Man, fuck this guy:
George Zimmerman was acquitted in the fatal 2012 shooting of Trayvon Martin, but according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Florida, he believes there was a conspiracy to frame him and wants $100 million in damages.
Attorney Larry Klayman announced the lawsuit in tandem with a Coral Gables screening of a documentary titled “The Trayvon Martin Hoax,” which has since been canceled. Zimmerman was scheduled to appear alongside Klayman at a Thursday news conference, but hours later, Klayman said the news conference was canceled, too.
The chief allegation in the lawsuit is that civil rights attorney Ben Crump helped to swap out a reluctant witness, Brittany Diamond Eugene, for her half-sister, Rachel Jeantel, and helped prepare her to deliver a script intended to land Zimmerman in prison for the 17-year-old’s killing on February 26, 2012. Crump began representing Trayvon’s parents starting February 28, 2012, the lawsuit says.
First off, HOW THE FUCK DO YOU FRAME SOMEONE FOR MURDER WHEN THEY CLAIMED SELF DEFENSE?
Second, fuck this guy. Guy murdered a kid for being black in Zimmerman’s neighborhood while he was playing cosplay cop, got away with it, then auctioned off the gun he used to execute the kid for 150 grand, and then followed that up by being a general scumbag and public menace all while profiting off his art work.
Baud
I assume this is about getting wingnut donations rather than winning the lawsuit. Or looking to replace Pence on the ticket.
Hoping for sanctions.
polyorchnid octopunch
Asshole is the word. He’s going to fuck with the wrong person sometime and take a crowbar to the melon.
SFAW
I can only hope that someone countersues for double that amount, under the well-established legal principle of “Fuck me? No — Fuck YOU!”
I’m sure some of the actual lawyers here (a/k/a killjoys) will inform me that no such “legal principle” exists. I expect Steve in the WTFKW will tell me that it literally does not exist.
As the kids used to say: Whatevs.
SFAW
@polyorchnid octopunch:
Kind of surprised that hasn’t already happened.
TomatoQueen
Trayvon’s mother is running for county commissioner. This is likely to be typical of the unspeakability headed her way.
sukabi
@polyorchnid octopunch: I thought that would have happened by now.
SiubhanDuinne
Art work?
coin operated
My first thought as well. Especially after seeing who his loserstink lawyer is.
SFAW
@coin operated:
Well, in fairness, Orly Taitz was his first choice, but she had to “floss her cat that year.”
Sasha
If the principals of the case looked like this, things would’ve gone far differently.
Gozer
@SiubhanDuinne: He sold confederate flag paintings to fundraise in conjunction with that FL gun shop that had a “no Muslims allowed” policy.
EDIT: Link
MattF
Larry Klayman is known in legal circles as the guy who sued his mother. And, considering how the boy turned out, it might be justified.
trollhattan
Think I almost exploded a cerebral artery hearing this on the radio. My guess: he’s emboldened by Devin Nunes and Devin’s boyfriend. “I’ve been treated unfairly. Prepare to
diesurrender hundreds of myllyuns!”Honestly, I’m surprised Zimmerman is alive. He has a long string of bad encounters since he murdered the boy.
Doug R
Would this be covered by anti-SLAPP?
Kay
This case was one of those that changed the way I think about the whole issue. I read the Zimmerman interviews with police and I just think it was biased toward Zimmerman from the outset. What’s missing in those interviews- and it stuck out to me in a way I think it would to anyone reading them- is any real concern for Martin. A kid is dead and they have the shooter sitting there! Martin as a victim is just glaringly and obviously missing and he should be the center of the police focus. But he isn’t. It’s all bent towards “what could possibly exonerate this guy?”, which, if you have any experience with police, is not just unusual but really unheard of.
John Cole
@MattF:
I lol’d.
gene108
There are many Americans, who view Zimmerman as a hero, or else he would not be getting hundreds of thousands of dollars from those horrible people.
