7 people to blame for the Trayvon Martin hysteria

With the killing of the unarmed black teen in legal limbo, and the actual shooter never in doubt, people are pointing fingers in both odd and predictable directions

Acting Sanford, Fla., Police Chief Darren Scott answers questions about the Trayvon Martin controversy: Critics charge that some local cops attempted to cover up the shooting.
(Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Everyone seems to agree on at least the basic details of the Feb. 26 shooting death of Trayvon Martin: A neighborhood watchman, George Zimmerman, killed the unarmed black 17-year-old after a scuffle of some kind in an Orlando-area gated community. Zimmerman said it was self-defense, and has not been arrested. Just about everything else is being hashed out, increasingly loudly, in the public sphere. Who's to blame for this headline-grabbing controversy and the death that prompted it? Here, seven groups or people at the receiving end of accusatory fingers:

1. The media

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