case of trayvon martin. 44 days since the teenager was shot and killed. nbc news quoting an unnamed law enforcement official reporting the special prosecutor will charge george zimmerman. the official does not know what the charges will be, only that the announcement will come been the next three hours. this would mark a significant turning point in the six-week old story, a case investigators had closed the book on until a national outcry asked how zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, was allowed to walk free after admitting that he shot an unarmed 17-year-old boy. the announcement is one of the most hotly anticipated legal decisions in recent memory as martin's family and friends, the city of sanford and martin's supporters across the country wait to hear whether there will be justice for a boy and his family. let's go right now to kerry sanders live in florida. what is the latest on what we expect to happen for the rest of

the day? >> well, the special prosecutor has now indicated the time as you point out and the location of where this news conference will take place, 6:00 in jacksonville. she is the state attorney in jacksonville, which is about a two and a half hour drive from where we are here in sanford.ç she will make her announcement at 6:00 to allow certain reporters in there from the news organizations they had put in place earlier today, to credential and limit the number of people inside the room with her. it is unclear whether she will take questions. it is possible she will not ta e take any questions because it is the beginning of a legal proceeding. she may make a statement and move on. we hope of course she takes questions. as this is unfolding, of course, there is the question of where is 28-year-old george zimmerman. as we heard from his former attorneys yesterday, the two attorneys who dropped out of their representation because

they say they had lost contact with their client, all we know from them is that they believe george zimmerman has left the state. they do believe he is in the united states. i have spoken to my sources at the florida department of law enforcement, the investigative agency helping the prosecutor gather evidence as well as having the authority to track somebody, and even though george zimmerman was never told that he could not leave the state, i am told from my sources that the fdle is confident they will be able to locate george zimmerman if that is needed. it is possible we'll hear something different although the greatest anticipation with some of the reporting from pete williams who has been in contact with the federal law enforcement officers is that there will be charges. the one charge that we know that will not be on the table here is first degree murder because in florida -- >> i am afraid we lost our signal there with kerry. thank you for the moment,ç ker. i wonder if i can bring in jamie

floyd, a lawyer and attorney. jamie, what's your reaction to the news that after 44 days this special prosecutor has decided to take action? >> as you say, martin, one of the most hotly awaited legal announcements in recent times, right, everyone waiting 44 days, justice for this young man, and as kerry was just reporting, the i guess we can say alleged suspect, i think that's fair language, is missing. his attorneys having stepped off the case, so that's a big piece of the puzzle here. i think we can expect some charges and i think this special prosecutor is somewhat courageous to have waived the grand jury and taken the matter into her own hands which is what she has done, the refgs and any case that may go forward. >> right. now, on the specific issue of where george zimmerman is, we're

told that he made a phone call himself to the special prosecutor and she refused to talk to him. >> yes. >> do you think that the special prosecutor ensured or asked about where he was at that moment? do you think she may have bothered to check his whereabouts in order to -- >> she really should not have done anything, martin. her obligation when talking with a suspect in a case, a potential defendant, is to make no inquiry at all if an aattorney is not present. my guess is, no, she didn't ask where are you or anything of the sort because he was not represented by counsel in making the phone call. i understandç he also called f news. this is someone behavingy rat cally and his attorneys feel they cannot represent him at this time and he is not participating adequately in his defense and not behaving as they said in a way that well represents himself. >> indeed. go to the managing editor of the grio.com, joanne reed in

sanford. what is the atmosphere down there? i imagine that news is now beginning to spread? we have got it immediately, but i guess people in the locality are now beginning to hear that something serious is going to happen today. >> well, martin, there was already a sense of anticipation, particularly in the black community here in sanford. there are church services planned for this evening in anticipation that something would happen sometime this week. there will be a service at 7 p.m. this evening at one of the largest black churches here where the pastor was already gearing up to talk to the community about how to react if there were no charges and so i think there has been a lot of pessimism about people, you know, maybe reacting pbadly if charges were not filed or nothing was done. it will be interesting to see how the mooed is in sanford and i have calls to find out how the mooed is in miami where trayvon martin is from and spoke with one of the attorneys for the family. they're all processing this at

