Updated at 5:27 p.m. ET: SANFORD, Fla. --  A day after a Florida judge raised George Zimmerman's bond to $1 million dollars, donations to a legal defense fund in Zimmerman's name have gone up by more than a third, according to a statement released Friday by his legal defense team.

Read statement here

The statement was posted on www.gzlegalcase.com, the official website for Zimmerman's legal defense. The website is managed by the law firm of Mark O'Mara, Zimmerman's defense attorney.

Zimmerman was released from the Seminole County Jail at 2:49 p.m ET Friday after posting $1 million bond.

Zimmerman posts $1 million bond, released from Florida jail

According to the statement, supporters donated approximately $20,000 since Thursday, when Seminole County Circuit Judge Kenneth R. Lester, Jr. released his bond ruling.

The number marks -- in only one day's haul -- a sharp spike in donations making up a significant portion of earlier totals.

According to the statement, Zimmerman's legal defense fund had previously received approximately $55,000 in donations during the two months prior to the ruling.

Zimmerman, 28, is accused of second-degree murder in the Feb. 26th shooting death of Trayvon Martin, 17, inside a gated community here in Sanford.

Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, pleaded not guilty and told police he acted in self-defense after Martin punched him and knocked his head against the pavement.

Thursday, Seminole County Circuit Court Judge Kenneth R. Lester, Jr. ordered Zimmerman's bond raised to $1 million in light of revelations Zimmerman and his wife, Shellie Zimmerman, had misled the court about their finances during an April 20 bond hearing.

Last month, Lester yanked Zimmerman's earlier bond of $150,000 and ordered him back to jail after prosecutors showed that the couple failed to disclose at least $130,000 in donations to a Pay Pal account.

"Under any definition, the defendant has flaunted the system," Lester wrote in his ruling Thursday, noting that Zimmerman also failed to disclose a second passport.

"Although there is no record of flight to avoid prosecution, this court finds that circumstances indicate that the defendant was preparing to flee to avoid prosecution, but such plans were thwarted," Lester added in his ruling.

'Now is the time'
Within hours of the bond ruling, Zimmerman's defense team countered with its own strongly-worded statement, declaring that Zimmerman was not a flight risk, and renewing calls for donations.

"For those that think Mr. Zimmerman has been treated unfairly by the media, for those who feel Mr. Zimmerman has been falsely accused as a racist, for those who feel this case is an affront to their constitutional rights," the statement read, "now is the time to show your support."

Zimmerman quietly left jail earlier this afternoon, dressed in the grey suit he has worn to court appearances. He answered no questions from media, and was whisked off in a large SUV.

A bond document released by the Seminole County Sheriff's Office on Friday showed Zimmerman paid a bail bond company $100,000 in cash -- 10 percent of the $1 million dollar bond.

View bond document here (pdf.)

His parents, the document shows, put up their house as collateral.

Speaking to reporters outside jail several minutes after Zimmerman's release, Don West, a lawyer for Zimmerman, said his client needed only to place $85,000 of the cash amount, because the bail bond company considered as credit a payment in April of $15,000 on an earlier bond. (Zimmerman paid $15,000 -- 10 percent -- to secure release on April 23 on his original bond of $150,000.) 

Renewed efforts
The defense team's renewed fundraising effort may demonstrate the mounting expense of a legal case in which each twist and turn produces new costs -- and ever more attention from the national media.

O'Mara, Zimmerman's lead defense lawyer, told WESH-TV's Bob Kealing Thursday that Zimmerman's legal defense could cost up to $2 million.

In an interview with NBC News last week -- before the renewed fundraising effort -- O'Mara said that Zimmerman's defense fund had about $211,000 dollars but the money was already being spent on hiring staff and other legal costs.

According to O'Mara, Zimmerman's defense fund is managed by a third-party administrator who is a former IRS agent.  O'Mara established the fund after he shuttered Zimmerman's Pay Pal account.

WESH is NBC's affiliate station in Orlando.

Also Friday, Zimmerman's lawyers said a security team has established a "safe house" in Seminole County where Zimmerman will stay "until a more permanent secure location can be established."

Among the conditions of Judge Lester's order, Zimmerman cannot leave Seminole County without authorization from the court, and is barred from drinking alcohol or holding a bank account.

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SANFORD, Fla. -- It was once Florida’s tourism motto: “The rules are different here.”

John E. Polk Correctional Facility / Reuters file

George Zimmerman, shown in a handout booking photo.

And that is now once again holding true as this state’s permissive public records laws are clarified by Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester.

