GEORGE ZIMMERMAN'S CASE AGAINST MSNBC DISMISSED

No, George, you are not allowed to profit from killing Trayvon Martin. At least you lost this case!

USA Today

A Florida judge on Monday rejected George Zimmerman’s suit seeking damages from NBC for allegedly portraying the neighborhood watch volunteer as racist in a series of news reports about the shooting death of teenager Trayvon Martin.

Circuit Judge Debra S. Nelson ruled that Zimmerman is entitled to no money from the media giant, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

The decision was also tweeted by MyNews13.com

Unless the ruling is reversed by an appeals court, Zimmerman’s suit is finished.

A spokesperson for NBC News issued a statement, saying it is “gratified by the court’s dismissal of this lawsuit, which we have always believed to be without merit.”

Zimmerman, who was acquitted in 2013 of second-degree murder and manslaughter in the 2012 shooting death of Martin in a Florida gated community, had accused NBC News of defaming him by broadcasting edited clips of a 911 call he made on the night of the incident.

The clips made it appear as if Zimmerman volunteered that the teenager was black and had racially profiled him.

Zimmerman sued NBC Universal in 2012, accusing it of defaming him by practicing “yellow journalism.”

Here is a full excerpt of the call that Zimmerman made on the night of Feb. 26, 2012:

Zimmerman: “This guy looks like he’s up to no good, or he’s on drugs or something. It’s raining, and he’s just walking around, looking about.”

911 dispatcher: “OK, and this guy — is he black, white or Hispanic?”

Zimmerman: “He looks black.”

NBC’s edited version of the call, MyNews13 reports, trimmed the dialog so that Zimmerman is saying simply: “This guy looks like he’s up to no good … He looks black.”

NBC News fired at least two employees involved in the editing and publicly apologized, the Sentinel notes.