped for a speeding ticket. >> yes, ma'am, yes, sir. my parents had the talk with me, because my family did fairly

well, and it was, where did you get that fancy car, boy? where are you drive thing car? sometimes i would have to leave the car and walk home until they figured out what happened. we're going to go to a break, but you were shaking your head, as well. what does this do to you? >> it hurts my heart. because as a parent, you don't want anything to ever happen to your children. you don't want any of this. growing up, i have an interracial family, so we didn't have to play the race card. >> thank you. more with reaction from our panel after the break. don't go away.

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or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a 30-tablet free trial. trayvon martin, the conversation continues here, the killing of trayvon martin, a conversation many are saying was needed throughout all of america. why is it happening in america now? i'm bringing back anti-racism writer tim weiss and natalie brown and her son nicholas are here with mom, deetta along with

alex manning and holly hughes. but first, here's cnn's george howell in florida. >> reporter: we were just talking about this case. we were watching the show and tell me, again, what did you want to talk about? >> that i am a mother of -- i am a trayvon martin mother. i represent all the women and mothers of trayvon. my son was taken away, he was murdered and the sanford p.d. have not done anything to resolve this matter. it was november 3, and we need justice. all the mothers of a trayvon in sanford, florida, we need justice. we need some kind of closure and we're not getting that. in order for us to bond and combine as a community, we need justice for all this. >> and basically giving this open mike tonight to people, that's what we heard, people saying there's been a long history of disconnect between the community and the police

department. and at this point, do you feel like it's moving toward a resolution, a solution? >> no. >> reporter: the resounding opinion here, don. >> george, thank you very much. thank that mom and the entire -- our entire group there. we'll get back to george in a little bit and you're hear more from sanford, florida. we want to talk more now with our panel. this could, if you hear that mom and, again, that's the allegations, those are the claims from the people who are there, and usually when there's smoke, there's fire. this could open up a hornet's nest around the country. >> maybe it should, don. they're saying, our police department is not protecting us. we live here too, but our sons are being murdered in the street and nothing is being done. so if these allegations and these concerns they're raising are true, i hope some real

important people get stung. >> i'm trying to hold back. >> why? go ahead. >> it's very painful, because you feel like our young, black men are being set up to be target practise. i'm sorry, i said to myself i wasn't going to go there, but as i think about these amazing, young -- and i'm eve dealing with the senior men, the older men. i'm nervous when my husband says he's going for a walk in our neighborhood. he has to put his hoody on when it's cold outside. my son comes home from spring break, and he says, mom, i'm going to take a walk. i don't want to say to him, don't go for a walk. but i know he needs to, because he's a little overweight and i just say that. he may hate the fact that i'm

saying it, but he needs to get that exercise. but here's my son walking through the neighborhood. i'm fearing that somebody is looking out their window and we live in a -- somewhat of a gated subdivision. i'm sorry, i just -- >> there's no need to apologize. it's a very real and painful reality for -- i'm speaking as an african-american. i'm not a hispanic or any other person of color. it's not only painful for the black man but our mothers and women in our lives who worry about us, who have to have these conversations with us. and there is a big segment of the population who don't believe that it exists at all. i think "the new york times" put it in great perspective. growing up, you have to weigh the tone in your voice. it's a little higher when you talk to people, the way you carry your body. it's something that you

unconsciously live with and it can rise and make you angry and make you blow up at times and make you change the way you live. you stopped wearing hoodies. why, nicholas? >> because of the situation. i don't want to end up like that or be labeled as someone i'm not for wearing a hoody and walking outside at night or just coming home from school, going to take a job with my friends. >> you're wearing a backwards cap and some people may see that as suspicious. it's fashion. i see white kids do it, i see all kids wearing their hats backwards and wearing hoody. do you think that has the same connotation with your hat being backwards? >> not really. >> mom, ever thought about that? >> well, yeah, it does have -- you're still going to be looked at, no matter how you dress or present yourself. it's still going to be a

problem. and i feel that every kid in the united states, everyone does it. >> are you okay? >> i'm okay. i was just thinking about a friend of mine, she has a 16-year-old son. she was telling me a story about the fact that her husband, whose name happens to be trayvon, they were going for a walk. this was a couple of weeks before trayvon was shot. was killed. she said as they were leaving the house in the morning, they put on their hoodies to go out and she stopped him and said, guys, take your hoods off. this is a student, he's 16 years old, about to go to drexler university. now he's questioning where are the laws to stand your ground? >> stand by. thank you. thank you all for sharing, for being so open. next, we'll go back to sanford, florida, for more live community reaction. r...

