on." so chin up, love, and never stop vacationing. book during the great getaway for great rates at our ten top hotel brands. travel is calling you to hiltongreatgetaways.com. you're watching "ac360." tonight zimmerman is a free man, as the judge put it. he has no further business with the court, but zimmerman's battle may not be over. the naacp is calling for federal civil rights charges to be filed. there's always the possibility of a civil case against him. across the nation demonstrators are saying there was to justice for trayvon martin. as president obama said in a statement today, we are a nation of laws and a jury has spoken. the president's calling for calm

reflection in the wake of the verdict. mark savage is joining us from florida. you were there yesterday. talk about how it all played out. >> right. we were gathered in the courthouse in the waiting room where the media has to wait. there was kind of a flurry of activity. we thought that it was that the jury was going to call it a night. instead, it was a verdict. we raced upstairs, barely all of us got through the metal detectors and got in our seats before we heard this, the verdict. >> in the circuit court of the 18th judicial circuit in and for seminole county, florida, state of florida versus george zimmerman, verdict, we the jury find george zimmerman not guilty. so say we all, foreperson. >> it was interesting that he didn't have -- sorry, mark. i was just saying is he had absolutely no reaction in that moment. >> right, yeah. when you looked at his face, i wasn't even sure he had heard it quite clearly.

it was flat. there was no reaction. his wife, shelley, was there. she began crying quietly. we looked over and it was noticeably obvious that trayvon martin's parents, who had been there throughout, tracy martin and sybrina fulton, were not there. >> yeah, and i talked to darrell parks, the attorney for the martin family. he said that was a predetermined thing, that they decided in advance they wouldn't be there for that. they did make statements on twitter. >> right. they have. they've spoken out, essentially. i'm paraphrasing very quickly here, but what they said was their faith -- or their hearts were broken but their faith has not been broken. they reiterated something they have maintained throughout. that is they asked for public calm. it was their legal team that sort of did the speaking for them. here's what they said afterwards. >> first and foremost, on behalf of tracy martin and sybrina fulton, who are just heartbroken, really, right now,

we ask that you keep them in your prayers. >> george zimmerman has been silent, but it was mark o'mara, his lawyer, that spoke out. >> obviously, we are ecstatic with the results. george zimmerman was never guilty of anything, except protecting himself in self-defense. i'm glad that the jury saw it that way. >> and certainly this is not -- this is really not the end for george zimmerman, as we've been talking about on this panel the last hour. there could be other charges against zimmerman. >> that's absolutely right, yeah. there has been a request by the naacp that there be an investigation into the possibility of the civil rights violations of breaking of civil rights, trayvon martin's civil rights as a result of george zimmerman's actions. department of justice says they have been investigating, will continue to look at that, and they want to make sure that people were aware their

investigation began before the naacp has asked. so that is ongoing. meanwhile, the president of the united states, he has -- president barack obama has weighed in. remember, the president spoke just weeks after this incident. latest statement coming from the president goes like this. he says that the death of trf was a tragedy, not just for his family or for any one community but for america. i now ask every american to respect the call for calm reflection from two parents who lost their young son. the president of the united states. >> all right, martin. thanks very much. with me once again are our panelists. i want to talk about what everyone on the panel thinks was the most pivotal moment in this trial. everyone has different moments. this is jeff toobin's moment. let's listen in. >> what i don't think you should

do is fill in any gaps at all, connect any dots for him either, for any fact, for any witness. if the decision was made by the state not to present additional evidence to you, do not presume. do not assume and do not give anybody the benefit of any doubt except for george zimmerman. >> jeff, why do you think that was so critical? >> well, that and surrounding comments. basically, he was saying the defense never told -- the prosecution never told you what happened. and i think that really was the fundamental problem here. there was not a clear picture from the prosecution of who started this altercation, how it unfolded, who was on top. they changed -- maybe it's because they didn't have the evidence. i thought in that section of the summation, o'mara really laid out for the jury that you just don't know enough here to say that george zimmerman was guilty of any crime. >> denny, i want to play the moment you thought was most pivotal.

