Sanford Commission rejects chief's resignation

Sanford Police Department Chief Bill Lee announcing he would temporarily step down, March 22, 2012. / Mario Tama/Getty Images

Last Updated 6:00 p.m. ET

(CBS/AP) ORLANDO, Fla. - The Sanford city commission rejected the resignation of the police chief harshly criticized for his handling of the Trayvon Martin case.

The commissioners voted 3-2 Monday to reject the resignation of Bill Lee. The majority blamed the uproar surrounding Martin's death on outsiders.

Police did not initially charge 28-year-old George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer who says he shot the 17-year-old Martin in self-defense.

Florida law gives people broad leeway to use lethal force if they believe their lives are in grave danger. The Feb. 26 shooting sparked protests nationwide, as well as debates about the laws and race. Martin was black; Zimmerman is the son of a white father and Hispanic mother.

Lee temporarily stepped down as police chief on March 22, saying he wanted to let tensions cool.

Sanford Mayor Jeff Triplett had called a special meeting with city commissioners to vote on the resolution, which would have allowed City Manager Norton Bonaparte to execute the separation agreement for Lee, reports CBS affiliate WKMG in Orlando. Under the agreement, Lee would have resigned from his post, effective at midnight, according to the release. Lee will stay on administrative leave until the outside investigation is completed.

Lee had temporarily stepped aside as chief March 22 after enduring strong criticism over his department's handling of the Martin case. Police did not initially charge 28-year-old George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer who claimed he shot the 17-year-old Martin in self-defense. Prosecutors later charged Zimmerman with second-degree murder.

Zimmerman to be closely watched while out on bail
Judge grants $150K bail for George Zimmerman

"The city has experienced great turmoil in the past two months and we are hoping to stabilize the department and continue with this time of healing," said City Manager Norton Bonaparte.

Florida law gives people broad leeway to use lethal force if they believe their lives are in grave danger. The Feb. 26 shooting sparked protests nationwide, as well as debates about the laws and race. Martin was black; Zimmerman is the son of a white father and Hispanic mother.

Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder earlier this month, 44 days after the fatal shooting. He was released from the Seminole County Jail in the middle of the night on $150,000 bail.

The neighborhood watch volunteer was wearing a brown jacket and blue jeans and carrying a paper bag as he walked out of the Seminole County jail around midnight Sunday. He was following another man and didn't look at photographers gathered outside. The two then got into a white BMW and drove away.

Zimmerman did not speak as he left the suburban Orlando jail.

His ultimate destination is being kept secret for his safety. He could leave Florida.

Martin's parents have a "heavy heart" now that Zimmerman has been released from jail, said Benjamin Crump, an attorney for the 17-year-old's parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton.

"They hope his freedom is temporary because the pain he has caused this family is permanent," Crump said Monday.

Zimmerman fatally shot Martin inside the gated community where Zimmerman lived. Martin was unarmed and was walking back to the home of his father's fiancee when Zimmerman saw him, called 911 and began following him. A fight broke out — investigators say it is unknown who started it.

Zimmerman says Martin, who was visiting from Miami, attacked him. Zimmerman says he shot Martin in self-defense, citing Florida's "stand your ground" law, which gives broad legal protection to anyone who says they used deadly force because they feared death or great bodily harm.

Zimmerman was not charged for more than six weeks, sparking national protests led by Martin's parents, civil rights groups, and the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Martin was black; Zimmerman's father is white and his mother is from Peru.

Residents in Sanford hadn't been expecting a ruckus once Zimmerman was released.

City commissioners said they hadn't received calls from nervous residents. Protesters didn't show up outside the jail. And talk at one local coffee shop seldom focused on the case.

"It's just kind of a non-issue now," said Michele Church, a server at Mel's Family Diner. "That's pretty much all anybody in Sanford wanted, was an arrest, so it could be sorted out in the court system."

Zimmerman was fitted with an electronic device when he was released Sunday, according to a statement from the Seminole County Sheriff's Office. That would allow law enforcement to monitor him if he leaves the state.