Says a lot about how deep racism runs in this country
Kay
Attorney Larry Klayman announced the lawsuit in tandem with a Coral Gables screening of a documentary titled “The Trayvon Martin Hoax,” which has since been canceled. Zimmerman was scheduled to appear alongside Klayman at a Thursday news conference, but hours later, Klayman said the news conference was canceled, too.
One of the things that HAS been good about Zimmerman’s post-murder grift career is it hasn’t really gone well, and the fact that it continues and is so gross and money-grubbing discredits his claims further.
gene108
@Kay:
It took weeks of public protest, which finally garnered national attention, before they reopened the case and Zimmerman had to stand trial.
Cacti
At least one good thing will come from this:
George will be subject to deposition, can be called on to testify in a trial, and if he refuses, adverse inferences may be drawn against his refusal.
Baud
@Cacti:
What does that matter? Even if he says he killed Martin in cold blood, double jeopardy prevents a retrial.
tokyokie
I was a really crappy law student, long ago when I attended. But I remember that Dean Page Keaton, my freshlaw torts professor, on the first day of class said that the first rule of tort law is never, ever sue an indigent. Zimmerman’s asking for $100 million? Does he think George Soros gave Trayvon Martin some pocket change and asked him to fetch him an OJ and some Skittles? Why not add a zero and seek a cool billion? And the deed to Yosemite National Park?
This is a nuisance suit, nothing more. And the proper reaction to such filings is to countersue for malicious prosecution and abuse of process. Go after Larry Klayman’s law license. Then auction it off to benefit the ACLU and the SPLC.
Kay
@gene108:
Yes. I followed it. I actually listened to all of the trial that I could. I think his lawyers did a clever thing- they made the case about guns. Are you pro-gun or anti-gun. That’s what they won on. The gun nut sentiment was higher than the murdered black boy sentiment, in that place, at that time. It wouldn’t have worked everywhere.
Betty Cracker
I first learned of this when I saw Zimmerman’s name trending on Twitter. I clicked, assuming I’d be reading about Zimmerman’s squalid and lonely demise in circumstances of his own making, e.g., he hit a woman who turned out to have a concealed weapon, pulled a road rage stunt on a guy who happened to keep a pistol in the glove box, etc. Sooner or later, that’ll be the headline.
lollipopguild
The case made Zimmerman a white racist hero who can raise money from his fans anytime he wants but”he was framed!’ and he wants damages? How long before this case gets thrown out?
Jay
@Doug R:
Floriduh anti-SLAPP laws only provide pre-Court legal redress to a claimed SLAPP suit if:
– it’s a Federal lawsuit,
– it’s a Homeowner or HOA being sued regarding the property.
lollipopguild
@Betty Cracker: One can only hope.
delk
all while profiting off his shitty art.
fixed
Jay
Head’s up if you are in Georgia or the US PNW.
tokyokie
I was a miserable law student back in the day, but I remember Dean Page Keaton, my freshlaw torts professor, on the first day of class telling us that the first rule of tort law is to never, ever sue an indigent. Zimmerman wants $100 million from a family whose net worth several factors of 10 less than that? I guess as he’s claiming a conspiracy against him, the fiendish George Soros is at the bottom of this, as with all other right-wing conspiracy theories. He probably gave Trayvon some pocket change and asked him to fetch him an OJ and some Skittles. But $100 million? Why not add a zero and make it a cool $1 billion? And while you’re at it, demand the title deed for Yosemite Park.
This is a nuisance suit, nothing more. And the way to deal with such legal chicanery is to countersue for abuse of process and malicious prosecution. Go after Larry Klayman’s law license. Then auction it off, with the proceeds going to the ACLU and the SPLC.
Elizabelle
I kinda don’t want to give Zimmerman the attention. It’s like he is smearing poo on the wall. We don’t have to be part of his performance art.
Cacti
Exposes him for all time as the liar that he is.