we have that. >> is there anything else in this case where you got the insight he might be a pathological liar? >> no. >> as a matter of fact, everything he had told you to date had been corroborated by other evidence you were already aware of in the investigation that he was unaware of. >> correct. >> okay. so for you to take pathological liar off the table as a possibility just for the purpose of this next question, you think he was telling the truth? >> yes. >> that was chris serino, lead investigator on the case. this is just one of several witnesses for the prosecution that actually ended up helping the defense. >> this is the turning point for me, and i'll tell you why. this is an investigator. he's a seasoned witness. being used to cross-examining police officers, they're normally doing everything they can to oppose your cross-examination. that clip we just saw, moments before the question had been about that investigator asking george zimmerman or telling him,

lying to him using a really good investigative technique that the supreme court has said is okay. you can lie to a suspect to try and get information out of them to get them to admit things. he said trayvon martin may have recorded the incident on a cell phone. george zimmerman's response, oh, thank god. thank god somebody -- i was hoping it would be videotaped. then the investigator says in response, in my experience, someone who sticks to their story after being told there's a vid videotape is either a pathological liar or they're telling the truth. that, for me, was the turning point. having seen investigators, police investigation for as long as i have, which isn't as long as the other panelists, but i will say i know that if they believe -- they're paid to be suspicious when there's nothing to be suspicious about. if they believe there's nothing to be suspicious about, that's a lot. that means a lot to me. >> jeff, as a prosecutor you were saying -- >> i've never seen a cop do that. i've never seen a cop go to bat for a defendant in the case in

which he's testifying like that. >> it almost seemed like a hijack. it almost seemed like a payback move. >> there was some internal politics going on there where this cop was pissed at these prosecutors. he could have answered those questions in a much more neutral way, but he answered them in a way that was designed to help the defense as much as possible. >> and to harm the prosecution. >> absolutely. >> sunny, you were impressed by the prosecutor throughout the trial. >> yes, i was. >> i want to play your pivotal moment. >> isn't that every child's worst nightmare? to be followed on the way home in the dark by a stranger. isn't that every child's worst fear? that was trayvon martin's last emotion. >> so you're sort of the lone voice praising these

prosecutors. why did that impress you? why did he impress you? >> if i had that case in any of the jurisdictions i'm admitted in, like d.c., i would have gotten a conviction in front of a jury with the same evidence. i think they put on a terrific case. i think that particular part of his closing was so powerful because it took the focus away from self-defense, away from george zimmerman, and it put it squarely on trayvon martin, the victim, where it should have been. and the prosecution's theory was, you can't look at this chain of events just starting at a confrontation. you've got to look at all of the events, and you've got to look at where it started. it started with a young boy being followed in the dark in the rain by a man who suspected him of doing no good when he was lawfully there. and i thought that the women on the jury, especially the mothers, that that would have resonated with them because it certainly resonated with a lot of the folks that were in the courtroom watching it. >> i know mark garagos is chomping at the bit to insult

this prosecutor. >> yes, mark. >> i'm not here to insult the prosecutor. i'm trying to tell you that mcdreamy became mcbrilliant. then he became mcloser. the problem with this guy -- and i was talking with a prosecutor an hour ago who had the same observation i did. these guys reminded me of baby public defenders who watch "law & order" and think that's how you're supposed to try a case. >> not at all. >> this was ridiculous. these prosecutors were so out of their league. >> that is not fair, mark. >> they were so over the top. you can say whatever you want. you're the one who said -- do you remember your quote, sunny? he had them at hello. >> he did. you know what? we haven't heard from this jury yet. we don't know what their verdict is. >> well, we have heard from them. >> oh, did we hear from them? >> we heard from them yesterday, sunny. it was not guilty. >> we haven't heard their reasoning yet. >> you're never going to get