In the highly charged second-degree murder case against George Zimmerman, accused of shooting unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, evidence that would ordinarily remain sealed from public view in many other states will soon be revealed for any and all to see. Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty. Police in Sanford say he told officers on the night of the shooting that he acted in self-defense.

Florida’s public records laws date to 1967, and while they’ve stood the test of time through a series of high-profile cases, including the trials of serial killer Ted Bundy, serial killer Danny Rolling and accused baby killer Casey Anthony – who was acquitted on all charges – Lester says 2012 is a different time.

“The majority of case law … predates the rise of the blogosphere, where the Internet has made news and opinion instantly available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” he writes.   

“Until recently, a change of venue would be sufficient to ensure that an impartial jury could be selected because the local print and television media would primarily focus on local news.” 
 
So what new evidence can the public expect to see? 

• Zimmerman spoke to law enforcement and those conversations, interrogations and interviews were likely recorded.  While prosecutors claim they’re confessions, the defense says they are not.  Soon, you’ll be able to read transcripts, and perhaps listen, too, and draw your own conclusions. 

• Statement by Witness No. 9. Sources tell NBC News Witness No. 9 made some highly inflammatory claims about Zimmerman. They’re the type of claims, say those familiar with the recording, that may be off-topic but are an assault on Zimmerman’s character. For Zimmerman’s defense team, this witness may offer little in the courtroom, but sources familiar with the statements say they could be devastating in the court of public opinion. 

• Zimmerman was given a “stress test” by Sanford police the night of the shooting. Sources tell NBC News he passed the test. Prosecutors did not want the test released because they say the science is suspect. While it’s unclear whether the test would be acceptable in a court of law, it’s about to become public, again for any and all to judge relevant or worthless.

• All the crime scene photos, other than those showing Martin’s body, will become public. That again will allow amateur sleuths to piece together theories of the crime and, as the judge notes, publish any and all opinions and conclusions on the Internet.

Defense Attorney Mark O’Mara said at a recent hearing the problem with making all of these records public is “we can’t control what the media chooses to publish.”

Related story

Court docs: Trayvon Martin shooting 'ultimately avoidable by Zimmerman'

The lawmakers who long ago established Florida’s public records laws argued, in part, that the purpose of opening all files was to let anyone choose what they find important. Transparency, they argued, also holds everyone accountable, including the prosecutor, who by nature of the job has an established authority and presumed unassailable integrity.

But in an evolving Internet-driven world, Special Prosecutor Angela Corey believes it’s time for change. She says she’s going to take the public records debate to the Florida Legislature in 2013. She says she wants to change the laws established 45 years ago because she says lawmakers then could not have predicted the impact of the Internet today on our justice system.

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Kim Hairston / Kim Hairston, Baltimore Sun

Left to right, Avi Werdesheim, 20, and, Eliyalu Eliezer Werdesheim, 23, charged with assaulting a black teenager while members of Shomrim, a Jewish neighborhood patrol group, leave the Circuit Court after their arraignment.

Two brothers accused of beating a black teenager in Baltimore, Md., while patrolling for an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood watch are seeking to postpone their trial that had been set to begin Monday because of publicity comparing their case to the Trayvon Martin shooting.

Defense attorney Andrew Alperstein requested the delay on behalf of Eliyahu and Avi Werdesheim, saying there were similarities and significant differences between the two cases, but it could be difficult for jurors to separate them as details of the Martin case come out.

In the Martin case, 28-year-old George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, claimed he shot the 17-year-old Martin in self-defense on Feb. 26. Prosecutors later charged Zimmerman with second-degree murder. The 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.

"We believe a delay until the [George] Zimmerman matter settles down would be in the best interests of justice," Alperstein said, The Baltimore Sun reported.

Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Sylvester B. Cox, who did not make a ruling, ordered the brothers to return Tuesday morning, according to the Baltimore Sun.

The Werdesheims, who are white and Jewish, have claimed self-defense in the 2010 incident, saying the teen was holding a board studded with nails. The trial has already been postponed six times.

The Werdesheims are accused of beating a 15-year-old boy who was walking through a Baltimore neighborhood in November 2010. The brothers pulled up next to the teen in a vehicle, then got out and surrounded him, according to charging documents. The passenger threw the teen to the ground and the driver hit him in the head with a hand-held radio and patted him down.

Zimmerman's attorney apologizes for client's apology to Trayvon Martin's parents

The teen remembered the driver yelling, "You wanna (mess) with us, you don't belong around here, get outta here!" according to court documents, which do not identify which brother was driving.

