Trayvon Martin and the Yoshihiro Hattori case (1992)

I am aware the circumstances are different (as are the racial dimensions), but I can't help thinking about this old case from 1992 when reading about Trayvon Martin.

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/05/us/louisiana-indicts-man-in-the-killing-of-a-japanese-boy.html?src=pm

Looking at the Wikipedia article on the case, I'm struck by this description:

'Initially, the local police quickly questioned and released Peairs [the shooter], and declined to charge him with any crime. They felt that "Peairs had been within his rights in shooting the trespasser." [2] Only after the governor of Louisiana and the New Orleans Japan consul general protested, did Peairs get charged with manslaughter. Peairs's defense counsel's strategy consisted of a claim that Hattori had an "extremely unusual manner of moving", one which any reasonable person would find "scary", and emphasis on Peairs as an "average Joe", a man just like the jury members' neighbors, a man who "liked sugar in his grits".[3]'

[snip]

'District Attorney Doug Moreau concentrated on establishing that it had not been reasonable for Peairs, a 6-foot-2, well-armed man, to be so fearful of a polite, friendly, unarmed, 130-pound boy, who rang the doorbell, even if he walked toward him unexpectedly in the driveway, and that Peairs was not justified in using deadly force.'