into their reasoning. >> did they believe george zimmerman? did they believe he acted in self-defense? did they believe there wasn't enough evidence? >> let me tell you what they're going to say. >> mark, tell us what they're going to say. >> let me just tell you what they're going to say since you've been 100% wrong at every juncture of this case, sunsunny. what jurors will tell you is anything you want to hear when they come out afterwards. the only two words that matter, sunny, were not guilty. >> what are they going to say, though? >> i don't know how else to tell you that. they're going to say that the prosecution did the best with what they had, but they didn't have the case beyond a reasonable doubt and that self-defense, by the way, covers both second-degree and it covers the manslaughter. >> we'll see. >> unlike everybody who was -- well -- we see all the time. we said save the tape for two weeks. you've been wrong every minute. >> mark, you say the most significant moment was when both sides brought out the now-famous dummy. why was that so significant? >> yeah, just in response to

sunny, though, mcplease. you know, the fact of the matter is that this was a -- >> i think all of you are so jealous and -- >> let him talk. >> please, please. what it did was simply talk to emotion. it didn't speak to evidence. it didn't speak to facts. my most important moment was really a surrender by the prosecution right along the lines you're talking about. when, in fact, the prosecutor mounted the dummy, not that particular act, but the subtleties of what it represented. it was a surrender from their entire opening argument to their first round of witnesses that it was, in fact, trayvon martin who they were claiming was on the bottom being pummelled by george zimmerman. you never saw that hypothetical situation displayed when they had the actual dummies there. they surrendered it. the only time they showed what was going on is when, in fact, they had the george zimmerman

being pummelled by the prosecutor representing trayvon martin. they surrendered it at that moment. that shows why they should have never -- because they knew from the start, they knew well over a year ago that trayvon martin was on top, george zimmerman was on the bottom, and they tried to trick the jury. they tried to trick the public, in my opinion, as to what, in fact, existed. all you got to do is look at the forensics. all you have to do is talk to -- >> to mark's point, i don't understand why in their opening statements they would say that george zimmerman was on top and trayvon martin was on the bottom if they knew this other evidence was out there and was going to come out and the grass stains and all of that and switch halfway through and say, maybe he was on top and pulling away. >> i didn't see it as a switch, first of all. there were several witnesses that testified that they believed it was george zimmerman on top. there was evidence to support their opening statement. >> by the end, they didn't talk about that. he was mounting that thing on the top.

>> they were giving alternatives. prosecutors do that all the time. they say, okay, well, what about this? is it possible mr. expert witness he could have been moving away? is that possible? >> i went to law school of law and order. i have no legal basis. >> can i respond to that? >> of course. >> yes, mark garagos. >> the prosecutors give alternatives that suggest a not guilty? is that what you're telling me? most of the prosecutions i'm involved ed in, the prosecutors don't demonstrate what a not guilty verdict would be. that's what they did, sunny. >> let's take a break. our panel will be back. a lot of memorable moments in this trial. there was one key witness who may have tipped the scales for the jury. we'll get the panel's take on that. plus, looking at the evidence from the trial as part of the civil rights investigation. the question is, will george zimmerman face civil rights charges? that's coming up.

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welcome back to this "ac360" special report. the verdict came after a 14-day trial packed with a lot of testimony, memorable testimony. the jurors have chosen not to

speak publicly, at least not yet. we're going to ask our panel who they think were the most influential witnesses. you pointed to this neighbor, jeff, john good. why did you think he was so influential? >> because he was certainly a witness with no ax to grind. he suggested very clearly that it was trayvon martin who was on top of george zimmerman. and i think if the jury believed that, it was very hard to refute a self-defense defense at that point. >> was he -- he wasn't one of these rogue witnesses the prosecution had trouble with. >> no. it seemed clear that he was repeating a story he had said before, which just underlines the point you were making earlier, which was why did the prosecution embrace the theory that zimmerman was on top when they knew they were calling witnesses that would say the opposite? >> danny, you also picked john good as a key witness. >> absolutely. even though i had moments with the lead investigator, john good is a witness overall.