The teen was cut on the back of his head and had a broken wrist, according to court documents, the Associated Press reported. The teen later identified Eliyahu Werdesheim, now 24, as one of the men who assaulted him. He was arrested after about 10 days; his now 21-year-old brother was charged two months later.

The brothers are charged with second-degree assault, false imprisonment and carrying a deadly weapon (the hand-held radio). The pair face up to 13 years in prison if convicted on all three counts.

Eliyahu Werdesheim has been suspended from the neighborhood group while Avi was never a member, according to Baltimore officials.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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The lawyer for George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer charged with killing Trayvon Martin, has asked the judge in the case to step down, citing a potential conflict of interest.

NBC News confirmed that Zimmerman's lawyer, Mark O'Mara, filed the request on Monday to disqualify Judge Jessica J. Recksiedler in Seminole County Circuit Court.  

"What I don't want to happen is to wait a month or two then what we find out is a potential conflict is an actual conflict," O'Mara told reporters during a press conference in Orlando, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

O’Mara said he met with Zimmerman on Monday and talked about asking for a new judge, according to the Sentinel.

Recksiedler's potential conflict involves her husband, who works with Orlando attorney Mark NeJame. NeJame currently works for CNN as an analyst on the Zimmerman case, according to the Sentinel.

Zimmerman was charged last week with second-degree murder in Trayvon Martin's shooting death on Feb. 26. Zimmerman, 28, is pleading not guilty, saying it was self-defense. Martin, 17, was unarmed.

Tough for Zimmerman to get fair trial, defense attorneys say

Also on Monday, Reuters reported that Zimmerman’s neighbors say he had bandages on his nose and head the day after he shot Martin, supporting statements by Zimmerman that he was beaten in a confrontation with the Florida teen. The neighbors spoke to Reuters on Sunday and Monday, saying they felt they owed him their public support after he was charged with second-degree murder.

Public doubts had been raised after the release of a grainy surveillance video from the police station in which no injuries were readily visible.

Currently, all court documents on the case are kept secret, according to NBC News. Lawyers on behalf of Florida have contested the sealing of documents.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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When George Zimmerman made his initial court appearance on Thursday charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, he had a new lawyer at his side: Mark O’Mara, described by a longtime friend as a “fearless” lawyer and a “renaissance man.”

The central Florida defense attorney and former prosecutor has nearly 30 years of experience under his belt, representing clients in criminal cases ranging from drunk driving to the death penalty. He also has clocked time in front of the television cameras, serving as a legal analyst for local station WKMG Channel 6, where he commented on high-profile cases, including the Casey Anthony case and even the Martin one – before he was hired to represent Zimmerman.

“He’s a brilliant lawyer,” O’Mara’s longtime friend and civil attorney Joseph Flood told msnbc.com, as well as a “renaissance man” who loves the arts and the Orlando Magic, rides a Harley and is very family-oriented. “I think he’ll be able to manage both the criminal prosecution side, which is going to be a big task, but also just as importantly he’ll be able to manage the media side of it.

“He will come up with the best defense that Mr. Zimmerman is entitled to get.”

From 1982-1984, O’Mara was an assistant state attorney in the Seminole County State Attorney's Office after graduating from Florida State University College of Law, Tallahassee. He has been an active member of the Central Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, according to a former president of the group, Melissa Vickers.

“He’s very well respected. … He’s a great trial attorney,” she told msnbc.com. “They’re in very good hands.”

Flood said O’Mara has handled numerous first-degree murder cases. Questions have been raised about whether he would use the "Stand Your Ground" defense for his new client -- a neighborhood watch volunteer accused of fatally shooting unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in a gated community on Feb. 26.

Under the “Stand Your Ground” law, a citizen doesn’t have to retreat before using deadly force against an attacker.

When asked by reporters after Thursday's hearing how many "Stand Your Ground" cases he has handled, O'Mara said: “Self-defense cases, which is really what you’re speaking of, a number of them. It shows up in a lot of personal crimes."

"I have not had one to a jury since the 'Stand Your Ground' statute, but I’ve had a couple that have utilized that as … sort of an impact on it,” he added.

One local high-profile case he handled was that of radio personality Shannon Burke, who shot his wife’s dog in a fit of anger. The bullet also grazed his wife’s head. Flood said O’Mara managed to get a nominal sentence for Burke, who received six months after pleading guilty to animal cruelty and opening fire in a building.

