burnett. breaking news, george zimmerman is behind bars after weeks of protest, outrage and demands for action, he's been arrested and charged with second degree murder in the shooting death of 17-year-old trayvon martin. florida state attorney and special prosecutor angela corey announced the charges against the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman in sanford, florida. >> today we filed an information charging george zimmerman with murder in the second degree. a capias has been issued for his arrest. with the filing of that information and the issuance of the capias he will have a right to appear in front of a magistrate in seminole county within 24 hours of his arrest and thus formal prosecution will begin. >> corey has been conducting her own investigation into the shooting separate from that of the sanford police department and shortly after she announced the arrest, trayvon martin's family spoke. >> thank god. we simply wanted an arrest. we wanted nothing more, nothing less, we just wanted an arrest and we got it. and i say thank you. thank you, lord. thank you, jesus. secondly, i just want to speak from my heart to your heart, because a heart has no color. it's not black, it's not white. it's red. and i want to say thank you from my heart to your heart. >> zimmerman according to the prosecutor turned himself in and is in custody, being held without bail although she would not say where. martin savage is in sanford tonight. good evening. what are people saying there tonight? is there any real reaction to this? >> reporter: the reaction, tom, is kind of muted. we are on the edge of goldsboro, here in sanford, and there have been some who have come by honking their horns, shouting zimmerman arrested. but beyond that, people know this is the first step in what is a long process. one of the things that should be pointed out, of course, many will say what a strong decision that angela corey brought here, and there are others who said you know what, it never would have gotten to her hands had it not been for the protests, many people who came out and marched in this community and many other places across the country. it was the sanford police department that originally handled this case and originally decided not to charge george zimmerman even though their investigation was on going. it was after the huge cry that angela corey was appointed and got us to the huge day. that's what the supporters of the trayvon martin family will most definitely say. >> the family and the supports made a point of that very thing, talking about how the protesters came out and had a response. that said, the argument can be made that one of the reasons it's taken so long is that the case is not cut and dried. you hear any concern from people on the street there about, look, even if you get to the first level of this, getting to the next one, a successful prosecution is a totally different matter? >> it is indeed. yeah. no, you're right. because of the unique nature of the law. stand your ground here in the state of florida. because before it even will get to a trial, it will have to go to a judge who will have to contemplate the very issues and consequences of that very specific law. some would say a lenient law that if a person feels threatened they can use lethal use to save their life. that's of course the early reaction that the police force had here in sanford, that he was defending his life against 17-year-old trayvon martin. that's right. that's why the supporters of trayvon martin realize it's just the first turn of the wheels of justice. there is a long way to go before we see what the final resolution is. >> one last question, very quickly, marty. you have talked to a lot of people in the community. you know them. what do you think the response is going to be there if as i suspect the defense will they come around and say we need a change of venue, precisely because there have been marches and protests and people saying you must arrest this man and do something about him? >> yeah, well, i mean, i think that that's putting the cart a little bit before the horse, but here in this community, they realize that it's a very sensitive nature. most people do think there will be a change of evvenue at some time and it will go to some place else in florida. although, they'll be hard pressed to find somebody who has not heard about it. that's not the issue. it's whether that person who's chosen can justify, listen to the evidence and then make a very impartial verdict and that they say can still be found in the state of florida. >> all right. thank you very much, martin savage. i know you'll stay on the case. we appreciate it. we're joined right now on the phone by the new attorney for mr. zimmerman, mark o'mara. we found out this evidence that he will be representing mr. zimmerman. mr. o'mara, tell me your reaction first of all to the charges this afternoon? >> again, i'm surprised that she charged with second degree, but she knows the evidence i don't know yet so it's tough for me to comment on what i haven't seen yet. we have to wait until the process works out. >> you say you're surprised i be that charge. why? >> because she knows the evidence, but that type of -- that he did something truly lawful and i think the evidence suggests there was a question and controversy over what happened. but quite honestly we do need to wait to see what the evidence tells us. >> have you had much time to look over the case at this point or are you too new at this juncture? >> no, i'm that new to it. i have only seen what's in the media. so it's really difficult for me to speak at all about the evidence and wouldn't be anyway. >> i assume you have had a chat with george zimmerman. can you give us a sense of his mood? >> well, i think he's troubled by the fact that the state decided to charge him. but we're certainly prepared to prepare a defense. he's doing okay. >> would you say at this point the key issue here is a question of self-defense because certainly that's what we have been led to believe so far? >> it seems that way to me, and everything i have seen from the media. certainly that's going to be one facet of the defense. i just have no idea yet. >> well, what is the next step right know, mr. o'mara? when do you go to court or what is the next thing that we should be looking for? >> there will be a bond motion hopefully by tomorrow when a judge will review -- the facts of the case and decide how and under what conditions to release mr. zimmerman. >> and then what would you expect after that? i mean, it has to