look at the stark contrast between john good and just before him was rachel jeantel, a witness who was at times difficult to understand. i think she got into it with the defense counsel. then you have john good. he shows up in a tie. he speaks very clearly. he clearly has no ax to grind. he's not fighting with any attorneys. i thought he was very credible. he did not have a dog in the fight. to me, that was another turning point in the case, when john good, the prosecution's own witness, he's not arguing. he's not adverse to it the prosecution. he's there to tell the truth. his truth fit the theory of the defense. >> sunny, you picked probably the most controversial witness, rachel jeantel. >> i did. you know, i thought all along that if the jury believed rachel jeantel, because she was the last person to speak to trayvon martin. and if they believed her testimony, which was trayvon martin was running from him, all of the sudden george zimmerman was behind him, trayvon martin said, why are you following me?

and his response was something along the lines of what are you doing around here. then she hears a thump and hears trayvon saying is get off, get off. if they believed that, then george zimmerman is the initial aggressor. if they disbelieve it, if they disregard her testimony because they don't think she's dressed appropriately or doesn't understand cursive, then the prosecution is in trouble. >> hold on. that was a shot across my bow. i'm going to respond to it. >> hold on. one thing that was very striking about o'mara's summation was putting aside rachel jeantel's demeanor. the 911 tapes, the times, that's where the four minutes comes in that trayvon and rachel jeantel are off the phone. it's four full minutes until the shot takes place. what goes on in that four minutes? why doesn't trayvon leave if he's not initiating the conflict? >> but in rebuttal, jeff, the prosecution made the point that it wasn't really four minutes. there was an overlap of two

minutes. when the call dropped, there was two minutes between that call dropping and the shot. >> why should -- what should trayvon martin have done? his argument was, should he have run home? >> why do you have to run home? >> why does somebody walking have to run because somebody -- >> i'm not suggesting he has to run, but there is a -- he can just simply not engage. remember, it's zimmerman's testimony that he gets out of the car and trayvon martin assaults him. now, that may be untrue, but that's what the jury heard. >> charles' comment was, okay, then trayvon martin ignores him, goes into this house, and then george zimmerman thinks here's a guy breaking into a house. >> what was george zimmerman doing for four minutes? his car was 100 feet away. did it take george zimmerman four minutes to get back to his car? >> mark, you picked detective serino as critical. >> yeah, and can i tell you why?

>> yeah. >> in 30 years of practice, i have never seen a detective so embrace a defendant in his own trial in my life. i probably will go to my grave and never see it again. that is the most astonishing situation that you will see. i mean, when have you ever had the lead detective basically act as a character witness for the defendant, and when will you see the prosecutors sit on their hands and not object when you say do you think he was telling the truth? >> do you think the prosecutors were surprised by what he said? >> they could not have been surprised. what happens in florida, which doesn't happen in a lot of other jurisdictions, is in a criminal case similar to what you have in a civil case, you get depositions of the witnesses. remember when don west was complaining, we've been spending the weekend doing depositions. they get to put that witness under oath, ask them any question they want without anybody there to interfere with

them. so they know what's coming. if they didn't know that was coming, shame on them. if they did know that was coming, shame on them. >> well, they had to. i remember sitting there watching the testimony where, you know, here you have a defense attorney asking the lead investigator, well, don't you think he was telling the truth? they had to have a deposition where he'd said yes. you would never ask that question just randomly of a lead investigator unless you already had him under oath saying exactly that. >> we're on unusual ground here. the vast majority of defense attorne attorneys, the idea of having a deposition before trial is unheard of. >> criminal trials. >> the idea when you get to trial you've already had the opportunity to ask each of those questions, jeff is absolutely right. there must have been some indication that he believed, that he found zimmerman truthful. in florida, they go to trial armed with all kind of information. >> in other states they don't have the depositions? >> no, not at all. >> but there was a lot of sabotage going on there. there must have been something going on. >> we got to take another quick

break. just ahead, george zimmerman could still be charged with violating trayvon martin's civil rights. it's not an easy lawsuit to file against him. we'll explain why and ask our panel about the chances of whether it may or may not happen. they say, "well, if you wanted a firm bed you can lie on one of those. we provide the exact individualization that your body needs. oh, yeah! once you experience it, there's no going back. don't miss the final days of our summer closeout, for the biggest savings on all sleep number memory foam and iseries bed sets. only at the sleep number store, where queen mattresses start at just $699. sleep number. comfort individualized. to take a centrum silver multivitamin every day. i told him, sure. can't hurt, right? and now today, i see this in the news. once again, centrum silver was chosen by researchers for another landmark study. this time looking at eye health. my doctor! he knows his stuff.

