George Zimmerman, the acquitted shooter in the 2012 death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, on Wednesday filed a $100 million lawsuit against Martin’s family, prosecutors, a book publisher and others involved in the case for “malicious prosecution” and defamation, reports the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watch captain, said he shot Martin in self-defense. He was arrested and charged with second-degree murder but was acquitted in 2013 in a case that gained worldwide attention and sparked the Black Lives Matter movement.
The suit, filed in Polk County Circuit Court, cites information from the documentary, “The Trayvon Hoax,” that claims the key witness in Zimmerman’s murder trial, Rachel Jeantel, was an imposter and fake witness.
The lawsuit names Jeantel, along with Martin’s mother Sybrina Fulton, father Tracy Martin, Martin’s family attorney Benjamin Crump, the prosecutors in Zimmerman’s trial and others who are "are alleged to either have known about or should have known about the witness fraud, obstructed justice, or lied repeatedly under oath in order to cover up their knowledge of the witness fraud."
The court papers state all defendants “have worked in concert to deprive Zimmerman of his constitutional and other legal rights.”
Zimmerman is being represented by Larry Klayman, the founder of the conservative group Freedom Watch.
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