George Zimmerman sues Trayvon Martin’s family, prosecutors for $100 million

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...s-trayvon-martins-family-prosecutors-million/

George Zimmerman, the Florida neighborhood watchman who shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012, filed a $100 million lawsuit Wednesday against the teen’s family, a publishing firm and a law enforcement agency for defamation and “malicious prosecution."

The lead defendant is Sybrina Fulton, Martin’s mother, who became one of the many pained faces of the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of her son’s death. In a statement Wednesday afternoon, the family’s attorney called the lawsuit unfounded and a "shameless attempt to profit off the lives and grief of others.”
[…]

The attorney who represented Martin’s family, Ben Crump, went on to write a book titled “Open Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored People," which was published by Harper Collins in October. Both Crump and the publisher are named defendants on the lawsuit. Joining them is Fulton, Martin’s father Tracy Martin, witnesses in the case, various members of the prosecution team and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

[…]
 
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In the past, they would wait for the parties to die before they made the movie. This is what happens when you don’t wait.
 
Just making sure he gets a cut of the profits from their story.

Shoulda let it go.

another thought: Maybe he could go on talk shows with Trayvon’s mother. Think of the ratings! And more importantly, the appearance fees. What a road show that could be. Slagging off each other on a nightly basis. Can’t miss TV.
 
I forgot many of the details as this was a pretty long time ago.
But I seem to recall that he was attacked.
Am I mistaken?
 
vz71 said:
But I seem to recall that he was attacked.
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Treyvon was walking home with a bag of skittles and an soda. Zimmer saw him walking and took it upon himself to follow Treyvon and called to report a suspicious person in the neighborhood. While this was going on Treyvon called an associate and told her that some guy was following him. Zimmerman took it upon himself to approach the child.

The only living witness to what happened is Zimmerman himself. I don’t know about what the phone witness heard.
 
ThinkingSapien said:
Zimmerman took it upon himself to approach the child.
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I see.
So Zimmerman suffered no injury… correct?

Forget I asked. I have started reviewing notes from the incident.

Zimmerman was beaten, had injuries to his face and the back of his head, and there was one eyewitness to Zimmerman being beaten.
 
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ThinkingSapien said:
Treyvon was walking home with a bag of skittles and an soda. Zimmer saw him walking and took it upon himself to follow Treyvon and called to report a suspicious person in the neighborhood. While this was going on Treyvon called an associate and told her that some guy was following him. Zimmerman took it upon himself to approach the child.
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Treyvon was not a child. He was 17 years old. At 5’11", he was 4 inches taller than Zimmerman. A child? Oh please.

Here’s a link to support that:
https://www.quora.com/What-were-the-relative-physical-sizes-of-Trayvon-Martin-and-George-Zimmerman
ThinkingSapien said:
The only living witness to what happened is Zimmerman himself. I don’t know about what the phone witness heard.
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The phone witness testified at the trial, but did not do that well under cross examination which was likely a factor in Zimmerman’s acquittal.
 
17 is a child.

All he wanted to go was get home.

Zimmerman took it upon himself to assume he was a nuisance. He was an unarmed kid, who is dead, and now his mother is getting sued.
 
In fairness, an unarmed kid who attacked and beat Zimmerman bloody. Lots went wrong on both sides in this sad case, but not omit key details to paint a one-sided picture.
 
ThinkingSapien said:
immer saw him walking and took it upon himself to follow Treyvon and called to report a suspicious person in the neighborhood
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That’s kinda how every neighborhood watch works, why do you present it as something wrong?
ThinkingSapien said:
Zimmerman took it upon himself to approach the child.
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Couple of mistakes there
  • Trayvon wasn’t a ‘child’, he was a muscular 17 yr old. He would appear as an adult.
  • Trayvon is the one who approached Zimmerman, he circled back to do it.
 
This could actually be an interesting case. The article really doesn’t outline the basis for the lawsuit or what specific “civil rights” Trayvon Martin’s family have supposedly denied him. If this is essentially a libel case (I am making an assumption since it implicates the book and films in the article), then it is possible he has a case. The denial of “civil rights” is always kind of a weird accusation in a civil case to me. Outside of an accusation of discrimination, I can’t really think of how a person would be deprived of their civil rights by a private citizen.
 
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What protected class?
Malicious prosecution seems a stretch.( Interested in that theory)
Defamation? Things in court testimony and proceedings generally enjoy privilege. I guess there could be extra judicial statements potentially.
I agree the pleading and theories need to be read.
 
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Maximus1 said:
What protected class?
Malicious prosecution seems a stretch.( Interested I that theory)
Defamation? Things in court testimony and proceedings generally enjoy privilege. I guess there could be extra judicial statements potentially.
I agree the pleading and theories need to be read.
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Yeah, its all kinda bizarre to me. I would be interested in reading the petition though.
 
Regardless of legal theory, I just don’t think Zimmerman can be a good plaintiff.
If I recall the basic facts:
He was a rent a cop told not to bring a weapon.
He was told not to Persue.
He made it happen basically.
And
He is suing a mom who lost a son. And prosecutors doing their job.
The case was far from frivolous. If anything, he was fortunate.
After, he obviously lives with stigma and no doubt threat etc. are plausible. But he shouldn’t have confronted it seems at all. And while he is harassed, the other guy is dead.
 
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Since there were no witnesses I’m not sure how anyone can make bold claims that one side gets all the blame and the other side is completely innocent. Anyone doing that is showing their own biases more than anything else. As far as the lawsuit everybody nowadays wants to cash in on everything. And greedy unscrupulous lawyers exploit people’s greed and laugh all the way to the bank. I don’t care about it and won’t be following it.
 
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