“He’s fearless. I mean, he doesn’t mind taking on those kinds of cases … cases that have media scrutiny where people are looking over your shoulder and every word that you say is being posted on YouTube … every single thing you do is being called into question by 17 supposed experts,” said Flood.

“He believes in the process enough that he thinks they deserve a defense, too,” he said of high-profile defendants like Zimmerman, who has become a lightning rod in the debate over race relations. “The character that I admire in him about that is his willingness to put his skills on the line when not just a client and maybe a judge are watching, but when the whole city and, in this case, the whole world is watching.”

In mid-March, long before he took on Zimmerman as a client, O’Mara, 56,  said on WKMG that Zimmerman’s shooting of the 17-year-old teen in a gated community in Sanford, Fla. – which he has claimed was in self-defense – could be legally justified under the “Stand Your Ground” law.

"People call it the license-to-murder statute because it doesn't require actions to avoid the confrontation," said O'Mara. "If you can present evidence or at least your own testimony that (you) felt in fear that he was going to commit great bodily injury or death, that is what kicks in the statutory protection that you're allowed to respond with deadly force."

The “Stand Your Ground” law also can let a judge, in an evidentiary hearing before a jury trial, determine that a defendant can’t be prosecuted due to the self-defense argument.

Martin's mom: Killing was an 'accident'

On Tuesday night, after Zimmerman’s former attorneys said they were no longer representing him, O’Mara said on WKMG that he was “surprised that two attorneys who were no longer counsel talked for an hour about a case that they’re no longer involved in.

AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack

Mark O'Mara, addresses reporters outside his offices in Orlando, Fla., on Wednesday, April 11, 2012.

“I think that was a little problematic. You’re not supposed to talk about a client’s case, for the most part at all, and yet they answered dozens of questions,” he said in remarks reported by the Orlando Sentinel.

When asked by an anchor if that could be detrimental to the case put forward by Zimmerman’s eventual lawyer, he responded: “Very potentially. If George Zimmerman came to me tomorrow and said, ‘I want you to represent me,’ I would look at the press conference and say, ‘Mr. Uhrig identified a potential defense. He outlined the facts of what happened, and he cemented what George Zimmerman can now say.’ And that’s problematic if other evidence comes out that conflicts with it.”

Second-degree murder charge surprises legal experts

O’Mara, a former president of the Seminole County Bar Association, said Zimmerman’s family contacted him about representing him and then he spoke with his new client, according to cfnews13.com.

Flood said he spoke with O’Mara on Wednesday while he was deciding whether to take the case. Flood said he thought the case was a good fit.

“I told him I think he should take the case, that I thought he’d be the perfect lawyer for it,” he said.

On Rock Center with Brian Williams on Wednesday night, O’Mara said: ‘Certainly self-defense seems to have presented itself as part of the one facet of the defense, and yes, the hold your ground statute, which sort of … authorizes or codifies the standard of self-defense in Florida is going to be one of the things that we’re going to look into.”

“We have to look at what the statute says that is presently the law in Florida, it may be up for review because of this case,” he said. “But presently, that statute basically says if a person is in reasonable fear of … great bodily injury or death they can react to it. We need to see what the facts say to support which way it happened.”

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Sanford police say their marked patrol car was shot at several times while parked outside a Florida elementary school, near the gated community where Trayvon Martin was shot and killed.

Updated at 4:48 p.m. ET: Police in Sanford, Fla., say a marked patrol car was shot at several times Tuesday morning while parked near the gated community where teenager Trayvon Martin was shot and killed.

No one was inside the cruiser at the time of the 4:30 a.m. shooting, according to Seminole County Sheriff's Office deputies, NBC News affiliate WESH-TV in Orlando reported.

Several bullets damaged the car’s front windshield, a side door window and the hood, Sanford Police Sgt. David Morgenstern told msnbc.com.

"I don't know how many bullets were fired, but I can say that it was several. We're checking and looking into everything," Morgenstern said.

Morgenstern would not provide any other details.

The patrol car was parked outside Bentley Elementary School to deter tour buses from using the school’s property during the day and evening, according to Morgenstern.

Mich. teacher: I was fired over Trayvon Martin fundraiser

He said police stationed a patrol car at the school with the aim of helping students and teachers navigate through the increased traffic.  A number of tour buses have headed into the area to visit the shooting site, Morgenstern said.

"Apparently the buses are coming in to pay their respects to the Trayvon Martin memorial," Morgenstern said.