the time and i think everyone is waiting to hear the official word from state attorney corey before they react. >> of course. joanne, it is remiss not to mention that george zimmerman has a reasonable amount of followers and supporters himself. >> indeed. you don't really see that here in ;áp'ford. what you do see is a support base, however small, for police chief bill lee. the guy who directed the investigation, who is getting a lot of criticism for the way his police force handled the trayvon martin shooting. he does have a support base here in sanford. you really see more of that. i have yet to see really any pro zimmerman sentiment on the ground. >> there has been a story about a police vehicle being shot at, an empty police vehicle, and the sense in which there is some kind of tension, and i was interested that the reverend al sharpton, my colleague, yours as well, said with the family today at this event in d.c. for the national action network, that the family is not in the business of revenge, but of

justice, that if trayvon's parents can act with dignity, then so can everyone else. i am assuming this will not message that ministers and pastors in the big churches down there will wish to convey to the community. >> absolutely, martin. the big concern of people here is people who are not from sanford will use the trayvon martin case and the george zimmerman case as an excuse to sort of wreak havoc on this community from the outside in. you have to understand the complex is directly across the street from an elementary school. that police car, that empty car, was parked in the parking lot of this school. this is a very small community where anything that happens on one block really affects the blocks nearby. people are concerned that not so much sanford residents but people superimposed from outside, the new black panthers who number maybe a half dozen all over the country but see thisç as an opportunity for publicity or the white su prem cysts which i have not seen on

the streets of sanford. you see calm, normalcy, but there is a sense that people from you said on the community could take advantage of this situation and harm the community here in sanford. >> terrific, joanne. stay with us. i still have jamie floyd with us. i want to go to goldie taylor of the goldie taylor project. i imagine that many people will be feeling that this should the prosecutor as we expect charge george zimmerman this evening, that this is the effect of local people, of a community, rising up and challenging a decision made by law enforcement at the time to literally do nothing and allow this man to walk free. >> i certainly believe that the credit for standing up and making their voices heard about this case belongs to the people of sanford, florida. it was them who let out a call to the rest of the nation to join forces with them in civil disobedience and raise their voices on social networks and take to the streets and show up

in churches to talk about why this case wasn't fully investigated from the start and why george zimmerman has, you know, the glory of being somewhere else other than florida today. so as we await the possibility of charges at 6 p.m. tonight, i think there is a fair amount, you know, of uneasiness, a fair amount of skepticism that this case will really follow the rails of justice until it is worthy conclusion. " ó jamie, one of the issues has been the fact that the police appear to have conducted what could only be described as aç fairly poor investigation, the individual himself, the shooter, was not subjected to toxicology tests. we don't know if he had been drinking or taking drugs, and yet we know the corpse was toxicology tested. we don't know if there were proper ballistic tests done on trayvon's clothing and the clothing of george zimmerman. >> what hadth case points up is there have been so many cases over the core of history, martin, going back of course to

the elm mitt til case, and i think so many people think much emmett til when they think of trayvon, and many, many, many cases between then and now that we never have heard about, cases in which law enforcement has failed in its duty and here perhaps was another case in which law enforcement has failed, but as goldie just point out, because of the light that has been shined upon this case, then perhaps the proper action will be taken. the request he is whether we will end up in a place of justice or not. i do want to say, however, getting back to the point that joanne made and the request on the part of family we react to whatever announcement is made at 6:00 with dignity and composure and begin dialog what knees to happen at this point forward, whatever the announcement, that in the last 44 days we reacted, many of us, with emotion, and without being informed properly about what the laws are, about what can and cannot be done in this case, and this

stand-your-ground law is the fundamental root of the problem in this case. >> absolutely. that's what needs to be examined? we have an hour to go through the details and will come back in aç moment. jamie floyd, goldie taylor and joanne reed. stay with us. much more on this breaking news straight ahead. >> eventually the two newest developments are that we learned that he had called shon nned directly and not through us, and we believe we spoke directly with sean and off the record, and he is not even willing to tell us what our client told him. zap technology.