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we're giving people in the sanford, florida community a chance to talk about the trayvon

martin case in their own words. george howe standing by. george? >> well, one thing, zimmerman's attorney has stated that this was not racially motivated. but many people here, we talked to them, maybe have a different opinion on that. i wanted to talk to you specifically about what you were telling us a minute ago as far as george zimmerman and the sanford police department. your thoughts on -- >> the sanford police department initial investigation was ridiculous. here's a man standing with a weapon in his hand and they take his word that he's never been arrested. then they do not do a background check on mr. zimmerman. how is that possible when they stop me at a traffic light and do a background investigation on me? if sanford police had done what they were supposed to do initially, we would not be here tonight because mr. zimmerman would have been arrested. >> the thing that struck me that you said a minute ago was that zimmerman, not as much the

problem to you as the sanford police department? >> because i understand where mr. zimmerman comes from. i can recognize mr. zimmermans all over. but the sanford police department is supposed to be equal to all. not favor anyone. how do you take this man's word that he's never been arrested and he's standing over a dead body with a weapon in his hand? if that's standard policy and procedure for sanford, we need a new police department. that's ridiculous. >> so a lot of opinions out here at this point. people not really satisfied with what's happening with the sanford police department, don. >> thank you very much, george. thanks everybody there as well. alex manning, let's get solutions. what should -- what should have been done? how should police have handled this? >> there should have been a complete investigation, don. right now my sister and i grew up learning this. baby, you can't unscramble eggs. there's scramble eggs down there. right now they need to make themselves an omelet. the d.a. needs to get involved.

do the right thing. go back. recreate the crime scene. find probable cause. decide what that is. the police don't decide if he's guilty or not guilty. just probable cause. you can't unscramble the eggs here. they've got to make the omelet. so everybody chip in. florida department of law enforcement, the d.a.'s office, the federal government. fix this. >> that's the crux behind all of this. police don't get to decide. that's what everyone is saying. there should be -- there's a procedure and then someone else decides whether or not this man should be prosecuted. >> exactly. i don't care about his self-defense claim. he committed a crime. there was probable cause. he should have been arrested. the jury decides whether he's guilty or not guilty. >> thank you very much. i want to thank everyone. to holly hughes, alex manning, our moms, dieta, natalie, and son nicholas and of course the people down in sanford, florida who turned out to take part in this discussion. and tim wise as well. don't forget about tim. tim, thank you. we appreciate you joining us. wish we had more time. always a good discussion. by the way, tim, #cnn trayvon

and tim trending on twitter. the conversation continuing. we'll be right back.

got to get some politics in here because the polls close in

just over an hour in louisiana in the presidential primary there. rick santorum expected to do very well. tom foreman is standing by in washington, d.c. for us, and he'll be our guide tonight as the results start coming in. hi, tom. got any clues about what we can expect? >> well, we know it's important down there, d don, and it's an oldie but a goodie. our exit polls show 53% of the people say the economy is much more important than abortion or illegal immigration. louisiana has about a 6% unemployment rate. they're doing better than the rest of the country. why is it so important there? well, because it's also one of the poorest nations in the country. let's look over here and get an idea of what we see in terms of the distribution of people with wealth in the state. all the dark green areas here show the places with the higher median income. light green means that they have a different, lower level of median income. if we box these in, so far in this election mitt romney has tended to do better with

higher-income, higher education voters. rick santorum has tended to do better with people who are of lower income, perhaps lower education. so what do we see in this? it would look like rick santorum had an advantage. but look at this. when you break it up by population centers, big population centers in romney territory. we'll have to see how that shakes out when the votes are all counted tonight. don? >> and we will be watching. tom foreman standing by. thank you, tom. live cutins with results from louisiana. the primary there beginning at 9:00 eastern right here on cnn. and before we go, more on our breaking news that we just reported minutes ago. former vice president dick cheney recovering from a heart transplant, this according to a statement from an assistant. cheney has a long history of cardiovascular issues and has survived five heart attacks. cheney's recovering in the intensive care unit of a hospital in falls church, virginia. his assistant says he has been on the cardiac transplant list for more than 20 months now. neither cheney nor his family know the identity of the donor but say they will be forever