The elementary school is across the street from Retreat at Twin Lakes, the gated subdivision where the 17-year-old Martin was shot to death by George Zimmerman, 28, a neighborhood watch volunteer, on Feb. 26. Zimmerman has claimed self-defense, telling police Martin attacked him. Martin, who was black, was unarmed. Zimmerman, whose father is white and mother is Hispanic, has not been charged. 

George Zimmerman takes to Web to raise money for legal costs, lawyers confirm

A special prosecutor is looking into the case. The U.S. Justice Department and the FBI are also conducting their own investigations.

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SANFORD, Fla. -- FBI agents on Monday were questioning potential witnesses in the Trayvon Martin shooting, confirming to NBC News that the agency had begun a "parallel investigation" that focuses on whether the teen's civil rights were violated.

Agents are seeking information on George Zimmerman's background and whether he was racially motivated when he pursued Martin after calling a 911 police dispatcher about his presence in the community, an FBI official told NBC.

The agents were at the Retreat at Twin Lakes, where Martin was shot dead by Zimmerman, the gated community's neighborhood watch captain.

The state of Florida is conducting its own investigation in the shooting and that one is being overseen by a special prosecutor.

Although the Justice Department two weeks ago publicly announced it would examine potential civil rights violations, the arrival of bureau agents represents a new phase in inquiries into the case.

A senior law enforcement official confirmed that one potential piece of evidence is records of Zimmerman's prior 911 calls to police dispatchers.

The call sheets show that five of seven phone calls Zimmerman had made since last August involved what he viewed as suspicious activity by young men identified as "black males." But the call sheets do not indicate whether Zimmerman was asked about the race of the suspects or volunteered that information.

Zimmerman, who has not come forward to talk about the shooting, acknowledged to police that he shot Martin but insists it was self-defense.

The incident has sparked outrage in many quarters because Martin, who was black, was unarmed.

Craig Sonner, Zimmerman's lawyer, has insisted that his client, who has a white father and Hispanic mother, is not racist. "This was not a case of racial profiling," he told NBC News on Sunday. "George Zimmerman is not a racist."

Sonner told Reuters on Monday that Zimmerman would turn himself in to police should he be charged.

Also Monday, lawyer's for Martin's parents said they would ask the Justice Department to investigate the local prosecutor's interactions with police handling the probe into their son's death.

The Justice Department initiated a query on March 19, but the family wants them to look into possible interference by State Attorney Norm Wolfinger's office with the Sanford police investigation of Martin’s Feb. 26 death, NBCMiami.com reported.

The Sanford Police Department requested an arrest warrant from Wolfinger’s office in the shooting, but the state attorney's office held off until the case could be reviewed further, according to NBCMiami.com.

Experts: Screams on 911 call not Zimmerman
Video shows Zimmerman after shooting

Two audio experts who have analyzed the 911 tapes from the fatal evening have determined that Zimmerman was not the person heard crying for help.

"The tests concluded that it's not the voice of Mr. Zimmerman," said Tom Owen, of Owen Forensic Services LLC and chair emeritus for the American Board of Recorded Evidence.

Asked if he thought such tests would be admissible in court, Owen said "yes" and noted he had recently used similar testing in testimony at a Connecticut murder case that involved a 911 call.

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Courtesy of Kevin Cunningham

Kevin Cunningham started a petition on change.org calling for the prosecution of the man who shot Florida teen Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26.

When Kevin Cunningham read about the killing of teenager Trayvon Martin early this month, he turned to a platform he was just starting to experiment with – social media – to add his voice to the few that were expressing outrage about a Florida police department’s handling of the case.

Little did he know when he started an online petition demanding that authorities prosecute the shooter, that it would garner more than 2 million signatures and help draw international attention to the 17-year-old’s shooting death on Feb. 26.

“I decided to take the skills that I’ve been working on … and apply them to the situation and see how well it would work out, and it just went crazy on me,” said Cunningham, 31, of Washington, D.C., who created the petition on the Change.org website on March 8.

“What I’ve learned is that in social media, you don’t have to go through institutions anymore. … Any individual with any idea can make it work if they have (a) connection to the Internet,”  he added.

Video shows Zimmerman shortly after Martin shooting

Cunningham, a red-head who describes himself as the “super Irish” son of activist parents, said he learned about the Martin case when he read a story posted on a listserv for Men of Howard, an informal, secretive fraternity that he joined while attending the historically black Howard University as a law student.

When he suggested starting an online appeal calling for prosecution of the shooter, neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, the proposal was met with both support and skepticism from other subscribers.