Defense attorneys for other high-profile clients who awaited trial on bail have said Zimmerman should leave Florida and refrain from going out in public.

About a half-dozen photographers and cameramen camped outside the Sanford jail Sunday, focused on the door marked "Bonds Rooms," where other people who had been arrested and released on bail exited.

Sanford Commissioner Patty Mahany, whose district includes the neighborhood where Martin was killed, said Sunday that things had calmed down.

"I think now that people are able to see the justice system taking place, even though they understand it's going to be quite slow, people are willing to just remain calm and really we're all getting back to our daily routines," Mahany said.

Meanwhile, Martin's parents published a "Card of Thanks" in The Miami Herald obituary page Sunday. The note says Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin express their appreciation for all the public's support since their son's death. The notice includes a photograph of Trayvon Martin dressed in a hooded sweatshirt, similar to one he was wearing the evening he was killed.

"Words will never express how your love, support and prayers lifted our spirits and continue to give us the strength to march on," the letter says.

[19011109990]

Better get a conviction. The bluegums might threaten to get jobs if there is no conviction. Wouldn't that hurt america's productivity.

[occupy_cbs]

Zimbo_Wiz: "This is just another addition to the crime statistics, except this time it had a happy ending"



You're a sick individual, if you're trying to tell us that the death of an innocent teenager for doing nothing illegal is a "happy ending."

[19011109990]

It was just a matter of time. Better now than after a victim suffers.

[opstrueinfo]

He is noit sick, he is right; one less black thug on the streets. Look at how they act:

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/04/horror-black-youth-mob-beats-strips-robs-tourist-in-baltimore-as-onlookers-laugh-joke-video/

[occupy_cbs]

Zimbo_Wiz: "It seems pretty cut and dry and that was without any spin, just the basic facts as we know them."




LOL!.......Entirely too funny for the right-wing to say "no spin."

[occupy_cbs]

YOU were not there wizzy, so all you have is mere conjecture and speculation as to what actually happened, and calling the true victim a thug, is more than just demeaning and ignorant!

[mick7744]

by Zimbo_Wiz PM EDT

Why would he need to hide at all if the black population and the Pink Panthers aren't out for revenge?

***************************************

No one has to actually be hunting down Zimmerman with the intention of doing him harm, Zimbo_Wiz...

But George Zimmerman most definitely has to conduct his life as if they WERE pursuing him with revenge in mind from now on...

But I for one would never wish for Zimmerman to be attacked or killed...

All the reich-wing crazies who keep making John Wayne or Dirty Harry-type statements about this case are already making the US criminal justice system a laughing stock in Europe where I now happily reside...

Having made myself a promise to leave the country that I fought for...bled for...and killed for...

If that draft-dodging ne'er-do-well...that chronic failure of a coke-head, George W. Bush, was ever elected President of the United States

And although I suppose I could have weaseled out on the grounds that he wasn't actually elected...but APPOINTED by a partisan Supreme Court that was ruling on his brother's voter fraud as Governor of Florida...

If you break a oath made to yourself...you can't trust anybody!

[occupy_cbs]

Zimbo_Wiz: "@Rafterman, You obviously haven't perceived this incident the same way I have. I see Martin as the thug who attacked Zimmerman for simply looking at him wrong."



I just love how the fox/rush parrots can only call this innocent teenager a "thug," when clearly he was just headed back to his dad's place from the store, minding his own business and doing absolutely nothing illegal, and it was zimmerman that pursued him saying "they always get away," and murdered him for "looking suspicious."

Sorry, zimmerman is the obvious thug charged with 2nd degree murder, after a storied past with violent tendencies already documented!

[occupy_cbs]

Rafterman11: "Its hard NOT to think this isn't about race when you people are going to such great lengths to ignore everything prior to what happened to Martin confronting Zimmerman."



Absolutely.....yet the rabid right-wingers discount the fact that zimmerman started this whole fiasco ending in murder, without having a uniform or badge for identification -- just a cop wannabe murderer!

