George Zimmerman pleads no contest in stalking case
George Zimmerman pleaded no contest Tuesday to a misdemeanor stalking charge after deputies say he harassed a private investigator working on a documentary about the Trayvon Martin shooting.
Zimmerman, 35, was not present in the Seminole County Courthouse during the plea. By pleading no contest, Zimmerman doesn’t admit to guilt.
Circuit Judge Mark E. Herr withheld adjudication. Zimmerman was sentenced to 12 months of probation with no chance of early termination. He is to report to the probation office via telephone within two days and owes $763 in court costs.
He was charged with stalking after police say he sent dozens of threatening emails, text messages and voicemails to a man who had contacted Zimmerman asking him to participate in “Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story.”
The documentary, which aired this summer on the BET and Paramount networks, chronicled the February 2012 shooting and the ensuing trial -- in which Zimmerman was acquitted of seconddegree murder in 2013.
The private investigator, Dennis Warren, said he was hired by Cinemart Productions to scout for people to participate in the documentary series. Warren said he left a single text message and voicemail for Zimmerman in September 2017 asking him to contact a producer for the documentary.
In December, the producer told Warren that Zimmerman was sending threats, angry that his family had been asked to participate in the series. In one text message, Zimmerman threatened to feed Warren to an alligator, according to court documents. He made the same threat to rapper Jay-Z, who produced the documentary.
Warren told deputies he also started hearing from Zimmerman -- receiving 55 phone calls, 67 text messages, 36 voicemails and 27 emails from him during a nineday span in December. When Warren asked Zimmerman to stop, Zimmerman forwarded an article that quotes him as saying, “I know how to handle people who [expletive] with me, I have since February 2012,” authorities said.
When a Seminole County deputy called Zimmerman to discuss the allegations in January, authorities say Zimmerman called her a “c---” and a “w----.” He was charged with stalking in May.
During a victim-impact statement in court Tuesday, Warren said Zimmerman’s threats put him in fear for his life and caused him to spend thousands of dollars on security enhancements to his home. He says Zimmerman insinuated that he knew specific details about Warren’s day-to-day
“Stop breaking the law and stop threatening people, because you’re probably going to get hurt one day.” Dennis Warren, Private investigator
movements.
“Stop breaking the law and stop threatening people, because you’re probably going to get hurt one day,” Warren said outside of the courtroom when asked if he had a message for Zimmerman.
The stalking charge was the latest in a series of issues Zimmerman has faced since the shooting of Trayvon, an unarmed 17-year-old. In 2013, he was charged with aggravated assault after his girlfriend accused him of pointing a shotgun at her. Those charges were later dropped after his girlfriend declined to cooperate with the investigation.
In January 2015, he was accused of throwing a wine bottle at his girlfriend. Domestic-violence charges were dropped in that case.
“I don’t want any more spin-offs of this case,” Herr said after accepting Zimmerman’s plea Tuesday afternoon. “And if we never hear the name George Zimmerman again in Seminole County, we’ll all be fine.”