go one way or the other, but then you prepare for the next phase which is i assume him entering a plea? >> well, he'll enter a plea of not guilty and then we go through the round of discovery which gives us a lot more information than i have now. >> and do you have any idea what kind of time schedule for all of that? you obviously have a steep learning curve at this point. >> um, absolutely, but i intend to get caught up to speed pretty quickly. the state is under obligation to get into discovery after the next 15 days. i anticipate the prosecutor and i will have conversations about getting that information to me as soon as possible. >> are you concerned at all about the degree of public attention has had, particularly in sanford where there have been marches in the street and rallies and people calling for justice? >> yes. any high-profile case adds extra elements to it. adds extra problems to it. whether or not the case can be tried in seminole county is one. and the fact it gets so much focus and so much attention, people tend to microanalyze so that every decision has significance, to when it may not. it's part of a lengthy process that's now getting started. but i do need to run. don't mean to cut this short, but i actually have many people right outside my office waiting for me to walk out the door. >> as well i can imagine. mark o'mara, thank you for joining us here. we'll be checking in with you in the future. next, our breaking news coverage of george zimmerman's arrest. we'll bring in the legal experts to break down the case further. and north korea, the window to fire that rocket is now open. how soon before liftoff and will it bring us into a brave, bold, scary new world? stay with us. interviewer: you were there the day the priceline negotiator went down in that fiery bus crash. sister kathleen: we lost a beautiful man that day but we gained the knowledge that priceline has thousands and thousands of hotels on sale everyday so i can choose the perfect one for me without bidding. ooh, my. this one has an infinity pool. i love those. they just...and then drop off... ...kind of like the negotiator. narrator: save right now on thousands and thousands of hotels during the spring sale at priceline. in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our anniversary matter to you? because for 200 years, we've been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. and the next great idea could be yours. ♪ we have live pictures right now there as mark o'mara, who we spoke to moments ago on this program holding a press conference down there in florida where he's talking about this case. he is the new attorney representing george zimmerman. to recap what he told us, he's very new to the case right now. he's trying to figure out what they're going to do. he's certainly going to plead self-defense. his client will certainly plead not guilty. there are some concerns about venue, whether or not they can get away from this glare of publicity around the case and find a jury that they think can be fair in this case. he says it's going to be very complicated for a while here. for the next couple of weeks he's going to be a very, very busy man. we'll be busy monitoring his press conference and try to bring you more of his comments from that later on to bolster what he told us a short while ago. there are two sides to every story and of course every trial. the story of george zimmerman is no different. when he finally does get his day in court, his defense lawyers and prosecutors will have a mountain of evidence at their finger tips. joining me are sunny hostin and cnn legal contributor paul callan right now. i'm going to ask you two to play two sides of the fence on this because this case is going to be one of those the whole country watches. let me start off, first of all, with the question of defense. paul, let's talk about the evidence for the defense here. it seems to me there are a couple of points that are in the defense's favor to a degree. zimmerman's physical shape upon the arrest. the police said he indeed had a bloody nose, a bloody back of his head, the back of his shirt was wet as if he were rolling on the ground. this is his defense, he was attacked, put on his back, he was defending himself. secondly, his cooperation with police. he didn't try to run, get rid of the murder weapon or do any of those things. are those the cornerstone of your defense? >> those are very strong points of the defense. zimmerman is going to say that he's captain of the watch really, which is a group that's a security group within the gated community. he sees this strange individual. he had never seen trayvon martin before walking on a dark night, rainy night, into the community. he thinks he doesn't belong there. when he tries to approach him, he eventually calls the police. when the police say back off, he in fact does back off. turns and starts to walk back towards his vehicle. it's at that point that he's jumped from behind by trayvon martin, knocked to the ground and pummeled. now, remember martin is a 6'1" football player. he's a weight lifter, he's obviously in great shape. he's pounding and pounding against zimmerman. zimmerman reaches for the gun and fires to save his own life. that's the defense. >> the prosecution over here wants in. >> really, really? >> how do you respond to that version of the story? >> the bottom line is to be sure that angela corey, the prosecutor, who just charged george zimmerman with second-degree murder knows a lot more about the facts that i know sitting right here and that tells me she has a lot of evidence to prove second-degree murder beyond a reasonable doubt. what do we know? we know that george zimmerman was the first aggressor. he is not entitled to the stand your ground defense. he was told to stand down. he was told not to follow trayvon martin. trayvon martin was unarmed. george zimmerman was armed. >> i'm going to interrupt you for a minute because we're going to dip in to this presser we mentioned with mark o'mara. he said something we want you to hear. >> all of emotions are running high in all of central florida, but we'll see. as we get closer to the point where we're resolving it, we don't even know if we'll have a trial. >> what's going to happen tomorrow in a seminole county courtroom? >> my hope, if i can get back in and finish the work, we'll have a bond hearing motion set by a judge. an initial appearance will be held and at that point the judge can consider what to do with the then existing bond schedule of no bond, which is what seminole county has as