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throughout the day and throughout the country, there have been some rallies and marches, protests against the verdict. you're looking at video from earlier today here in new york. protesters walking from union scare. i understand they're around times square now, holding pictures of trayvon martin, holding signs that say, for example, racism kills. despite his acquittal, george zimmerman is not out of the woods legally.

the head of the naacp say it's imperative they file a civil rights lawsuit against him. >> we're calling on them to do just that. when you look at his comments and look at comments made by young black men who lived in that neighborhood about how they felt especially targeted by him, there's reason to be concerned that race was a factor in why he targeted young trayvon. >> obviously, there are a lot of americans who agree with ben jealous. a lot who do not. either way, a civil rights lawsuit is a possibility. as randy kay explains, a lot of hurdles are in the way. >> the justice department had opened an investigation into trayvon martin's death last year, but they allowed florida's criminal case to proceed. once again, the pressure is on justice. as attorney general eric holder said last year, the bar is high. >> for a federal hate crime, we have to prove the highest standard in the law, something that was reckless, that was negligent, does not meet that

standard. we have to show there was specific intent to do the crime with the requisite state of mind. >> neither prosecutors or the defense made race the central issue in the state's case against george zimmerman. but civil rights leaders call the killing of trayvon martin a hate crime. they say zimmerman racially profiled martin, something zimmerman and his family have denied. >> you look at a jury without a black and without a man on it, if it was a jury of trayvon's peers, the department of jus dismust intervene and take this case to another level. >> we the jury find george zimmerman not guilty. >> in response to the verdict and calls for action, the justice department released this statement. it reads in part that the department of justice will continue to evaluate the evidence generated during the federal investigation as well as the evidence and testimony from the state trial. federal prosecutors will then determine if trayvon martin's civil rights were violated and if federal prosecution of george zimmerman is appropriate. if zimmerman is charged with

violating trayvon martin's civil rights, it won't be the first time a failed criminal case gave way to a federal civil rights case. remember rodney king? after the four los angeles police officers caught beating him on camera were acquitted, the case moved to federal court, where two of the officers were found guilty of violating king's civil rights. they were each sentenced to 30 months in prison. it was a similar story in new orleans after a handful of officers were cleared in a shooting on the danziger bridge in the aftermath of katrina in 2005, the officers opened fire on a family, killing a 17-year-old. when local prosecutors couldn't deliver a conviction, the civil rights division of the u.s. department of jus its atice and fbi began an investigation. in 2011, a jury in new orleans federal court convicted five police officers on charges related to covering up the investigation and deprivation of civil rights. still, regardless of the outcome of those two high-profile cases,

george zimmerman's attorney continues to insist this case was never about race. >> my fear is that now that they've connected that conversation to his conviction, that his acquittal is going to be seen as a negative for civil rights. absolutely untrue. >> maybe so, but that it seems is now for the united states department of justice to decide. randy kay, cnn, atlanta. >> let's talk this over with our panel back with us. i want to talk about president obama in all this. martin savage played some of his statement from earlier today, read it out. president obama had weighed in on this case a long time ago. i want to play that, what he said in the past. >> if i had a son, he'd look like trayvon. and, you know, i think they are right to expect that all of us as americans are going to take

this with the seriousness it deserves and we're going to get to the bottom of what happened. >> obviously, are politics involved in whether the justice department decides to go for civil rights charges? >> the very fact that they are conducting an investigation is in part a reflection of the politics of the situation. speaking of politics, i thought one aspect of president obama's statement today, which martin didn't mention earlier, was he said this should cause reflection about the use of gun violence. now, why did george zimmerman have a gun at all? why did he use a gun? if he had simply been a community auxillary -- you know t a , all he needed was a phone to call the police. we have a culture now where people think guns make you more safe. that, i think, at least is

