A Seminole County court
holds a pre-trial hearing Tuesday in a stalking case against George Zimmerman, who is accused of harassing a private investigator.
George Zimmerman’s misdemeanor stalking case returned to court Tuesday in Seminole County for a pre-trial hearing.
During the hearing, Circuit Judge Mark Herr again warned the parties involved to not dredge up Zimmerman’s history with the Trayvon Martin case, in which he was acquitted of second-degree murder in 2013.
“We are not going back five years,” Herr said. “We’re not going back to the first time we heard this man’s name in the county.”
Referring to Zimmerman, he also said, “I hate to keep saying that name out loud.”
In the stalking case, Zimmerman is accused of harassing a private investigator involved in a documentary about the shooting.
The private investigator, Dennis Warren, told deputies that over the course of nine days in December, he had received 55 phone calls, 67 text messages, 36 voicemails and 27 emails from Zimmerman.
Authorities said Zimmerman also threatened to feed Warren to an alligator — a threat he also made against the rapper Jay-Z, who is producing the docuseries. Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty.
Warren was supposed to take part in a deposition July 25. As part of that deposition, Zimmerman’s lawyer, Zahra Umansky, subpoenaed Warren to bring all documents and other materials relating to “Warren’s investigation of George Zimmerman.”
Warren objected to that subpoena, saying that he “did not conduct an investigation of George Zimmerman,” and was simply trying to find sources for the documentary.
Zimmerman was not in court Tuesday, but Warren was.
“What [Zimmerman’s defense] are asking for, I don’t think it has anything to do with the crime that was committed.” Warren said.
The next hearing in the case is expected to be Sept. 5.
The documentary, “Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story,” began airing Monday night on Paramount Network and BET.