George Zimmerman, the former Florida neighborhood watch volunteer who shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin and was subsequently acquitted of murder in the case, has filed a $265 million defamation lawsuit against Democratic presidential candidates Pete Buttigieg and Senator Elizabeth Warren, NBC News reported.
In his lawsuit, Zimmerman claims Warren and Buttigieg defamed him “for political gain in misguided and malicious attempts to bolster their standings among African-American voters, all at Zimmerman’s expense.”
The claim focuses on tweets the candidates sent out to mark what would have been Martin’s 25th birthday on February 5, 2020, which suggest Zimmerman was motivated by racism and fear when he killed Martin, according to the lawsuit.
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“The defamatory tweets are not an account of two sides of an issue that raises questions in a reader’s mind,” the suit claims. “They are evidence of not only a reckless disregard of the truth but also of common law malice.”
The suit, which seeks $265 million “for loss of good will and reputation” as well as financial damages, also suggests that Warren and Buttigieg set out to “muckrake” Zimmerman.
“It is high time that the cheap and harmful use of the race card by politicians of all stripes be made to cease and desist,” Zimmerman’s attorney and founder of conservative nonprofit Judicial Watch Larry Klayman said in a statement, Newsweek reported. “Their despicable ‘race tactics’ are not only causing great harm to persons such as my client George Zimmerman, but also are damaging relations between black and white Americans who are all brothers.”
Zimmerman has been involved in several other lawsuits.
In 2014, Zimmerman’s libel lawsuit against a news organization was thrown out by a judge, saying he was a public figure and failed to prove the organization acted with reckless disregard for the truth, UPI reported.
Also, in December 2019, Zimmerman filed a $100 million lawsuit against Trayvon Martin’s family and others who defended him, alleging defamation, abuse of civil process, and conspiracy, according to Fox News .
Experts suggest Zimmerman’s most recent filing has little chance in court.
CBS News legal contributor Keir Dougall noted that the First Amendment provides Warren and Buttigieg considerable protection. “One of the core types of speech the First Amendment protects is political speech, and you’ve got two presidential candidates tweeting in their campaigns — that’s obviously political speech,” he said. “The First Amendment would be at its strongest in protecting this particular type of speech.”
Neither Warren nor Buttigieg’s campaigns have commented on Zimmerman’s lawsuit.