[occupy_cbs]

Zimbo_Wiz: "Let's take a look at what happened.."



Your entire post is mere conjecture and speculation, and I have no more time to waste with your right-wing rantings and misconceptions!

[Rafterman11]

"For whatever reason, Martin didn't like being approached by someone he didn't know or he felt as though he was being shown disrespect, something many people take very personally."

Or maybe he felt threatened. And then Martin was protected under the SYG law.

[occupy_cbs]

Zimbo_Wiz: "As a loyal, patriotic, 110% Real American"




Give us a break.....holding a gun in one hand and a bible in the other, leaves no hand free for holding your American flag you are trying to make others believe you are waving frantically!

[occupy_cbs]

Zimbo_Wiz: "I'm sure Mr. Zimmerman will be spending the time relaxing in a Lazy Boy, eating steak and shrimp, and enjoying every day to the fullest. He can even go to a ball game, an amusement park, or the zoo if he feels like it."



LOL!

Seriously, the murderer will no more have much of an appetite thinking about his 25-year minimum sentence behind bars for 2nd degree murder, or pop his head out in public at all, to giveaway his hiding spot.

You truly are clueless in your right-wing ranting!

[occupy_cbs]

Maybe the corporate media camped at his door is a far worse thought than your right-wing propaganda that's been debunked weeks ago!

The rabid right-wingers just never stop with unfounded accusations!

[occupy_cbs]

Rafterman11:
A man, arrested three times, twice for violent behavior, commits the third known violent act on his record by shooting and killing an unarmed kid, with no police record and no known violent incidents, and guess which one the right wingers call a "thug"? Violence sure seems to follow around that poor ol' George, doesn't it?




It is totally amazing how the right-wingers support a known thug that was arrested several times for felonies, had his daddy's help getting those past indiscretions swept under the carpet, only to have him go out and murder an innocent teenager doing absolutely nothing illegal!

[nottblu]

It is also "totally amazing" libs like you ignore he was never convicted of any crime, charged and convicted are two very different things. You are a shining example of someone who comes to these posts day in and day out for hours at a time soley to defend a one sided ideoligically and politically driven agenda as extreme as the "right wingers" you love to blame and vilify. You are a hypocrite of the highest degree that refuses to gain perspective or even acknowledge an alternate point of view. Oh the irony!

[occupy_cbs]

Thanks for proving my point REDgurl, since pleading-down a felony charge with the help of his ex-judge daddy that's well-connected in the justice system, certainly does not make the violence-prone nature of zimmerman go away, and his murder of the innocent teenager proves that!

The true irony is your need to make personal attacks on others, calling them hypocrites for stating the facts in this case, and obviously cannot acknowledge that zimmerman is a very flawed gun nut, that outright murdered a 17-year old doing nothing illegal!

[nottblu]

Racism in America is still prevelant in both the white and black communities, it comes in all forms from various perspectives and exposures in life based on age, location, class status, and predominace of a specific type of ethnicity in the area one is living. While there can be blame found for both Trayvon and George the resulting divide in this tragedy was surely motivated by Sharpton and Jackson once again taking every advantage to grab the spotlite without consideration for the greater societel rammifications, ignoring the fact that the investigation was not over and all facts were not known. The president should not have thrown gasoline on the fire with his statement prior to all facts being discovered also prior to the investigation was completed. The willingness of some to convict zimmerman prior to the completion of the investigation proves racism and lynch mob menatality runs both ways. This was no different than convicting a black man of a crime in a public forum prior to learning the results of an investigation. In the end this tragedy morphed not only into a racial argument it became a vehicle used by the anti-gun, anti-second ammendment crowd, who also clings to every crime story commited with a gun, while ignoring the truth behind the ability to defend ones self or loved ones saved by firearms. Unfortunately when a tragedy like this turns into agenda driven, ideologically driven, political footbal which in the end prohibits intelligent discussion and ignores the truth of the tragedy itself is a tragedy in itself and in the end perpetuates the divide in our present day society.