Cold comfort when he ought to be in prison, but some measure of vindication for the family.
It would also expose him to wrongful death liability, but I can’t imagine he has much in the way of $$$.
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker: I know. Zimmerman will come to a bad end. And sooner, I hope.
I wish some enterprising journalist(s) would go talk to that gun-approving jury in the Trayvon Martin case, and ask them how they feel about the whole thing now.
oatler.
“If I Did It” by O J Simpson
Aleta
The NRA, the GOP and anti-gun control donors would also have an interest in harassing Ms. Fulton. And in discouraging other activist mothers of murdered children.
Campaign video: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bxr1Oe2FtmQ/
…
Death Panel Truck
Ed Brayton at Dispatches From The Culture Wars blogs about Klayman from time to time. He calls him “the dumbest lawyer in America not named Mat Staver” and calls Staver “the dumbest lawyer in America not named Larry Klayman.”
chopper
@tokyokie:
as steve dallas put it all those years ago, never, EVER sue poor people.
catclub
The BJ approved expression is “doesn’t that just shave the cat’s ass”, so she had to shave her cat’s ass.
SiubhanDuinne
@Gozer:
barf
Cacti
@Death Panel Truck: Which only makes them tied for dumbest lawyer in America not named Orly Taitz.
trollhattan
@Doug R:
IIUC only in states with SLAPP laws, which I presume Florida is not among. Nunes has sued the Fresno Bee newspaper in Virginia due to their having more lax rules than California. Confess I do not know how that even works.
Aleta
The NRA, the GOP and anti-gun control donors would also have an interest in harassing Ms. Fulton. And in discouraging the political force of other activist mothers of murdered children.
Campaign video: instagram.com/p/Bxr1Oe2FtmQ/
…
trollhattan
@Elizabelle:
Dollars to donuts that jury 100% voted Trump. They probably sleep just fine.
One items that really irked me from the post-trial juror interviews were the ones who referred to him as George. I’m sure they would have accorded Treyvon the same courtesy had the roles been reversed.
Elizabelle
@Aleta: Thank you for the info. about Ms. Fulton. A definite silver lining to any thread about he who shall not be named, Florida policeman wannabe edition.
Quaker in a Basement
Oh, to be the judge who hears this case!
mrmoshpotato
Speaking of assholes…
Traditional stripes or jumpsuit orange? I can’t decide.
robmassing
this will not get anywhere, it will be thrown out of court at the earliest opportunity. Suing the victim’s parents because he didn’t like something the attorney did? Absolutely nonsensical. And the idea that Zimmerman would pour salt in the wound – he killed their son, ffs! – is just . . . entirely predictable.
Roger Moore
@trollhattan:
IIRC, he’s trying this by including Liz Mair in his suit. Since she lives in Virginia, he can sue her in Virginia. It’s obviously a load of crap, but it’s going to require some struggle to convince the courts to move the case to California.
LuciaMia
@SiubhanDuinne: That was my reaction too!
Martin
@Elizabelle: Florida.
Martin
@mrmoshpotato: Pardon.
Jay
@robmassing:
they are suing:
– his parents,
– his lawyer,
– his girlfriend and her friend
– the Prosecutors
– the State of Floriduh
“Klayman’s goal in initiating the lawsuits is often to obtain information through the discovery process, rather than winning the lawsuit.[9] Most cases brought by Judicial Watch or Klayman himself fail.[10][11]”
It’s not about winning or losing, it’s about trolling for dirt and Winger grifting.
LongHairedWeirdo
Also, for anyone who thinks the GOP is just a bit misguided, that you can be a *good* Republican who isn’t running around like their hair is on fire at the state of the party, remember:
The only reason Zimmerman gets to do this is, the GOP decided that Martin had to be some horrible person, *JUST BECAUSE HE WAS KILLED*. And, if you were in the Republican Party then, and weren’t screaming already, you were okay with that sort of bigotry being used as a party building exercise.