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es. more on breaking developments in the trayvon martin case. nbc news is now reporting that criminal charges will be filed against george zimmerman. of course state attorney angela corey may have to find zimmerman as they decides to charge him and in a bizarre 24 hours zimmerman's lawyers shocked everyone tuesday saying they lost contact with him and for that reason were no longer representing him. in fact, there is only one ma that has spoken with zimmerman since his lawyers last did. >> he is in hiding, and i actually spoke to him today. i am not on the record, so i won't talk about the nature of the conversation. >> yes, george zimmerman seems to have him on speed dial. 24 hours later once they found out about the back channel communication and announced they could no longer represent him as a result he hedged his scoop. >> one of reasons cited during

the press conference is an alleged conversation he had with me. >> now it is an alleged conversation. joining us is the columnist for the hill, karen finney, and former communications director for the dnc and in sanford, joanne reed, managing editor of the grio.com and contributor and here in new york, jamie floyd and managing editor of the global game world report. the developments over the last 24 hours is george zimmerman is m.i.a. i am sure you had problem clients yourself. how much damage is zimmerman doing to his case by calling someone like sean honnitie and the special prosecutor and setting up his own website as well. >> i think we don't know and won't know until he is in custody and they have a chance to question him and get a sense of his mental state. one of the tlingz that struck me, martin, is this case continued to unfold and clearly we have a situation here where

martin doesn't trust the lawyers. et cetera not trusting their advice. >> zimmerman. >> zimmerman, sorry. a apologize. zimmerman, he clearly doesn't trust the lawyers, not even contacting them and obviously that brings into question what is his mental state and out there and missing in action and whatever the police thought they might be doing at the beginning of all of this and thinking they could just make this all go away, they really made it worse for the martin family and trayvon martin and zimmerman. this is an unusual situation to have you have this guy out there calling tv reporters and not his own lawyers and that just doesn't sound right. >> joanne, to karen's pertinent point, zimmerman's defenders haveç repeatedly said in publi they don't wish this to be tried in public, and yet there he is ringing up a very well known anchor on fox news and then himself ringing up the special prosecutor and of course his own lawyers until yesterday evening

were able to any media outlet that wished to have them. >> well, that's absolutely right, martin. what's interesting as you said, you have had the family of george zimmerman, his father and his brother, yes, talking to lots of people but if you notice they're talking a lot more to fox and fox affiliates. they seem to be presenting a very public case very much about reverend sharpton, very much about this their claim that unnamed people are calling him a racist and really tailor made in a lot of ways for a fox news audience. it is not surprising if they were going to reach out to anyone it would be someone from fox news. the point here i think as you're making is that that has sort of muddied the waters in a sense. it put a narrative out there that is all hearsay. it is all come from his family. the only time we have heard from george zimmerman is this website he created, again, without his lawyers knowledge or assistance, where he speaks for himself but only does a lot of quotes about rightousness and such and don't know who he is talking to and

who is advising him. >> i remember his brother's interview on cnn where he went on and said that despite the police surveillance tape he had actually had a broken nose and his head had been slammed into the pavement. the guy was categoric that trayvon martinç performed a savage beating and when we saw the surveillance tape, we were staggered. >> and they have even given quotes. as the story escalated, really coming 100% from the zimmerman side, we even had things supposedly trayvon martin said and these were all related to us only via hearsay by the family. i have to tell you, martin, yesterday at this press conference hal uhrig, i had a chance to ask a you mean can questions and asked him why they seemed to be making the racial aspect of this so key to what they're saying. he launched into a vigorous, dare i say aggressive defense and reiteration of the zimmerman side of this story, and again

saying they believe it is all about people who are race baiting george zimmerman and laying out this narrative again in hearsay from the lawyer that they are saying happened that night. they really have in a way tried the case in public. >> no doubt about that. what effect does all of this public discussion have on the potential for fair and reasonable trial? >> you know, martin, because we've had so many conversations about this issue in previous cases that i am loathe to try these cases in the press. i am stunned the zimmerman side would want to do this. no one benefits more from silence in this case than zimmerman's side. the whole problem with stand your ground for prosecutors is that it shifts the entire burden of proof in self-defense cases on prosecutors. you know, normally self-defense, the burden is on the defendant. it is a hard thing for prosecutors anyway. the burden is on the defendant traditionally to prove i was afraid and i had to defend myself. >> you mean by that in situations where someone goes onto someone else's property. >> right, but stand your ground means now the prosecutor hasç

