Attorney Says Zimmerman Will Use 'Stand Your Ground' Defense - East Idaho News
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Attorney Says Zimmerman Will Use ‘Stand Your Ground’ Defense

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abc ht trayvon martin george zimmerman jt 120318 wg?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1332752198740ABC News; Orange County Jail(NEW YORK) — The attorney counseling George Zimmerman, who allegedly shot Trayvon Martin as he was walking home from a store with a bag of Skittles in Sanford, Florida, says if charges are filed, Zimmerman will argue that he acted in self-defense and that Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law applies.

Attorney Craig Sonner said the public is only hearing part of the story, and when all the facts come out, it will be clear that Zimmerman acted in self defense.  A grand jury is scheduled to begin hearing the case on April 10.

“George Zimmerman suffered a broken nose, and had an injury to the back of his head, he was attacked by Trayvon Martin on that evening,” Sonner said.  “This was a case of self defense.”

When asked why Zimmerman went after the unarmed black 17-year-old, even though a 911 dispatcher told him not to, Sonner said, “Those are questions that will be answered.”

Sonner said the so-called “Stand Your Ground” law, under which a person who feels threatened is not required to retreat and can “meet force with force” if attacked, will be applicable in the case.

Sonner insisted that Zimmerman is not a racist, pointing out that he and his wife mentored for two black children for free.

“When I asked this mother [of the mentees], who trusted [Zimmerman and his wife], and she’s an African-American, if she trusted George Zimmerman, she said she did, and I asked her if there was anything that caused her to believe that she was a racist, and she said, ‘Absolutely not.’  And I said, went further, ‘Did you ever hear him use racial slurs in any time that you’d been around him?’  And she said, ‘no’ as well,” Sonner said.

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