a bond schedule for second-degree murder and that we can convince him or her that a bond is appropriate. >> what time is the hearing? >> it's not set yet. i think that they -- >> 1:30 when they normally have it? >> maybe at 9:00, maybe at 1:30. i do not know yet. >> mark, his former attorneys made him sound a little frantic. how did he sound to you? how was his voice? >> he is troubled by everything that has happened. i cannot imagine living in george zimmerman's shoes for the past number of weeks. only because he has sort of been the focus of a lot of anger and maybe confusion and maybe some hatred. and that's got to be difficult. i mean truly it must be frightening to not be able to go into a 7-eleven or into a store and literally to be in effect a prisoner wherever he was. so that would trouble all of us and i'm sure that he's wearing some of the fallout from that. >> did he sound okay, though? did he sound like he's lost it? >> he was rational to me. he understood what i was saying, i understood what he was saying. we're communicating well. we'll see. i have no idea other than that. >> some people describe it as going rogue and wasn't returning calls and putting up a website. did you have that conversation, like if i'm going to represent you, we've got to do this my way? >> i think mr. zimmerman and i have a good understanding of what i can offer to him and how he can best allow me to be a good lawyer for him. and i think that there may have been some misunderstandings or confusions or maybe even some inaccuracies with the way the last couple of days went from sunday to tuesday. that doesn't sit well with me. >> what advice did you give him today? >> stay calm, listen to my advice. >> which was what? >> which is to stay calm. as i give you advice in the future, i sort of am the professional in doing this. and i'm only going to give him good advice after i think it through and we'll be working together. he's obviously a significant part of the defense team. there's a lot that he can do to keep things on track as well. he seems very willing to listen and to, you know, do what we have to do to move forward. >> are you going to visit him tonight or wait until tomorrow? >> again, he's in law enforcement custody right now so i don't have as much free access to him. they are going to grant me access as soon as we are within the same geographical area and i'm presuming that's going to happen hopefully tonight, but i don't know that. >> mark, as this moves forward, what do you do to make sure that he stays safe? >> i don't know. you know, the first thing is i reach out to the community and say he's been charged, he's been arrested, he's a criminal defendant now. let the process work. do not -- let's not prejudge anyone any longer. let's just let the process work. there is a lot of high emotions. maybe some of them have been salved by the fact that there have been an arrest. let's just let the process work. the worst thing that can happen in this case is that it doesn't get tried properly where it's supposed to. because then no matter what the results are, it's not going to be a proper result. give us our chance to do it the way it's supposed to be done. >> have they said if he's going to be confined in seminole county? >> i would presume because of the some of the high emotions of the case they will have him in what they call protective custody. that they will keep him safe and separate until we figure it out. >> are you worried about your own safety? >> no, i don't believe so. i'm a criminal defense attorney. i've done it a long time. i'm doing a job. he is a client who has a lot of hatred focused on him right now. i'm hoping that the hatred settles down now that we're sort of moving forward. i truly hope none of it is focused on me. quite honestly without getting on a soap box, this is what i'm supposed to do. he's been charged with a crime. we have rules, we have laws, we have constitutions. the victim's family has absolute rights to be involved in the process. he has rights to his own safety and to the case being tried properly in front of a judge, jury, prosecutor, negotiations, whatever. it doesn't need to be tried with somebody hating him or throwing, you know, something somewhere. let's just try it where it's supposed to be tried. >> would you expect bond to be set and a reasonable bond that they could afford? would that be normal? >> i would say if you looked at a percentage, that bonds are normally granted in second-degree murder cases. we do know there are questions, just from what the media has stated, but there are questions about how it happened. so i think that also lends to the suggestion that maybe he should be out. i want him out because i need him out to help me in my defense. so very selfishly i want him around so i can have free access to him. because he's an integral part. i hope he'll get a bond. that's out of my hands and up to a judge. >> but you'll ask for one? >> absolutely. >> do you feel like in some ways zimmerman is better off being charged, to let the system work? this is what people were screaming about. >> oh, i think he'll be better off if they decided not to charge him. understandably, again, she had all the evidence and i trust her to have been a good prosecutor. i'm not going to second guess her decision when i don't have any of the evidence. i'm not going to be presumptuous and say she's wrong. she's a good prosecutor, we'll see what happens. >> when will you get it? >> basically 15 days within the date that this has happened, we'll start having an information flow. >> that's mark o'mara, the new attorney representing george zimmerman in this highly contentious case down in sanford, florida, we've been covering for so many weeks now. i want to return to our conversation with sunny hostin and paul callen. we were talking about the two sides of this thing. what's going to happen on the prosecution side and on the defense side. paul, you went over some of the defense. on the prosecution side, it seems to me some of the high points the prosecution has up front is that trayvon martin was unarmed and he wound up dead. >> right. >> zimmerman's pursuit of martin, this notion that he was at some point following him. it is not clear what happened in this intervening time, whether he continued following him. he says he didn't. he says that martin came after him but we don't know that. and also the victim's age. all of those it would seem to me in terms of the prosecution are going to be positive points. >> i think so. of course the fact that trayvon martin, as you mentioned, was