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George Zimmerman is going after Trayvon Martin‘s family, claiming they defamed him and created a conspiracy in an attempt to convict him of murder.
Zimmerman’s suing Trayvon’s parents, along with prosecutors and a book publisher, for $100 million in damages. In the suit, he alleges false evidence was used against him during his trial and cites a documentary that accuses the Martin family of engineering a phony testimony.
As you’ll recall, Trayvon was visiting his father in Sanford, Florida on Feb. 26, 2012, and was returning from a store with candy when he was killed by Zimmerman, who had reported him to cops as suspicious.
According to the docs, Zimmerman claims the Martin family and prosecutors lied about the true identity of the woman Trayvon was talking to on the phone at the time of the shooting, In his suit, Zimmerman alleges they presented Rachel Jeantel as the witness during the trial, but he claims it was actually Brittany Diamond Eugene on the phone.
Of course, Zimmerman was eventually found not guilty in 2013 of second-degree murder in the 17-year-old’s fatal shooting. Still, he’s suing for defamation and conspiracy. He’s also suing the state of Florida for malicious prosecution.
The shooting of Trayvon remains a lightning rod, as Zimmerman has maintained he was attacked by Martin and was defending himself … but police, prosecutors and much of the general public viewed it as an unjustified killing of a kid in a hoodie.
Zimmerman’s named Harper Collins and author, Ben Crump, as defendants due to their recent release of “Open Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored People.”