show that zimmerman was the person who was afraid, a whole burden shifted, so now zimmerman is out there for reasons i cannot fully fathom, i guess i can fully fathom, trying to shift the burden here onto the poor victim and we know that the victim, whatever you think about this case, the victim was unarmed. there is no doubt about that. the victim was a child, a minor, and the victim is not here to tell us what happened in this case. the lawyers participated to some extent but now stepped out of it and zimmerman has a website going and he is in touch with fox news of all outlets and so the whole thing is rather stunning to me. this is a case in which it seems to me silence would benefit zimmerman, not all of this chatter out there online and everything he seems to be doing and now disappearing certainly is not going to behoove his defense once the charges are filed and i submit to you charges will be filed whether they satisfy the supporters of

trayvon martin, that remains to be seen, and first degree we know is off the table. i do not think this prosecutor will let this case go. >> thank you so much. do stay with us. >> i want us to be very clear, this is not anti-anybody. there are whites, blacks, latinos, asians, that have marched with us, that stand with us. we are not running a hate campaign. this is a love campaign. ♪ [ acoustic guitar: slow ]

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i worked at the colorado springs mail processing plant for 22 years. we processed on a given day about a million pieces of mail. checks, newspapers, bills. a lot of people get their medications only through the mail. small businesses depend on this processing plant. they want to shut down 3000 post offices, cut 100,000 jobs. they're gonna be putting people out of work everywhere. the american people depend on the postal service. with the president in florida tuesday allen west took the opportunity to address his constituents in the sunshine state n doing so the tea party icon that sits on top of sarah palin and herman cain's list to be mitt romney's running mate offered the following hearsay. as many as 81 democratic members of congress are card carby

communists. that's right,y voccing the ghost of mccarthy he thinks 2012 is time for a good old-fashioned red scare. don't believe me? take a listen. >> i believe there is about 78 to 81 members of the party that are members of the communist party. >> that's 81 according to representative west who refused to name names. good man. and as if this red scare were not enough, west, a decorated military veteran, with a propensity for controversial comments also said he would love to engage the president in a man to man conversation but alas the president was, quote, scared, but something had to give at lisa correspondeding to as spokeswoman that offered a rather step i had explanation that he was referring to the members of the congressional progressive caucus that she

insists they claimed as an ally. whether poorly correcting a bad joke or pulling back on over heated rhetoric, we have to ask, who is the frightened one now, mr. west, just hour from happy hour and we would like to raise a glass to you anyway. cheers. much more ahead. >> i can assure you in this investigation and in all cases we will examine the facts and the law. if we find evidence of a poe he shall it federal criminal civil rights crime we'll take appropriate action, and at every step the factsç and the law wi guide us forward. you know who you are. you can part a crowd, without saying a word. you have yet to master the quiet sneeze. you stash tissues like a squirrel stashes nuts. well, muddlers, muddle no more. try zyrtec®. it gives you powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin® because zyrtec® starts working at hour 1 on the first day you take it.

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♪ spread a little love my way ♪ ♪ spread a little something to remember ♪ ♪ ♪ spread a little joy... [ female announcer ] fresh milk and real cream. that's what makes philadelphia. ♪ so spread a little... [ female announcer ] and that's what makes the moment we enjoy it, a little richer. ♪ real belgian chocolate whipped with philadelphia cream cheese. new indulgence. the moment just got a little sweeter. following breaking news in the trayvon martin case and nbc news learned george zimmerman will face charges to be announced by the special prosecutor within the next few hours. joining us now is former u.s. attorney kendallç coffey in family and sanford, florida, joanne reed and here in new york attorney jami floyd.

