George Zimmerman files $100M lawsuit against Trayvon Martin’s family
George Zimmerman has filed a $100 million lawsuit against Trayvon Martin’s family — six years after he was acquitted of killing the unarmed black teen in Florida.
The former neighborhood watch volunteer accuses Trayvon’s mother, prosecutors and others of conspiring to concoct a false narrative through “imposter and fake witness” Rachel Jeantel, who was on the phone with the teen just before he was shot.
The complaint, filed Tuesday in Polk County court in Florida where Zimmerman lives, also cites the documentary “The Trayvon Hoax: Unmasking the Witness Fraud that Divided America,” which makes similar accusations against the Martin family.
“Because of the arrest, charges, prosecution and federal investigation, Zimmerman lives in constant fear of physical harm due to regular death threats, which often are expressed in rap music as well as online social media commentary,” the suit says.
Zimmerman was charged with murder after fatally shooting Trayvon, 17, in Sanford, Florida, in February 2012. A jury acquitted him a year later, buying into his claim that he fired in self-defense after the teen attacked him.
Prosecutors maintained that the shooting was unjustified — that Travyon was unarmed and carrying a drink and Skittles when he was gunned down.
Zimmerman’s suit lists Trayvon’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, as one of the many defendants. Fulton, who was thrust into the national spotlight following her son’s death, is running for a seat on the Miami-Dade County Commission.
He is also suing Ben Crump, the lawyer who represented the Martin family, for defamation and book publisher HarperCollins for releasing Crump’s book “Open Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored People.”
“I have every confidence that this unfounded and reckless lawsuit will be revealed for what it is — another failed attempt to defend the indefensible and a shameless attempt to profit off the lives and grief of others,” Crump said in a statement Wednesday to the Miami Herald.
Zimmerman is represented by Larry Klayman, founder of conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch.