called into question by this whole situation. >> does the idea that now george zimmerman gets his gun back, does that bother anybody? >> it bothers me. it's remarkable that they're behaving in such a cavalier manner. you know, they're saying things like his representation, they're saying is things like he needs it now more than ever because people are going to take the law into their own hands, when, in fact, that's what he's been accused of doing. i think it's remarkable that he's made all of these statements that just show a complete disconnect with what most americans are feeling about this. >> he was acquitted. look, he was acquitted of any crime. >> that's right, but it shows -- i think it shows just a complete disconnect with the sensitivity of this case. >> he was also told by a former police officer, his best friend, that he should get a gun. that's what came out during the testimony. >> this is how -- guns have -- i mean, the culture of guns have changed so dramatically. 1968 when robert f. kennedy and martin luther king were assassinated, the first thing that happened was the gun control act of 1968.

guns were perceived as dangerous. now when we have these mass shootings, the reaction of a lot of people is we need to have more guns. we need to have guns in school. virginia tech, the students should have had guns. that is a change in the mindset of many people in this country that, you know, it's not for me to say it's wrong, but it's just dramatically different from how it used to be. >> let's the possibility of a civil lawsuit. how likely is that? how easy is that? >> easy is one thing. anyone can sue anyone at any time for anything. whether it survives is another thing. he's been acquitted, so there's a whole host of evidence that will then -- and remember, the standard in a criminal case is higher. we saw this with o.j. the standard is beyond a reasonable doubt. that's significantly higher than a civil case, which is simply a preponderance of the evidence, commonly thought of as 51%. the o.j. case was a perfect example of a person acquitted using the reasonable doubt standard. once they found themselves in front of a civil jury, he was found -- he was not found guilty in the civil context.

we find people liable. >> mark, you're making the case in terms of money, there might not be anything there for the family to collect from george zimmerman. >> right. somebody actually just tweeted something, which made some sense. well, what if he has a future book deal or something like that? wouldn't you want the judgment? that's definitely something -- >> mark, you and i are book authors. anderson's a book author. there's not a big pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for george zimmerman. >> i need to write a book. >> you're a lot more interesting than george zimmerman. >> i'm putting together a pamphlet so we can plug it here. >> you know what i think we haven't considered? the fact of possible stand your ground immunity from civil suit in florida. we know that's part of florida law, and he has been found not guilty in a criminal case. i wonder if that will apply eventually if the family decides to -- >> also, just being crude about this, knowing there is so little

money out there, what lawyer is going to take -- it would be enormously expensive to sue, to bri bring a civil case. >> there will be some lawyer who would take -- trust me. there are lawyers who would take that case. i mean, i'll give you examples in the last week of lawyers who have sued clients of mine on ridiculous cases. >> mark, you may have heard about this. some lawyers are interested in publicity. i know you're unfamiliar with this concept. i know some people -- >> i learned -- >> all right. listen, i want to thank or panel. coming up, zimmerman's defense attorney mark o'mara says he's somewhat surprised by the outrage over the verdict. we'll hear from him ahead. we'll also hear from trayvon martin's family attorney. we'll be right back.

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...and we inspected his brakes for free. -free is good. -free is very good. [ male announcer ] now get 50% off brake pads and shoes at meineke. shortly after the verdict last night, george zimmerman's brother robert told piers morgan they're not celebrating because they'll always be concerned about safety. then piers asked him about whether george zimmerman will still carry a gun. listen. >> he was handed back his gun as port of the process of being released. will he keep it? >> i don't vp confirmation from him. i don't see any reason why he shouldn't. >> you think he'd be -- >> i think he has more reason now than ever to think that people are trying to kill him because they express they're trying to kill him all the time every day on my twitter feed, on

the internet. someone was just arrested today in florida for saying they were going to, you know, go on some sheeting spree if george zimmerman got freed. >> zimmerman's attorney mark o'mara said zimmerman will have to be very careful about his safety because people won't listen to the not guilty verdict. chris cuomo spoke with mark o'mara earlier today. >> let's begun with what is all around us, the reaction. a lot of it outrage to the not guilty verdict. are you surprised by that part of the reaction? >> i'm a bit surprised that there is outrage because we had hoped that everybody would look at this case as being a very fair trial where both parties were represented well, where i think most, if not all of the evidence, came out. the jury took their time, deliberated, and came out with a fair and just verdict. we've all agreed that we should listen to a fair and just verdict. so i hope those people, even though they're frustrated, will accept the verdict. >> address the basic concern, which is your client, george zimmerman, wound up killing trayvon martin, and yet there is