kendall, if i can begin with you, unless the state attorney uncovered a great deal more evidence than we have heard so far, how difficult is the decision that faces this state attorney? >> it is a very difficult decision because while we keep hearing about probable cause for an arrest, she knows she is looking at a lot more than that. she has to have a case she can prove beyond a reasonable doubt. at the same time there is an unusual obstacle that florida has built into the stand your ground law, the ability of the defendant to get a judicial determination of immunity, basically shutting down the whole prosecution if a defendant can establish that they were properly standing their ground by a preponderance of the evidence. this is not an easy case frankly. i think her investigation from what i can tell is conducted with a high level of professionalism and whatever else comes of this matter going forward, this is a gutsy decision if indeed she will be bringing charges against george zimmerman. >> jami, in cases like this the

tradition is to charge high and then kind of go through things as they shake down as it were in the process of judicial proceedings. what do you think of her decision to do this having disspesed with the possibility of a grand jury, murder one is out. >> generally you would charge high hoping for a plea down or verdict and we have a defendant exhibited rather different way of going about things at least have had thus far. this is a very different sort of prosecutor. no non-sense, person, and as was well now, a rather extraordinary set of facts, a limited set of facts unless she has more information than we have, and i certainly hope she does. one would hope the prosecutor's office has more information than the media. if there are no witnesses, no specific witnesses to the actual

events between trayvon martin -- >> there are some individuals that have given interviews claiming to be witnesses to those events. >> what these are people who heard things and we're talking perhaps one young boy who may have seen something, but i am talking about the instant in time where that gun went off. that is the stand your ground moment. there is a possibility of pursuit. there is a possibility of -- if george zimmerman pursued the boy, does the stand your ground law fall away? does he lose his right to immunity? that's a real question that may not have been litigated in florida. there are all kinds of possibilities that we have not yet begun to consider as was said earlier in the hour, the case begins today. it did not -- the legal case. the legal proceeding begins today. so we have to take a deep breath and begin to consider all of the possibilities. >> joanne, in the last 24 hours you and i have seen george

zimmerman's attorneying stand down from the case saying they hadn't heard from him, suggests he is not in florida, indeed concerned about his menltal state and some suggestion he may be suffering a form of ptsd. where why are they saying that? is there aç legal motive in saying that? >> obviously the whole press conference yesterday was something like anything i have ever seen. also, protecting themselves a little bit. i mean, here are two people who have said and represented to the public and i am assuming to the prosecutor that if charges were filed, they could produce george zimmerman, someone they have never seen in person. they were with a high degree of confidence saying they could get him to turn himself in if charges were filed. now they're saying they haven't spoken to him since before last sunday and can't get him to return calls. i think there is a point at which the attorneys are also trying to protect themselves in the sense that they are the ones that lost control of this

person. >> kendall, i want to put the same question to you, sir. what do you think of what happened yesterday where these lawyers who were announcing that they were standing down at the same time were suggesting that this man is suffering some kind of psychiatric injury as a result of what happened? >> it was an extremely unfortunate press conference from the standpoint of lawyers and george zimmerman. certainly to describe the reasons for withdrawing, they have a right to walk away from a case they can't communicate with their client but to describe their reasons in a sense that indicates their client is behaving erratically, desperate, hiding, out of state, is all negative for george zimmerman and more consistent frankly with evidence of guilt than innocence. on the other understand that, my sense is they began the press conference thinking they would keep it short and sweet and that cases like this take on a life of their own. i think the press conference and the questions that they weren't ready forr÷i led them to make comments that frankly they

hadn't scripted. unfortunateç press conference t just pointed out, that's old news very quickly. if charges are filed, and what's going to be decide and what's going to be considered will have nothing to do with whatever those attorneys said yesterday during a press conference. >> remember toer u.s. state attorney kendall coffey and joanne reed and jami floyd. thank you for joining us. mitt romney bends the facts in an attempt to close the gender gap. >> 92.3% of all the jobs lost during the obama years have been lost by women. 92 approxima 92.3%. ♪ ♪

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homecoming king this fall. today romney turned up ready to go, out delivering his new line for the ladies, visiting a woman-owned business in connecticut and suggesting that women fell victim to the vast majority of jobs lost under president obama. >> 92.3% of all the jobs lost during the obama years have been lost by women. 92.3%. >> now, don't let the fact that he is wielding paper distract you. our own nbc political desk said that statement is misleading. they rate is mostly false. the job losses are largely a result of the previous administration and the recession and the romney camp's effort to re claim the war on women narrative faulted further on a conference call when they were caught flat footed about i a question on president obama's first act as president,2át lilly led better act on fair pay

