He killed Trayvon Martin, now George Zimmerman is suing — everyone. Why? | Editorial
George Zimmerman burst back into the news on Wednesday, just in time for the holiday season — and to create a controversy in Coral Gables.
You remember Zimmerman? He was acquitted in the 2012 fatal shooting of unarmed 17-year-old, Miami Gardens resident Trayvon Martin in Sanford — a case that rocked Florida.
The former neighborhood watch volunteer now blames everyone involved in his failed prosecution — and he wants money, $100 million — to be exact.
Zimmerman is suing/blaming Martin’s parents, prosecutors and witnesses who played a role in his case.
He claims the prosecution was built on evidence and a timeline provided by a friend of the teen who was on the phone with him when Zimmerman confronted Trayvon, walking to his father’s apartment in the Sanford development where Zimmerman also lived.
Trayvon was walking back from a convenience store through the development.
He looked suspicious to Zimmerman, who tragically approached the teen.
A struggle ensued and the teen was fatally wounded by the armed Zimmerman. Zimmerman’s attorney used the Stand Your Ground defense in his 2013 trial.
Now, Zimmerman and his new attorney, Larry Klayman, founder of Judicial Watch, cite as basis of their Polk County suit the information in a documentary about the case titled “The Trayvon Hoax.”
It accuses the Martin family of engineering false testimony at Zimmerman’s trial. The director had scheduled a press conference this week in Coral Gables to coincide with a film screening at the Coral Gables Art Cinema. That screening has now been canceled, sparking a social media to-do.
Klayman, a high-profile legal crusader, said he plans to fight the cinema’s cancellation and accused the mayor of Coral Gables, Raul Valdés-Fauli, with engineering it.
Valdés-Fauli denied having anything to do with the cancellation, according to the Miami Herald. It remains true that wherever Zimmerman goes, trouble soon follows.
But back to Zimmerman’s lawsuit: Setting aside the arrogance, irony and the merits of the case aside, we have one wish for Zimmerman, who’s turned into a bad penny since this tragedy occurred.
He seems to get arrested every couple of years, bouncing back onto the headlines — like he just did Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Trayvon’s parents have started a foundation in his name and written a book in tribute to their son. His mother, Sybrina Fulton, is running for Miami-Dade commissioner. Zimmerman has been arrested for domestic violence, a gun scuffle in a road rage incidents and also for stalking.
And now Zimmerman wants to go back to court, this time for big money — and likely to create his brand of reality about the case.
The Martin’s family attorney, Benjamin Crump, called the suit “unfounded” and “another failed attempt to defend the indefensible and a shameless attempt to profit off the lives and grief of others.” That sounds about right.
All Floridians should rue the day that Trayvon Martin encountered this troubled and tortured man.
We have one request of Zimmerman: Please, go away and leave Trayvon’s parents alone.