“At Howard, they tell us as soon as we get there, ‘If you’re going to be a lawyer, you’re either a social engineer or a parasite on society.’ … that’s how I think about life, is to be a social engineer, and that’s what my parents always were trying to be," he said.

When Cunningham launched the appeal, others in the fraternity posted it to their social networks. Later, current students and other alumni shared it, too.

'Made me feel very good'
On the first day, Cunningham believes the petition got 100 signatures. Then it quickly reached the 1,000 mark as it spread to Florida, California and beyond. Cunningham said he noticed that some of the signers identified themselves as family members or friends of Martin.

“You could tell there ... was a lot of people who knew him and liked him,” he said. “It definitely had an impact on me … it made me feel very good about what I had done, what we had done.”

Zimmerman has admitted to shooting Martin. His representatives have asserted he acted in self-defense, but the incident has sparked outrage in many quarters because Martin was unarmed and, according to critics of police handling of the case, may have been targeted because he was black.

When the number of signatures on Cunningham’s petition crested 10,000 after a few days, Change.org contacted him about transferring it to Martin’s parents, who had begun making media appearances to speak on behalf of their slain son.

Cunningham said he was happy to do so, noting several times in an interview with msnbc.com that he had wanted to remain behind the scenes.

He also played down his role in the petition’s explosive growth, saying the number of signers when he transferred it to Martin’s parents was “not even a rounding error” compared to where the number stands now.

“At the same time, I feel like I did kick the stone that turned into the snowball that caused the avalanche,” he said.

Grateful for a stranger's gesture
Martin's parents expressed gratitude.

"When we heard about the petition, we were overwhelmed that someone we didn't know would take the time and effort to raise awareness about our son," said his mother, Sybrina Fulton. 

"From the beginning, our only goal has been getting simple justice for our son," added his father, Tracy Martin. "The fact that more than 2 million people have signed this petition shows there are still a lot of good people in this world."

Transferring a petition on Change.org is extremely rare, said Megan Lubin, a spokeswoman for the website, where nearly 100,000 petitions have been posted since it began operations in 2007.

“Trayvon’s parents were very quickly becoming the face of the national story. It was really their story that was speaking to folks … and I think the decision was made to reach out and see if they would be interested in leading the campaign,” she said.

Congressman escorted from House after wearing hoodie in Trayvon Martin tribute

Lubin noted that an average of 15,000 petitions are started on the site every month, “so for a petition to climb this fast and to grow to this size is truly remarkable.” She attributed the growth in part to “celebrities who have made it their sole mission over their social media pages …to call for folks to sign this petition.”

“It goes directly to the story and Trayvon’s parents,” she added, “but it also demonstrates … the incredible power of the platform and social media in general.”

Website's largest petition ever
The petition became the largest in the website’s history last week, surpassing the number of signatures on one launched last year calling for a law to make it a felony for a guardian not to notify authorities of a child disappearance within 24 hours, in the wake of the Casey Anthony case.

Cunningham’s effort was one of the dozens, if not hundreds, of efforts to publicize the case online that helped to keep the conversation going about Martin “even though there (weren't) a lot of big developments in the case” prior to the release of the 911 tapes, said Kelly McBride, senior faculty for ethics at The Poynter Institute.

“It gave all of those people who were motivated a place to point to and say, ‘Here do something, you know, sign this,’ and it also … became like a central blog for who was making interesting comments on the case,” said McBride, who spoke with Cunningham for a column tracing how the story evolved on social media.

Lubin said it’s up to Trayvon Martin’s parents to decide what to do with the petition.

“The point of Change.org is so that people feel empowered and able to start something at any time and it has to be their campaign,” she said. “ Our role is very much … helping people achieve that goal.”

Cunningham, who works as a social media coordinator for a Palestine children’s charity, KinderUSA, said he “fell in love” with social media during the Egyptian revolution and was inspired by the activists he encountered in the virtual world.

He was particularly moved by the story of Khaled Said, whose death at the hands of police was credited with helping trigger the Egyptian uprising that toppled the government of Hosni Mubarak.

“I thought that this could be a similar situation where the death of the one person could be the thing that triggers us to re-look at our society,” Cunningham said. “I think we need to revolutionize the justice system, for sure, and maybe our culture as well.”

Asked whether he thought people might be surprised to learn that a white man was responsible for the petition demanding justice for a black teenager he had never met, Cunningham said he didn’t “believe in black and white.”

“The only race I believe in is the human race,” he said.