for women. >> does governor romney support the lilly led better act. >> we'll get back to you on that. >> the romney campaign did later state that mitt does support equal pay for women but you understand they did have to go and check. bring in our political panel with us from washington, richard wolf and fellow columnist for the hill, political analyst karen finney. >> it is very entertaining to see sell dem rats as having a bar on women but the krik hes you heard after the fair pay act, is that emblem attic of the challenges romney faces with women and women's issues? >> i think there are two challenges, number one, the romney campaign is not ready for primetime. that's an obvious question to expect to ask and have an answer to if you do a conference call about attacking democrats for

what they have done for or not for women. there is that problem. secondly, certainly it is a problem because it is not first of all the 92% we know that number is completely flawed and in fact i think most people are calling it the man session if i am not mistaken, and actually it was women who for the most part were really the sole bread winners for a lot of families over the last couple of years. it also shows a fundamental ignorance about what the war on women is really about. it is not just about statistics. it is about how we are çtreate. it is about the level of conversation. it is about again i go back to the let women die measures which said, oh, we can just decide we're not going to provide an abortion for a woman in an emergency room, even if she would die. it is about the conversation that we have heard and not just from rush limbaugh but others about women in some of these measures at the state legislature where they said things like women will use rape as a loophole if we let them.

it is the ridiculousness of talking about us like we were back in the 1850s too stupid to control our own money or cast a vote. that's what the war on women is really about, about an erosion of women's liberty in this country. >> indeed. richard, before the romney campaign could correct itself, the obama team was out with a statement from lilly ledbetter itself saying i was shocked and disappointed to hear that mitt romney is not willing to stand up for women and their families. i guess it is welcome to the general election, mr. romney, isn't it. >> rapid response is going to be super rapid this time around. we're talking about equal pay here. this isn't a difficult concept. you know, what's interesting by the way, when he makes the 92% claim -- >> it is always difficult for mr. romney when you ask him a question because he doesn't know what his answer s he waits to see what he should say. >> at least his economic advisers are in that position.

the 92%, if 92% of any group suffered anything, don't you think you would know about it? there is a glorious look in the woman in the face of the woman behind mitt romney where she glances off stage saying that2 can't be right. 92% of all statistics are completely made up. if you look at the percentage of the workforce that are represented by women now, it is higher today than it was in january of 2008. it just doesn't make any sense. doesn't pass the smell test. i cannot believe the people behind him on that stage thought it was true. >> you know. >> i was going to say also for a guy who says he is running by saying he understands the economy, it shows a pretty fundamental lack of understanding about the economy and also pause one of the reasons where women have lost jobs is where the public sector, why, because of all the job losses in the public sector because state budgets have fallen on such hard times. i would think he would know the difference between public and

private and how those budgets work and who is employed and who is not employed when we're talking about teachers and those kinds of jobs and nurses and not to mention the conference the white house hosted recently looked at the structural reasons that women still have problems in the workplace where we earn 77 cents on the dollar. i would love to hear mitt romney talk about all of that and how he is going to address all of that. instead, what do we hear? we see him on a stage with a bunch of women behind him saying here is what ann told me women are talking about. it is ridiculous. >> richard, we suggested in the pass he suffered with what i describe as multiple personality disorder because of his flip-flops and various key issues. now he does, does he not have a problem with schizophrenia? i çmean, honestly. >> what would you prescribe? you know, i think he is a very clunky candidate. have you a woman problem and you stack a stage with women and i

come up with a cooked up statistic. he has to be a little more subtle and spread it out over some time and he is not going to fix it with one event or one fabricated claim, and he is first of all thattes to undue the damage of being for a amendment of wanting to cut the federal funding for planned parenthood. first fix your mistakes before you go out and attack the other side on trumped up charge and it just is so amateurish, this whole idea, i have a woman problem, here, women. >> get a woman. >> karen, i have to finish with a woman as you know. i looked at the stats n january of 2008 women made up 48.8% of the workforce n january 2009 women made up 49.5%. today the percentage is 49.3%. so we can all use these statistics to argue the case, can't we? >> absolutely. look, women are a majority, increasing majority of the

workforce. we are a majority of voters, and, martin, you heard me say it how many times? any man that is not paying attention to the women in their lives is really a fool because you will not win an election if you are not paying attention to women and women voters. >> karen finney, a woman, and richard wolf, a man. >> a man who loves women. >> a man who loves women. >> of course. >> thank you, both. >> coming up, just over two hours until criminal charges arç announced against george zimmerman in the trayvon martin shooting. first, here is hampton pierson with a cnbc market wrap. >> we have stops on the rebound after the big downturn yesterday. all the major averages at this hour in green. we'll take a quick look right now. we are seeing the dow up almost 84 points, s&p over 9 and the nasdaq up about 21 points. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. march of martin bashir after these messages. [ male announcer ] lately, there's been a seismic shift

