George Zimmerman gets probation for stalking investigator involved in Trayvon Martin docuseries
Prosecutors said Zimmerman sent dozens of threatening messages and phones calls and emails to private investigator Dennis Warren, who contacted his family about the project.
George Zimmerman received a one-year probation sentence for stalking a private investigator associated with a documentary film series on Trayvon Martin, the unarmed Black teen that Zimmerman murdered in 2012.
The former Florida neighborhood watchman pled no contest to the stalking charge, although Zimmerman was not present in the courtroom when the plea was rendered, according to Fox News. The conviction will be withheld if the conditions of his probation—which include not contacting the victim—are met.
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Seminole County Judge Mark Herr told Zimmerman’s attorney to “Please counsel him,” and that “words do matter,” according to Fox News.
Prosecutors say Zimmerman may have sent dozens of threatening and harassing messages, including phones calls and emails, to private investigator Dennis Warren after Warren contacted Zimmerman’s family about the documentary project. The six-part documentary, titled, “Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story,” was produced by rapper Jay-Z and looks at Trayvon Martin’s life and the fatal shooting by Zimmerman.
In one message that Zimmerman allegedly sent by text to a producer on the film, he called the private investigator a “[expletive] who bothered my uncle in his home. Local or former law officer, he’s well on his way to the inside of a gator as well. 10-4?,” WFTV-TV in Orlando reported.
“I’m going to find him and bring him to hell with me,” Zimmerman allegedly added in the message, referring to the investigator.
Warren said Zimmerman’s threats went as far as to include details about his life, such as where he was traveling and what airline, and prompted him to add extra security to protect his home, Fox News reports.
“The threats were for me to immediately stop what I was doing or he was going to harm me,” Warren said to the station.
Zimmerman also allegedly sent threats to Jay-Z and his wife Beyonce over the film series.
In 2013, Zimmerman was acquitted in Martin’s death, which highlighted inconsistencies in Florida’s faulty “stand your ground” law, which allows people to use force without fleeing if they are threatened.
Martin’s unjustified killing was the impetus for Black Lives Matter, a grassroots movement that seeks to end police brutality and unfair treatment of minorities by police.
Since his 2013 acquittal, Zimmerman has stayed in the news with multiple runs in with the law. In one instance, he was accused of throwing a wine bottle at his girlfriend. In another incident, he allegedly threatened a man in a fit of road rage.
No charges were pressed in both cases.