no legal responsibility, and people can't understand it. what are they missing? >> well, what they're missing is that george had an absolute right to be where he was. he also had a right to see where trayvon martin was. people want to say that it was improper profiling. the reality is, with the circumstances that night and circumstances unrelated to trayvon martin, i think george had a reason to be concerned. when they met, it was trayvon martin who was the aggressor, at least by the forensic evidence, because trayvon martin did not receive any injuries but the gunshot wound 45 seconds after george zimmerman was screaming for help. >> perhaps many people don't equate what happens to you when you get beat up with the proper justification for taking someone's life. >> and that's a frustration that people have, and i share it with them. in this case, they had to look inside george zimmerman's head as he was on the ground with somebody unknown on top of him, doing basically whatever they were doing to him and him not returning any blows.

>> does george zimmerman regret having to take trayvon martin's life, having to kill him that night? >> absolutely. absolutely. he's human. he did not want to take any person's life. >> thank you for taking the time to do this interview. i'm sure you share the hopes of all that we find a way to move forward after this verdict and that any wounds can be healed in time. >> absolutely. we still have a lot of conversations -- i have, and we have a lot of conversations to have. i've been an advocate for the fact that black youth in america are not treated well by the criminal justice system, and we need to have that conversation. my fear is that we've polarized the conversation because we attached it to a self-defense verdict that they have nothing to do with. >> sitting in the courtroom listening to all the testimony was difficult for trayvon martin's family. his parents were there for most of the trial. they each testified and left the courtroom when photos it of trayvon martin's dead body were

shown to the jury. his parents were not in the courtroom for the verdict. their family attorney darrell parks was. i spoke to him earlier tonight. >> i want to ask you about the martin family. how are they holding up? >> anderson, you know, obviously they were devastated last evening. as the day's progressed, they've gathered themselves together and really had a chance to think about moving forward and trayvon's legacy and trying to turn a situation into a positive. so we are encouraged by them and their fortitude to make sure that they, one, tell people to remain calm, but also now to build on trayvon's name and what his name will mean in american history. >> i know you were in the courtroom when the verdict was read. trayvon's parents weren't there. a lot of people were maybe surprised by that since they'd been in the court every day. do you know why they decided they didn't want to be there at that moment? >> based on our advice, number one. we already had decided that they probably shouldn't be in the courtroom. anderson, this is a very tough

issue for them. for them to have been through all of this for the last four weeks, we decided it was better to go ahead and allow them to head home to miami since it was so late in the evening so they could attend church in miami. so they were on their way home, and we informed them of the verdict and they were devastated. you know, sometimes these types of situations have a lot of emotion tied to it. so we believed, as their counsel, that it was probably best they note in there. >> the case obviously has sparked national dialogue about race, really from the beginning of this. zimmerman's attorney mark o'mara said something last night after the verdict was read. i want to the play that for our viewers and have you react to it. >> i think that things would have been different if george zimmerman was black for this reason. he never would have been charged with a crime. >> what did you think when you heard that? >> well, i don't accept that. maybe me and mr. o'mara philosophically are different on that issue.

i think he has to understand that in america, we see young black men go to jail for far less, serve far more time for similar type situations. it's really an intellectual insult for him to say that to people when we all know if things were reversed and trayvon -- 28-year-old trayvon had killed 17-year-old white george zimmerman, he would have been locked up that day, no bond, and good luck. >> so you think the exact opposite from what o'mara said? >> of course. i mean, and no one can deny -- anyone who denies that is being intellectually dishonest. >> the naacp, as you know, is calling for the justice department to step in, bring civil rights charges against zimmerman. is that something that trayvon martin's family wants? >> well, as you know, i mean, we had -- we approached the federal government early on in this case about some of the issues in the case, and they decided to give