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florida is on edge after the announcement that criminal charges will be filed against george zimmerman in the killing of trayvon martin. reverend al sharpton today echoed trayvon's parents who have repeat lid called for calm. >> it is imperative that we make it clear, this family denounced anything other than nonviolent and peaceful protests. we are not in the business of revenge. we're in business of justice. >> here, here. nbc's gary saunders is live forness san ford. the ap is reporting that an arrest is expected soon. have you heard anything about that? >> well i've spoken to sources

within the florida department of law enforcement who were really quite calm in terms of describing the location of george zimmerman. there was quite a panic set off yesterday when his former attorneys indicated that he had left the state. they were no longer in contact indicating, including to theh trayvon martin family, that he might be some sort of flight risk on the run. but the florida department of law enforcement has, through its investigative methods, apparently been able to track the location of where george zimmerman is. and if we're looking at the timetable here, and you understand that the special prosecutor does indeed have to file charges with the court, in seminole county, it can be done electronically, in all likelihood is something under seal and effectively has happened. which means that it's possible that the florida department of law enforcement has already found george zimmerman and if he is out of state, is working with another state agency to bring him into custody and good

through that process. so i think based on what we know that would be very normal and expected to be developing right now and it's possible if it is indeed following, that sort of order that we may even hear angela corey tell us that not only are there charges, but if it indeed happens, that george zimmerman is in custody. >> indeed. trayvon martin's parent and ref regard al sharpton, of course our colleague, repeatedly called for calm. even as the next chapter in this tragic story unfolds. but do you know if the authorities down in san ford are in effect preparing themselves just in case there is some kind of outbreak as a result of what happens a few hours from now? >> absolutely. absolutely they are indeed. and for the last day or so have been on a heightened state of alert. emergency operation centers in several countiesç in this area have been activated. that the sort of equipment that

usually gets activated when there something lick a hurricane threatening. so they have put all of that in place. because remember, aside from what we believe we know, and of course that's from the good work of our colleague pete williams whose federal sources indicated there are charges, angela corey has not revealed, from what we know, to anybody. she must have a very small inner circle or perhaps because it ultimately rests with her, this is her decision, not shared with others. so we don't know specifically what she will announce until she does it, and so, leaking it out to a police department that this could happen or that could happen, invariably would let everybody know. so they are on alert and if indeed there are charges, i think that the caution that has been spread about, please remain calm. i think that will likely happen. there will be calm. >> nbc's kerry sanders, thank you for your reporting on this story. we'll be right back. all right, let's decide what to

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it's time now to clear the air. there is a collective sigh of relief that after shooting and killing an unarmed teen ager, george zimmerman will have to justify his actions in a court of law. from the very outset, virtually every aspect of this case has raised serious questions about mr. zimmerman's actions and the story that followed. for example, he was advised against following the 17-year-old by a 911 operator. >> are you following him? >> yeah. >> okay, we don't need to you do that. >> okay. >> then there was the police surveillance tape which showed that far from being the victim of aç savage beating that brok his nose and injured his head, george zimmerman appeared to be in good condition less an an hour after arriving at the police department. but whatever the charges are this evening, this is not only a

trial of his actions, it is also an opportunity to see the sense of validity of the so-called stand your ground lawes. an hour ago new york mayor michael bloomberg scoffed at the ideas those laws are simply about self-defense. >> these shoot first laws have nothing to do with that or with the exercise of second amendment rights. instead, they justify civilian gun play and invite vigilante justice with disastrous results. >> nothing will bring back the life of trayvon martin. but it gives the opportunity to prevent this from ever happening again. thank you so much for watching. the 6 p.m. announcement from the florida special prosecutor will will be carried live here on msnbc. but nor now, dylan ratigan is here.