Seven years after George Zimmerman was acquitted for killing unarmed black teen, Trayvon Martin, he fired off a $100 million lawsuit at his family, their attorneys, and prosecutors.
The former neighborhood watch volunteer claimed he was defending himself after Martin, 17, allegedly attacked him in a gated Florida community in February 2012.
Martin, who was visiting his father at the time, had no criminal record and surveillance footage showed he was just talking on the phone with his girlfriend and buying 7-11 snacks. Zimmerman’s acquittal sparked the viral #BlackLivesMatter movement.
He had a few run ins with the law over the years and it looks like he wants “justice” in the Trayvon Martin case. Zimmerman’s attorney, Boca Raton-based Larry Klayman, a former federal prosecutor, said the lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Polk County.
Zimmerman alleges the key witness in the 2013 trial, Rachel Jeantel, was an “imposter and fake witness.” He added that the Sanford Police Department closed the case as self-defense. But Martin’s family retaliated a week later with an audio recording of Martin’s then-16-year-old girlfriend, Diamond Eugene.
The complaint claims two weeks later Jeantel, 17, told prosecutors she was Diamond Eugene “and provided false statements to incriminate Zimmerman based on coaching from others.”
His lawyers argue that his cell phone records doesn’t indicate that Jeantel is his girlfriend, or that they were on the phone together before the incident. “She lied repeatedly to cause Zimmerman’s arrest and to try to send him to prison for life,” as per the complaint.
During the trial, Rachel Jeantel told the court she signed her name as Diamond Eugene in a letter to Martin’s mother about the shooting.
According to the lawsuit, “Defendant Jeantel lied repeatedly about having a relationship with Trayvon, about being on the phone with Trayvon in the days and minutes up to his death, and lied about everything she claimed to have heard over the phone in the hours and minutes prior to Trayvon’s death. Defendant Jeantel also lied about her identity, falsely claiming her nickname to be ‘Diamond Eugene.’ “
Lawyers claim the real Diamond Eugene is Brittany Diamond Eugene, a Miami resident who “refused to bear false witness against Zimmerman.” “It was a complete travesty of justice which destroyed my client’s life,” Klayman said. “People are destroyed and smeared and they have to start fighting back.”
The suit claims George Zimmerman dropped out of school after the trial, received death threats, and suffered “great mental anguish, resulting in Zimmerman requiring professional treatment by psychologists for anxiety, depression, insomnia, and weight gain.”
Zimmerman is also going after civil rights attorney Crump and HarperCollins Publishers, accusing them of defamation for the book “Open Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored People,” “with actual malice knowing the untruth or at a minimum a reckless disregard for the truth,” according to the lawsuit.
In other news, Trayvon’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, is running for 2020 Democrat candidate for the Miami-Dade County Commission, District 1 seat. Make sure you vote if you’re a resident of that area.
“Y’all killed X and let Zimmerman live, shhh, the streets is done.” – JAY-Z