In any rational world, Zimmerman would be viewed with suspicion, because of where his gun was kept (small of his back – how do you draw when someone’s on your chest, beating you down?), the mildness of his injuries (entirely consistent with someone taking control of his opponent, and entirely inconsistent with a sustained beatdown), and the simple fact that he had the gun, and was the one demanding the encounter.
Further, in any rational world, the Zimmerman case would have proven there needed to be changes to Stand Your Ground.
The GOP: love it or leave it.
gvg
@Kay: The way our stand your ground was explained to me at the time of protests and trial is that public officials who investigated someone who was proved to be standing their ground, could be held criminally liable themselves. In other words is was risky to investigate anyone, you might lose your job or even go to jail if they were innocent. It didn’t make any sense to me because how are police or DA’s supposed to know if you are lying without investigating? It’s like they imagine only innocent people shoot someone with guns and they never lie to save their ass. The law was pretty new then.
Several years later that doesn’t seem to be quite the case, but it’s not that much better either. The gun right people I know seem to be outraged that they might have a lot of trouble if they shoot someone breaking into their house (that is mainly what they imagine). They don’t seem to appreciate how serious society should take all shootings and how their innocence does not shine out for everyone to see. I want the cops to check all the stories is I get shot. I can’t describe the sense of butthurt I get from their stories about the awful invasive investigations they might have to endure (nothing has ever happened to them like this, it’s all imaginary).
Steve in the ATL
@SFAW:
That was my favorite class in law school
Gravenstone
@mrmoshpotato: Let’s go fashion forward, orange with black stripes!
trollhattan
@Steve in the ATL:
Professor Pesci?
thalarctosMaritimus
@Kay:
Not only what you said, but under Florida law, Trayvon Martin had the right to defend himself against a murderous racist.
I never once saw anyone even acknowledge that he had every bit as much right to stand his ground as Zimmerman (*spit*) did.
It’s like he was totally invisible to the white media and power structures.
Peale
@thalarctosMaritimus: Yep. Its not just a blind spot. But since Zimmerman was following him, why did Trayvon need to retreat to his house? Oh, because he didn’t have a gun. Technically, if he had a gun, he would be o.k. except we know it wouldn’t work out that way. But that’s what’s so stupid out this law. There will be no inquest if the person is shot by a gun and killed. As long as the victim is dead and can’t be questioned, and was killed by a gun, its not just a get out of jail free card – its an avoid any inquest card as well. Like this one form of death isn’t suspicous. Pity the fool who chooses to stab someone or poison them or run them over with a car or beat them to death. Use a gun and the person might as well have died from slipping in the bathtub.
Steve in the ATL
@trollhattan: I had a B+ but he bumped it up to an A because he liked my pinkie ring
mrmoshpotato
@Gravenstone: Yes! And they’re also Halloween colors. Very fitting for Ghouliani.
JGabriel
CNN via John Cole @ Top:
I could be wrong, and often am, but I think CNN may have misspelled Klansman.
Frank McCormick
@Doug R: Keep in mind that this is in Florida!
http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/anti-slapp-law-florida
Bill Arnold
@Jay:
Off topic, but how did you do those links from the wikipedia article? Manually or some copy/paste magic?
Jay
@Bill Arnold:
c/p with out the block quote in text
Other MJS
I was quite confused until I realized that this didn’t mean he was trying to prove Trump is gay. For want of a hyphen …
karensky
@coin operated: Larry Klayman, the original ratfkker, esq.
Zinsky
This is exactly the kind of anti-social, low IQ loser with no conscience that Trump appeals to…
burnspbesq
@John Cole:
Ain’t nuthin’ funny about Larry Klayman. Disgrace to the profession. Needs to be disbarred, tarred and feathered, and run out of town on a rail.
Villago Delenda Est
Klayman should have been disbarred a quarter-century ago.