Stumbled across a link to this thread in the Ownage poll, seems odd so many after a year of posting know so little. A good source for accurate information on the case is at
www.talkleft.com look on the right side for the Zimmerman forum.
Trayvon wasn't walking when he was spotted by Zimmerman. The timeline from 7/11 and cell phone logs put Trayvon just inside the complex for about half an hour prior to Zimmerman reporting him to police. The notion he was walking comes from the Crump and Julison narrative, all the evidence points to Trayvon standing around waiting just inside the complex talking to various people via headset on his cell.
When Crump and Julison created the media campaign they knew about Trayvon's troubled past, 52 unexplained absences from school, suspended for fighting, and his drug use, but they had only limited information leaked from a police report about that night, essentially nothing about Zimmerman, who they claimed was white, or any of the actions of anyone involved. They made a story to appeal to the media with the goal of forcing the police to make an arrest without any evidence of a crime. No arrest effectively blocks suing for more than very limited actual damages, vs millions from punitive damages. Crump sued the HOA immediately after Zimmerman was arrested, and NOTHING substantially changed otherwise, Zimmerman wasn't in jail for more than a day or so before bail, and investigation continued, but still no real evidence was found supporting any criminal charge.