George Zimmerman continues to receive death threats and is not haunted by what happened the night he killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, he said in a CNN interview that aired Monday.
Zimmerman told New Day host Chris Cuomo that he still hears from people who wish him harm. “I have a lot of people saying that, you know, they guarantee that they’re going to kill me and I’ll never be a free man.” He also said those people don’t really know him. “I realize that they don’t know me. They know who I was portrayed to be.”
Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder in July. The U.S. Department of Justice is currently pursuing a civil rights investigation into the case.
The 30-year-old said that he would like to go back to school and study law, “and hopefully become an attorney,” he said. “I think that’s the best way to stop the miscarriage of justice that happened to me from happening to somebody else. I don’t think it should ever happen to anyone ever again, not one person.”
Ultimately, Zimmerman said he does not doubt himself and that he he has faith he will be judged by God. “Ultimately he’s the only judge I have to answer to,” he said. “He knows what happened, I know what happened.”
While he told Cuomo he had hoped his notoriety would diminish after the verdict, Zimmerman has had multiple encounters with law-enforcement; he received a speeding ticket, and both his wife and girlfriend accused Zimmerman of brandishing weapons at them. No charges were filed after the incident with his wife, and his girlfriend later requested charges against him be dropped. The CNN interview is one of three that Zimmerman did that will air this week. In a Univision interview that aired on Sunday night, he said that he has $2.5 million in debt, is currently jobless, and that he follows a security plan whenever he leaves his home. Despite those personal problems, Zimmerman said on CNN that he will not be intimidated. “I’ll never leave this country,” he said. “I’ll leave my home when I want to leave my home. I’ll move when I want to.” Zimmerman has been trying to sell his artwork, and it was recently announced that he would participate in a “celebrity” boxing match for charity. The Associated Press sued to stop the sale of one of Zimmerman’s paintings, and after widespread public outrage, the boxing match was canceled.
Meredith Clark
Meredith Clark is a freelance writer and editor. She was previously a senior news producer for "Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj," a reporter with MSNBC.com, the digital politics and culture editor at Glamour and a senior news and politics editor at Refinery29. She has written for Vulture, Rolling Stone, Self, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, The Daily Beast and Bustle. Recommended