deference, as they often do, to the state law. obviously, that's an option they have. the federal government makes decisions is based on what they want to do. so obviously any way that we could get justice -- remember, up until this point, this family has gotten nothing. they've gotten a half-hearted apology, never a full apology. we just want justice for trayvon. they've sat through that trial and seen the pictures of trayvon laying there. it's like a stab in the heart every time they see it, to see that picture. yet, the person who did this will not pay a price. he's blamed everyone -- he never takes responsibility for him getting out of that car and going out there looking for trayvon. >> do you know when the family, when you will decide whether or not to bring a civil wrongful death suit against george zimmerman? >> well, we obviously have that option. we're looking at it. we're studying it close. there are a whole bunch of factors that go into when, where, and how. we'll look at the possibility of

that. >> do you know what factors? can you say what factors would go into it? >> number one, it's a far lesser standard. number two, when you think about possible defendants, you size them up and determine where they stand. unlike the lawyers who tried this case who do marital and criminal law, we are civil lawyers. so i do this day in and day out. we'll size up and determine, is it worthwhile for us to do it, how we should do, and when we should do it. >> darrell parks, appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you, sir. >> quick programming note. you can see more of chris cuomo's interview with mark o'mara tomorrow morning on "new day" from 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. eastern on cnn. up next, in the aftermath of the polarizing case, we're going to take a look at the kind of life george zimmerman now faces and why he may be looking over his shoulder for a long time. [ female announcer ] last day, deb.

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a jury of his peers spoke, and george zimmerman left court in sanford late last night a free man. that depends on how one defines freedom. his life has been changed forever. there's no doubt about that. >> he's been in hiding for over a year, daring to venture out only in disguise and wearing body armor. since killing trayvon martin, life for george zimmerman is filled with isolation and caution.

she has since lived in hiding and in financial ruin. cheney mason was her defense attorney. >> and you never know who the nuts are and where they are. there are still people that threatened me.

>> it sounds like there are some very severe consequences for being found guilty in a court of public opinion. >> they are. but you don't have jell-o and cheese sandwiches in jail. >> reporter: it may not be hopeless for zimmerman. he continues to have strong support from his immediate family. part of his defense is being paid for by thousands of dollars donated by the public. but even here there could be problems. >> he's got to be careful to avoid the appearance of creating more divisions by accepting money or support openly from groups that maybe would create more friction because of, you know, the tenor of this case. got to be very careful about who he associates with afterwards, even if they're offering financial support. >> reporter: and shortly after his dramatic acquittal, george zimmerman's first steps back into private life were hidden from cameras and public view. his destination, his plans a closely guarded secret. >> he has always feared for his

safety. we have always feared for his safety and our safety as a family. clearly, you know, he is a free man in the eyes of the court, but he is going to be looking around his shoulder for the rest of his life. >> david mattingly joins me now from sanford, florida. david, there any sort of expert advice that george zimmerman has been offered that he should be following right now? >> well, yes, and it's pretty simple. first of all, he needs to disappear. and that when he does reemerge to talk to people and to tell his story, he needs to be contrite. the last thing he needs to do right now is start to give people the impression that he beat the system. anderson? >> all right, david mattingly, thank you very much. we'll be right back.

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trayvon martin! >> in california marching, chanting in support of trayvon martin. there have been marches and rallies going on all day and into the night throughout the country that does it for this edition of 360. join us tomorrow night at 8:00 and 10:00 eastern and the day's other top stories. thanks for watching. morgan spurlock's "inside man" is next.

>> trayvon, fight the man, we can, we can. mmm, delicious orange juice. we all drink it. but do you ever think about where it comes from? these people do. they're undocumented immigrants, and they know where it comes from, because they pick the oranges that are in it. they also pick the tomatoes in your salad, mow your lawns, clean your hotel rooms, hang your drywall. even help raise your children. right now there is an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in this country today. >> it was possible for 11 million illegals to come here. why is it impossible for them to leave? >> people who oppose immigration reform say these workers are just feeding off the system. >> the vast majority of illegal aliens are consuming welfare programs. which have illegals coming here, taking